Human-bear conflict management requires approaches that protect both human safety and bear welfare, avoiding lethal control where non-lethal methods can achieve coexistence.
Bear conflict welfare management is grounded in the principle that bears do not create conflict — access to human attractants does. When bears are killed as a management response without addressing the attractants that created the conflict, new bears fill the same niche and the cycle repeats. Non-lethal conflict management through secure food storage, electric fencing and aversive conditioning achieves bear welfare protection alongside human safety goals. Individual bear welfare consequences of conflict management include stress from aversive conditioning, injury from deterrent methods and lethal removal. Landscape-level conflict prevention through attractant management is more welfare-positive than reactive individual bear management.