Romania holds the largest brown bear population in the EU, but human-bear conflict has escalated dramatically, raising welfare questions about conflict management, relocation, and lethal control.
Brown bear welfare in human-conflict scenarios is compromised both by the dangers bears face from conflict escalation — vehicle collision, illegal shooting, lethal control — and by the management interventions intended to reduce conflict. Relocation of food-conditioned bears is stressful and rarely effective long-term, as relocated bears typically return or habituate quickly in new locations. Electric fencing around waste sites, orchards, and livestock pens is the most welfare-positive conflict reduction tool, preventing habituation before it begins. When bears must be managed for safety, immobilisation by qualified personnel causes less welfare harm than lethal control.