The welfare challenges facing wild brown bears as they navigate increasingly human-dominated landscapes, from trophy hunting to bear watching tourism.
Brown bear welfare at the individual level is shaped heavily by human behaviour: whether conflict is resolved through lethal or non-lethal means, whether hunting is conducted with appropriate equipment and skill, and whether coexistence tools are employed before bears are killed. Bears involved in conflict with livestock experience the stress of repeated human encounters and often ultimately fatal outcomes. Bears wounded by hunters — wounding rates for large carnivores can be substantial — may suffer for extended periods. Cubs orphaned by conflict or hunting mortality face acute stress and usually death without intervention. At population level, habitat fragmentation forces bears into increasingly dangerous human interfaces. Welfare-positive outcomes require proactive coexistence tools: electric fencing for livestock, bear-proof refuse management, and economic incentives for communities to tolerate bear presence.