Feeding wild bears — whether in parks, campgrounds, or roadside encounters — causes habituation that ultimately results in bears being killed, making it a direct welfare threat disguised as care.
Tourist bear feeding creates a welfare trap: the bears that receive food gain short-term nutritional benefit but become habituated to humans, approach roads and campgrounds, and are ultimately killed as nuisance animals. The individual benefit is real but the systemic outcome is lethal. Wildlife managers consistently identify human-provided food as the single largest preventable cause of bear mortality in high-visitor national parks. Welfare-conscious wildlife tourism means maintaining distance, securing food, and supporting management policies that protect bears from habituation — even when this means forgoing close encounters.