ASHEVILLE - The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission is holding a public hearing to discuss a proposed temporary rulethat would make feeding bears in Buncombe County a crime.
Under the proposed rule, feeding bears would be a class 3 misdemeanor with a $25 fine, plus the cost of court, said N.C. WRC spokesperson Anna Gurney.
Subsequent violations within a three-year period would be a class 2 misdemeanor with a maximum fine of $1000. Any punishment, including jail time, would be at the discretion of a judge, Gurney said.
"The purpose of this rule is not to penalize but to protect people and wildlife, and officers will consider the circumstances before taking any enforcement action," Gurney said.
The public hearing will be held Wednesday, October 21,
2026, at 6 p.m. at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College Ferguson Auditorium, 19 Tech Drive, Asheville. Questions may be submitted in advanceonline and will be addressed at the start of the meeting.
An emergency rule with the identical language as the temporary rule went into effect for Buncombe County on Oct. 19. N.C. WRC can adopt an emergency rule without prior notice or public hearing when immediate adoption is required by "a serious and unforeseen threat to public health or safety," the commission said.
The temporary rule will take longer to go into effect, Gurney said.
The N.C. WRC Board of Commissioners will review public comments and consider adoption of the temporary rule at the December 2026 commission meeting. If adopted, it will go to the Rules Review Commission at their December meeting, Gurney said. If it is approved there, then the rule would go into effect Jan. 1, 2027. Temporary rules expire 270 days after they're published in the N.C. Register.
The public hearing comes amid an influx of human-bear interactionsreported to the N.C. WRC.
From May 1, 2026, through Sept. 30, 2026, the public and N.C. WRC staff reported 836 interactions with black bears in Buncombe County, with two injuries reported, according to data provided by the N.C. WRC Oct. 1. In one case,a person was injuredand had to receive medical attention at the hospital after a bear entered their home.
These interactions included 31 reports of people feeding bears, 271 reports of people feeling threatened by bears, 30 reports of a bear posing a real threat to people, two injured pets, five pets killed by bears, and 14 reports of bears consuming pet food.
Kara Fohner is the Public Safety Reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times. Email her at kfohner@usatodayco.com or call her at 980-241-8671.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Bear feeding to be addressed in public hearing
