North Carolina Will Allow Bear Hunting In One of 10 Mountain Sanctuaries

How idiotic. As the last sentence of this article says (even though written by a hunter) “the problem of more humans encountering bears is less about the bears than about developers building more housing in the woods.”

Also, look at this statement – “The bear population has rebounded and is probably "thriving too well…” Ok, then I guess that means they immediately need to allow bears to be killed? Not sure why a population doing well should lead to hunting.

Article:

N.C. opening bear sanctuary to hunters

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061016/ap_on_re_us/bear_hunt_1

Mon Oct 16, 9:12 AM ET

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.

The bear population has rebounded and is probably "thriving too well," leading to too much interaction between bears and humans, said Mark Jones, a wildlife biologist and the Black Bear Project leader for the Wildlife Resources Commission.

"To some extent, our program has been too effective, because we have too many bears in some areas," Jones said. "People can be resistant to change, but there's a need to take some bears off of some of these sanctuaries."

The state has 233,000 acres of official bear sanctuary lands in coastal areas and 262,000 acres in the mountains. Statewide, there are an estimated 11,000 bears, Jones said.

Bear hunting season opened in western North Carolina on Monday. Hunting in the Mount Mitchell Bear Sanctuary in Yancey County starts Thursday and will be allowed Thursdays through Saturdays during eight weeks this year.

Some local residents oppose lifting the ban.

Phil Sparks, a deer hunter whose home sits on two acres near the Black Mountain Campground, said the problem of more humans encountering bears is less about the bears than about developers building more housing in the woods.