Bears that habitually use human food resources often lose part of their ability to obtain food from the wild. Such dependency is very unhealthy for the bear, and the constant interaction with people causes the bear to lose much of its habitual caution around humans. (Contrary to what you might have been told, most bears really don't fear humans, but they usually know they must be careful.) Such a bear (in the case of a black bear) all too often ends up becoming an intolerable pest that must be disposed of. In the case of a grizzly, such a bear can end up showing predatory responses to humans, and must be quickly killed before it ends up killing someone. This is the sort of grizzly that sneaks into a campground at night and preys upon a sleepiing camper.
Food habituated black bears, on the other hand, rarely show any predatory tendencies towards people. Predatory black bears are usually deep wilderness animals that have had little or no experience with humans. The food habituated black bear becomes a problem through persistent theft and vandalism. Some have become accomplished muggers, experts at intimidating hikers and campers into giving up their food by applying a very shrewd understanding of human psychology. Others become skilled at burglery of homes and breaking and entering vehicles. When a black bear gets to be too brazen, it is either killed or (rarely) gets a quick trip to a zoo. Once a bear becomes a real problem, it rarely changes its fatal career.
Thus, the saying you see at every national park, "A Fed Bear is a Dead Bear". Rangers really hate to have to shoot a bear that has been seduced into delinquency. They say it really tears you up to look into those gentle brown eyes and pull the trigger. This is why they are often so stern with tourists they catch breaking the rule. This is also why they insist that visitors properly store food out of easy reach of the bears (just ask for a pamphlet) and why they constantly warn campers about storing food in their vehicles. In recent years, campgrounds have installed bear-resistant trash bins, and areas near forests have made their trash dumps inaccessible to bears. The long-term experience of Yellowstone has shown that bears do far better in the long run and are healthier if they don't rely on human garbage as a food resource.
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