Human-bear conflicts are increasing globally as habitat loss brings bears into contact with human food sources, requiring welfare-conscious management.
Human-bear conflict management is a welfare domain where individual bear lives and population-level conservation converge with human safety and economic concerns. Lethal management — while sometimes necessary — should be a last resort reached only after non-lethal interventions have been genuinely attempted. Hazing and aversive conditioning can restore bear wariness of humans that habituation has eroded. Secure attractant management prevents the food access that initiates conflict. The welfare of bears killed in conflict scenarios is frequently poor — inadequate methods cause prolonged dying for animals that could have been deterred or managed non-lethally. Community education about coexistence tools is the most cost-effective welfare intervention.