Yellowstone grizzly bears were delisted from the Endangered Species Act in 2017 but relisted in 2018. The ongoing debate over delisting involves welfare implications for individual bears and population management approaches.
Grizzly bears that are shot in trophy hunts or killed in conflict situations experience the acute welfare harm of any lethal intervention. The welfare significance of trophy hunting of a recovering population is contested between those who view sustainable harvest as compatible with conservation and those who oppose killing for recreation as intrinsically objectionable. Conflict bears killed after food conditioning represent welfare harm that is preventable through proactive waste management.