Significance The persistence of large carnivores in human-dominated landscapes will become increasingly challenging as the human footprint expands. Here, we bring together long-term demographic and behavioral data on one of the worlds’ most conflict-prone species, the brown bear, to quantify the mechanisms facilitating human–carnivore coexistence. We found that human-dominated landscapes are highly lethal, especially to young bears, until they learn to adapt to people. As bears age, they avoid times when people are most active but do not strongly avoid where people live. To sustain human–carnivore coexistence under high rates of mortality requires the influx of animals from areas with low human presence (i.e., demographic rescue). Paradoxically, our work demonstrates that connectivity leads to both coexistence and conflict.