Brown bear rehabilitation programs rescue orphaned cubs and injured adults, returning them to the wild after recovery. Success depends on minimizing human imprinting.
Bear rehabilitation requires careful management of human-bear contact to prevent imprinting that would make released bears seek human food sources and become problem animals requiring lethal removal. Cubs raised with significant human contact are condemned to captivity — a welfare harm caused by the rehabilitation process itself when poorly managed. Wild-raised orphan bears benefit from being raised with other cubs, maintaining social development. Release into areas with adequate habitat and minimum human conflict reduces post-release mortality stress. The welfare goals of rehabilitation — a functional wild life in appropriate habitat — require extraordinary patience and expertise to achieve without creating dependency.