Grizzly bear recovery in the American West is a conservation success story, but the welfare of individual bears is directly tied to how effectively humans learn to coexist with apex predators.
Individual grizzly bears that survive to adulthood and avoid human conflict live relatively welfare-positive lives as apex predators. However, bears that encounter human food sources face a welfare trap: once food-conditioned, they seek human-associated food repeatedly and are typically killed as nuisance animals. Bears that survive encounters with vehicles or hunters often carry lasting injuries. The social disruption of killing sows with cubs leaves dependent cubs to starve. Trapping for relocation - sometimes used as an alternative to lethal removal - causes acute stress and injury. The welfare of wild grizzlies is therefore highly dependent on the quality of human-bear conflict prevention in their expanding range.