The return of the brown bear

King of European forests

Danny Green / Nature Picture Library

The return of the brown bear

King of European forests

Once pushed to the edges of the continent, the brown bear is now slowly returning in Europe. An iconic and vital animal that helps to shape landscapes, it symbolises the power and resilience of nature. At Rewilding Europe, we are supporting bear comeback and working to create conditions where bears and people can thrive together.

Living with bears

Grzegorz Lesniewski / Rewilding Europe

Awareness, acceptance, and mutual benefits

Today, brown bears are making a comeback in Europe, supported by conservation efforts and legal protection. There are now about 20,500 brown bears across the continent (including European Russia) – a rise of 17% since 2016. While this comeback is welcome, it comes with its own challenges. With bears absent from many parts of Europe for hundreds of years, Europeans are now learning to live with these iconic and ecologically important animals once again.

Bruno D'Amicis / Rewilding Europe

From co-existence to “co-prosperity”

Rewilding Europe works to create conditions where people and wildlife can share space and thrive together by raising awareness and helping communities to adopt measures that prevent wildlife-related damage.

We also take steps to shift the dial from co-existence to “co-prosperity”, creating conditions where wildlife and people can mutually benefit each other and thrive together. One of the ways we do this is by supporting the development of nature tourism – encompassing activities such as wildlife watching and the use of photographic hides – which can generate wide-ranging socio-economic benefits for businesses and communities.

The bear essentials: why bears are our wild allies

The brown bear is an ecologically and socio-economically important animal. As a keystone species, it helps to maintain the health and functionality of ecosystems by controlling populations of other species that can degrade ecosystems if left unchecked – for example, when an overabundance of deer leads to overgrazing of local vegetation. Brown bears are also considered an umbrella species, as they require expansive swathes of land to thrive – this means measures to protect and enhance bear populations benefit a wide range of other species in the landscape.

Besides being an apex predator, bears benefit wild nature in other ways. They support nutrient recycling via their consumption of carcasses. They enhance biodiversity by distributing seeds from their diet of berries and fruits, and by opening up forests by clearing dense vegetation. They are also ecosystem engineers, helping to shape the landscape through activities such as digging and moving boulders in their hunt for food and carving holes for resting, which creates habitats for other species.

Socio-economically, brown bears are an emblematic and culturally significant species in many landscapes. They not only hold emotional and spiritual value, but can also contribute to local economies by boosting nature-based tourism, which itself is on the rise in Europe. A 2023 study found the Advertising Value Equivalent (AVE) of Marsican brown bears in the Central Apennines in Italy to be 11 million euros. This demonstrates how supporting the comeback of iconic wildlife species in local landscapes can generate economic value in local landscapes.

How can people and bears thrive together?

Sharing space

Sharing space with wildlife is a challenge in Europe as populations of large predators such as bears recover in human-dominated landscapes.

Education and awareness campaigns, compensation schemes, measures to prevent bear damage, and the development of bear-related tourism are all measures which can enhance public attitudes and social tolerance of bears, inspire passion for bear conservation and comeback, and create conditions where people and bears can thrive together.
Being proactive

Damage prevention is one of the most effective ways of improving human-bear relations. Bears can prey on livestock, and damage beehives, orchards and crops, which can be economically costly.

Predation on wild and semi-wild herbivores, such as Eurasian elk and reindeer in Scandinavia, has led to tensions with hunters and herders.

Measures such as livestock guardian dogs, bear-proof chicken coops and dustbins, electric fences, and providing alternative sources of food for bears - for example, by pruning abandoned orchards - can all be effective damage prevention solutions.
Connecting habitats

Bears need wide ranges, reliable food sources, and minimal disturbance to hibernate for the winter.

Human infrastructure such as motorways and railroads is a major driver of bear habitat fragmentation - the creation of wildlife underpasses and overpasses across busy roads, linking isolated populations, can mitigate the negative effects of human encroachment.

Policies and frameworks such as the EU Platform on Coexistence between People and Large Carnivores, which operates under the legal guidance of the EU Habitats Directive, also support practical measures for enabling people and large carnivores to share space. The platform promotes international knowledge exchange and solutions co-developed with stakeholders.
Developing nature-based economies

As wildlife species such as bears make a comeback in Europe, measures to manage problems and mitigate conflict are important. Yet rewilding takes things to the next level by fostering more than the simple tolerance of wildlife.

By supporting the development of nature-related businesses, and thereby helping to generate income through the appreciation – rather than exploitation – of wild animals, rewilding can enrich rural economies and generate passion for and pride in the resurgence of nature.
Working with nature

In the Central Apennines of Italy, for example, beekeepers who are using bear-proof fences to safeguard their hives are marketing their honey as "bear-friendly" – a label that tells a story of respect for wildlife and pride in living alongside it, grounded in mutual benefits for people and nature.

And in the Velebit Mountains of Croatia, a fresh and sustainable approach to managing wildlife (including bears) – which is based on wildlife watching, rather than the traditional practice of hunting – is supporting a gradual resurgence in the area's spectacular wildlife and driving the development of a burgeoning nature-based economy.

The brown bear in Europe

The brown bear (Ursus arctos) is the largest terrestrial mammalian predator in mainland Europe. With the largest geographical range of any bear, it is found across much of Europe and Asia. Historically bears could be found in a wide variety of European habitats, but they are now predominantly confined to forested, mountainous areas with minimal human activity. However, they can be attracted to human settlements and properties if they associate them with food.

The brown bear is strictly protected in the EU. Thanks to conservation efforts, bear populations are currently expanding in almost every European country where they exist. However, some populations, mostly in western and southern Europe, remain small and fragmented.

Bears in our rewilding landscapes

Brown bears are found in five of our rewilding landscapes – the Rhodope Mountains (Bulgaria), Southern Carpathians (Romania), Velebit Mountains (Croatia), Central Apennines (Italy), and Nordic Taiga (Sweden).

Eurasian Brown Bear

Brown bears have thick fur, which ranges from yellowish-brown to almost black, powerful bone structures, and large paws equipped with claws that can grow up to 10 cm long. A fully grown male typically weighs between 250 and 300 kilogrammes, while females are smaller. Bears are a highly omnivorous species, which feed opportunistically. Their diet consists of fruits, seeds, roots, insects, fish, mammals, and carrion. Except for mating and mothers with cubs, they are solitary animals.

rare bear above pear tree, wildlife photography

Subspecies: Marsican Brown Bear

The Marsican (or Apennine) brown bear (Ursus arctos marsicanus) is a critically endangered subspecies of brown bear found mainly in the Abruzzo, Lazio, and Molise National Park and surrounding area in the Central Apennine mountains of Italy. With just over 60 individuals remaining, it is classified as critically endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The Marsican brown bear population has been isolated for centuries and has evolved unique physical characteristics and behaviours that sets it apart from other brown bears.

Thriving together: Bear-Smart Communities in the Central Apennines

In the Central Apennines of Italy, the Rewilding Apennines team and their local NGO partner Salviamo l'Orso launched the first "Bear-Smart Community" in 2015, in the small town of Pettorano sul Gizio.

By employing practical solutions that reduce human-bear conflict and generate economic value from the presence of Marsican bears and other wildlife in the landscape, the development of this community is helping local people and bears thrive together.
To make a community “bear smart”, the Rewilding Apennines team employ a range of measures. Some of these, such as the installation of electric fences, distribution of bear-proof bins, and the restoration of abandoned orchards located away from villages, are about preventing bear-related damage.

But the team go beyond this by supporting the development of nature-based businesses that benefit from the presence of wildlife, particularly the Marsican bear. This way, people living in the landscape not only feel an emotional connection with bears as part of their natural and cultural heritage, but are also incentivised to support their recovery because they are deriving socio-economic benefits from them.
Building on their initial success, the Rewilding Apennines team are currently creating a network of 16 such communities across the landscape, as part of an initiative to develop multiple large-scale wildlife corridors. Bear-Smart Communities play an essential role within these corridors, enabling bears and a wide range of other wildlife species to move safely between protected areas.

To enhance engagement with local stakeholders the Rewilding Apennines team are working with municipal councils to establish committees in each Bear-Smart Community. These committees, which foster dialogue and shared decision-making, include representatives of all the main local stakeholders groups, who meet regularly to discuss issues in the landscape connected with all wildlife species and wilder nature.
The wildlife-smart community model has huge potential for scalability across Europe and Rewilding Europe is working to replicate it in other rewilding landscapes, with other focal species such as European bison and Iberian wolves.

On the Greek mainland, as part of the same initiative to develop multiple large-scale wildlife corridors for bears in the Central Apennines, efforts are also underway to develop Bear-Smart Communities in the municipalities of Amyntaio and Trikala-Meteora.
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Angelina Iannarelli / PNALM

Help us support bear comeback in the Central Apennines

The Bear-Smart Communities of the Central Apennines are showing that it’s possible for people and bears to not only share landscapes, but to thrive together, offering a hopeful and practical way forward for other parts of Europe where bears are returning. Help us to support the development of these communities by supporting the Bear Fund, which was established by the Rewilding Apennines team.

Contribute to the Bear Fund

Bear recovery

The return of the bear

Today, Europe's brown bears are distributed across 10 populations. Monitoring data shows that these populations have generally remained stable or increased over the past few decades. According to the Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe (LCIE), bear populations increased in the Dinaric-Pindos, Alpine, and Cantabrian regions between 2012 and 2016.

The Scandinavian population, which had rapidly increased in size between 1990–2008, is now being actively managed to decrease abundance. Over the winter of 2024/2025, the Swedish government sanctioned the killing of more than 500 bears, with the aim of reducing the bear population to the defined minimum level of 1400 bears.

Currently, four out of 10 European brown bear populations are listed as critically endangered by the IUCN.
Drivers of recovery

Between 1960 and 2016, Europe's brown bear population increased by 44%. The overall increase in abundance and distribution of brown bears in Europe can be attributed to changes in public attitudes towards nature, resulting in a range of conservation actions. Stronger legal protection has also been a major factor in the recovery of the species. Other factors, such as research and monitoring, increasing public awareness and education, stakeholder engagement, compensation schemes, habitat restoration, and measures to enhance coexistence and connectivity, have also contributed to brown bear comeback.

The comeback of bears in many parts of Europe means human-bear encounters are becoming more frequent. This is why finding ways that enable people and bears to share space and thrive alongside each other is increasingly important.
Bear populations across Europe

Today, Europe's brown bears are distributed across 10 populations. Monitoring data shows that these populations have generally remained stable or increased over the past few decades. According to the Large Carnivore Initiative for Europe (LCIE), bear populations increased in the Dinaric-Pindos, Alpine, and Cantabrian regions between 2012 and 2016.

The Scandinavian population, which had rapidly increased in size between 1990–2008, is now being actively managed to decrease abundance. Over the winter of 2024/2025, the Swedish government sanctioned the killing of more than 500 bears, with the aim of reducing the bear population to the defined minimum level of 1400 bears. Currently, four out of 10 European brown bear populations are listed as critically endangered by the IUCN.
Bears & humans

The European brown bear is generally less aggressive than the North American grizzly bear. However, there have been cases of brown bears injuring or killing people, which can greatly impact tolerance, although such incidents remain extremely rare. Human-bear challenges often arise when bears associate human settlements with food.
Bears & livestock

Brown bears are known to kill livestock - as they prey on sheep, cattle, goats, and horses - and damage crops such as maize, grain, fruit orchards, and beehives. Education about the real numbers of livestock predated by bears can reduce tensions and enhance public perception.

In Sweden, for example, which has a population of around half a million sheep, an average of about 100 sheep are killed by bears annually. Solutions for reducing bear predation on livestock and mitigating conflict include improved land-use planning, use of electric fencing, enclosures and guardian dogs, and effective compensation schemes.