Grizzly bears face lethal management from human-wildlife conflicts as their recovering populations expand into agricultural and recreational areas, creating individual welfare harms and conservation tensions.
Grizzly bears killed in livestock conflicts or lethally removed as problem animals represent individual welfare losses that are largely preventable through proactive attractant management. A bear killed for raiding an unprotected chicken coop represents a preventable welfare and conservation failure. Coexistence tools - bear spray, electric fencing, bear-resistant garbage containers - are highly effective and widely available. The recovery success of Yellowstone grizzlies demonstrates that coexistence at landscape scale is achievable when both human behavior and livestock management adapt to bear presence.