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Published on Monday, October 16, 2006
N.C. to allow bear hunting in sanctuary for first time since 1970
The Associated Press
BURNSVILLE, N.C.
State officials will allow bear hunting in one of 10 mountain sanctuaries for the first time since the areas were established in 1970.
Officials said they are opening up the Mount Mitchell Bear Sanctuary in Yancey County beginning Thursday because it has resulted in too many bears.
"To some extent, our program has been too effective, because we have too many bears in some areas," said Mark Jones, a wildlife biologist and the Black Bear Project Leader for the Wildlife Resources Commission. "People can be resistant to change, but there's a need to take some bears off of some of these sanctuaries."
The bear population since rebounding in the 20th century has boomed in North Carolina and is probably "thriving too well," Jones said, causing too much interaction between bears and humans.
There are about 7,000 bears on the coast and 4,000 in the mountains, Jones said. The state has 233,000 acres of official bear sanctuary lands in coastal areas and 262,000 in the mountains.
Bear hunting season opens in western North Carolina Monday. The hunting in the Mount Mitchell Sanctuary will start Thursday and be allowed on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays on eight weekends between now and year's end.
Some locals oppose lifting the ban.
Phil Sparks' home sits on two acres near the Black Mountain Campground. Sparks, a deer hunter, said the bears shouldn't be hunted now because they're trying to put on fat for the winter. He also doesn't like the practice of them being chased by packs of hounds.
"Running them with dogs is not any sport to me," said Sparks. "Dogs do the hunting and the hunters do the shooting."
He said the hunt is being allowed simply because more humans are encountering bears, due largely to developers putting more housing in woods.
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Information from: The Asheville Citizen-Times,
