The major proximate threats facing bears are probably:

1) Excessive human caused mortality through direct killing (legal control permits or poaching), often motivated by conflicts, or from traffic accidents. Capture of wild cubs to become dancing bears has been a frequent problem in the Balkans in the past, but appears to have been stopped.

2) Fragmentation of habitat due to habitat destruction or the construction of roads and other barriers. In Europe, bear distribution is tightly linked to forest cover, and only forested areas can host bear populations or serve as dispersal corridors. These need to be identified and protected.

3) Infrastructure.  Continental Europe is a crowded continent, with a very extensive infrastructure system of high-speed highways and railways. In some regions (e.g. Spain and Slovenia) these hinder contact between populations and contribute to bear mortality. Efforts to build underpasses or overpasses (so called "Green bridges") appear to have been successful, for example in Croatia.

4) Habitat degradation.  Forestry practices can have varying affects on bear populations. In the boreal forest habitats of Scandinavia, clear-cut logging has had no major effects on bears (see articles by Swenson et al.), however, in more deciduous forests where mast is an important food source, any changes to the forest composition could have more severe effects. However, a major threat from forestry also lies in the increased human access to bear habitats resulting from road construction, as well as through habitat change.

5) Artificial food sources are often exploited by bears. These include feedings sites to aid in hunting and human garbage disposal sites. Although such food sites are an important part of the management strategy of countries such as Slovenia, frequent use of these sites by bears may lead to habituation and the development of problem behaviours.

6) The demographic and genetic viability of the smallest remnant populations is probably very low because of their small size and isolation.

7) Public attitude will greatly influence the future for bears in Europe. Bear management that has negative effects on people will not be successful in the long run. Human dimensions research and public education programs are starting to become an important part in the conservation programs of most European countries that contain bears. Public involvement in management will also become more relevant in the future.

8) Fragmentation of management authority is a potential danger for species that occur at low population density and roam over large home ranges. With increasing democracy there is a tendency to pass more responsibility for wildlife management down to more local levels. Without effective co-ordination this can lead to severe problems for population level management. Effective bear conservation requires co-operation that covers administrative units at all scales, including the international level.