Brown bears undergo dramatic seasonal cycles of hyperphagia and hibernation. Climate change and human food sources disrupting these cycles create welfare impacts for individual bears across their range.
Brown bear welfare is shaped by the success or failure of hyperphagia — the seasonal imperative to accumulate energy reserves before winter. Bears that fail to meet hyperphagia calorie targets enter hibernation with insufficient reserves, endangering their own survival and cub welfare. Climate disruption to berry crops and whitebark pine cone production creates nutritional stress that cascades through the entire bear population. Human food conditioning — bears accessing garbage, bird feeders, or livestock — creates short-term calorie gain but leads to conflict-driven lethal management. Individual bear welfare is best protected through prevention: secure food storage, early conflict intervention, and climate action that preserves the phenological synchrony bears depend on.