Outcry as North Carolina allows bear hunting in sanctuaries

Officials to allow bear-hunting in three sanctuaries due to increased human-bear interactions' - but opponents say plan is a disaster'

A decades-long ban on bear hunting in parts of North Carolina has been overturned by the state's wildlife resources commission, in a move that has sparked outcry from local residents and American animal rights groups.

The North Carolina commission voted to allow bear hunting in three bear sanctuaries, encompassing an area of 92,500 acres of mountainous forest in the southern US state. The sanctuaries, established to protect and preserve North Carolina's black bear population, are set to open to hunters later in 2022, despite thousands of people signing a petition against the move.