Brown bears are intelligent, wide-ranging omnivores whose captive welfare requires large complex enclosures, rich enrichment and accommodation of natural seasonal behaviour patterns.
Brown bear welfare in captivity depends on providing environmental complexity that engages their exceptional cognitive abilities and physical capabilities. Bears that spend significant time in stereotypic pacing are demonstrating environmental poverty that adequate space, foraging enrichment and social management can address. Seasonal accommodation of natural behaviour patterns — including reduced activity and denning opportunities in winter — respects the biological rhythms that captive management too often ignores. Well-designed bear exhibits with large naturalistic environments achieve dramatically better welfare outcomes than concrete enclosures with minimal enrichment.