October 20, 2026
Full Text from Asheville Citizen Times Op-ed
What Dolly the bear taught me about public safety
The Citizen Times’ coverage of Dolly the bear came from the public safety reporter. That got me thinking about what public safety really means.
We usually think of public safety in physical terms: police and emergencies, safe streets, severe weather. But it also means being able to share your truth and speak up for what you care about without fear of backlash.
I started a petition for Dolly, who was slated to be put down, because I was distraught, and because many Beaverdam Valley neighbors were too. Some weren’t sure what to do. Some didn’t want to put themselves in the public eye. Others had been told it was the only option. Even neighbors who’d had run-ins with her didn’t want her to die.
Not everyone felt the same way. Some neighbors understandably feared for their families and wanted a swift resolution; a few called for culling the bears. Many felt the bears were here first and should be left wild. My graduate work in Appalachian Studies gave me deep respect for this region’s culture, and as saddened as I am by hunting, it has always been part of it. As a mother, a wildlife advocate and someone who loves Southern Appalachia, I found myself somewhere in the middle.
I wanted to make room for every view. But with a mother bear’s life hanging in the balance, speed was of the essence. I was nervous to put my name on it, but more scared to let her story, or her death, pass without scrutiny, and to miss a chance to improve outcomes for bears and people alike.
How we come to the table about one bear is a microcosm of how we handle any complex issue our community faces. We’ll have plenty of chances, if we feel safe enough to show up.
More than 20,000 people signed. The Wildlife Resources Commission listened. I was told the governor’s office got involved, though it never made a public statement. Should she be caught, Dolly will go to the N.C. Zoo until a permanent sanctuary placement is found, and her cub, Wendell, will be released in the national forest. She doesn’t have to die to teach us a lesson about coexistence, but we can’t keep making bears pay for our trash.
I learned I don’t have thick enough skin for public advocacy, but I’m willing to try, because I want my child to know I fought for a more humane, compassionate world, where anyone can speak up for what matters to them.
I learned there are people in the shadows sending kindness, and people who will cheer you on publicly. I also learned how hard it is to be judged by a headline, and it reminded me that there’s always more to someone’s story. Still, I found my village. That was everything.
Someone told me that change starts with one person, and that this time, that person was me. I shared an idea and was met with overwhelming kindness and respect — even from people who disagreed with me. That’s what public safety can look like: a community where it feels safe to speak, and safe to disagree.
Most of us notice things worth speaking up about: drivers speeding past the bus stop, dangerous intersections, open trash cans teaching wild bears where dinner is. Many of us stay quiet, worried about being seen as troublemakers, about upsetting neighbors, or that our voices don’t matter.
A community where people stay quiet isn’t a safe community. It’s just a quiet one, until something goes wrong. I hope that as we tackle hard issues, vote or talk with neighbors, we create a place where people feel safe sharing their truth, and offer them grace if at first they whisper or stutter, until they find their full voice.
I want to live in the kind of community Wendell Berry, for whom I named Dolly’s cub, has spent his life writing about: one where people love their place enough to speak up for it, and love their neighbors enough to listen.
October 15, 2026
Dolly is still a wild, urban bear
It’s been a month since Dolly was “pardoned,” but she has not been caught. She’s out and about and while she is still looking for food in some wrong places, (so people should continue locking and securing doors, trash, and being BearWise especially during this season of high appetites)— she’s also been seen eating acorns, chestnuts, and healthy natural food sources peacefully. Yay for a wonderful fall mast.
In my many conversations with NCWRC leadership, they have confirmed that If they are able to catch her safely in a trap, they will relocate her to zoo temporarily, or if she can be darted . Her cub will be assessed and a decision made at that time as to his management, but due to his learning behaviors from his mama, they may relocate him to National Forest where his siblings were taken over a month ago. They have been careful to say all of this, and the words matter.
They told me if she was aggressive she’d be gone by now, but their are a lot of safety considerations with a bear in a residential setting, so while they aren’t hunting her down (thank goodness); they are absolutely keeping track of her whereabouts and responding appropriately.
For anyone interested in our ongoing campaign inspired by Dolly, to push for better infrastructure and systems to support our communities, there is a public hearing next week, Oct 21 at AB Tech. It is to discuss the new emergency rule to prohibit bear feeding in Buncombe County which was passed unanimously by the WRC Board of Commissioners earlier this month. As of now that rule is a temporary 90 day rule, but the WRC (and my) hope is that we work to make it permanent. It would be a huge win for bears, the WRC, and the community.
My hope at the beginning of my campaign, and still, is that no matter how Dolly’s story evolves, we keep the pressure on while we have the attention of the state and local decision makers to ensure change and support for peaceful coexistence. Ask your candidate for local positions how they will support this process! Elections are here! And in the meantime I hope we can all just keep doing what we know keeps bears from getting habituated and so comfortable seeking out food in human spaces, be kind to one another, and be kind to the wildlife who share our home.
September 17, 2026
DOLLY HAS BEEN PARDONED.
I have been sitting with this news for two days, and I still don’t quite have the words.
In a conversation today with Brad Howard, Chief of the Wildlife Management Division at the NC Wildlife Resources Commission, I asked him directly: “So, yesterday if you’d caught her, she would have been euthanized — but today, if you caught her, what would happen?”
If she was caught today, she’d be given a second chance.
He told me I could share that we’ve spoken, and that if Dolly is caught, the North Carolina Zoo has agreed to take her. She would be given an adjustment period of a year, after which they’d determine whether that’s the best long-term place for her. The hope is that she’d integrate into their bear habitat. If not, they will look for other suitable options.
He was also honest with me, and I want to be honest with you: there is always the unpredictable. She is still a bear, living in the “wild” of Asheville. Public safety is a factor, and there are no guarantees. But relocating her to the zoo is the goal — and that goal did not exist a few days ago.
I want to be clear about something: “Pardon” is my word. It isn’t part of the NCWRC’s vocabulary, and I don’t want anyone to think they’ve used it. When I say pardon, I mean that Dolly has been given the opportunity for a second chance. My hope and prayer is that she can be safely captured and relocated to the zoo.
The North Carolina Zoo has an incredible reputation for its conditions, its work with animals, and it is still not the perfect option, but in our imperfect system, it is an incredible opportunity for Dolly to have her second chance. Each of us do hard things every day, and should it work out, this transition will be stressful and difficult for her, but it will be hers, and I hope with every fiber of my being that it works and she adjusts. I hope her success will lead to a different opportunity in the future for habituated bears.
But here’s the thing. We can’t keep habituating bears.
This is an incredibly unique and exceptional opportunity, made possible by our collective efforts. This is not something that can be a new precedent, or a new approach to wildlife management and public safety. We must do better.
I also want to be transparent about Wendell. He will not go to the zoo. Dolly was pardoned, and Wendell will be wild. While I ache at this news, I trust the NCWRC is making the right choice for him. He’ll stay with Dolly until she’s caught, and then he too will be relocated to National Forest lands — with the hope to place him where his two previously trapped and released siblings are. As a mother, it pains me. But bears relate differently than we do, and cubs aren’t meant to stay with their mothers forever. When I asked Brad about it, he said, “The cub will get to be a wild bear” — living among wild food sources, safely away from human development.
An article ran in the Asheville Citizen Times today, and I want to acknowledge that it came out before this news had fully made its way to our boots on the ground here in Buncombe County. News travels fast, and I want to be sensitive to that. I have not shared anything I was asked not to share, and I look forward to hearing directly from the Commission and the Governor’s press office as this continues to unfold, to better understand some of the conversations that they have been having, but it is my understanding that the Governor’s office was listening, and his team has been in conversations with NCWRC. Another win, especially with an upcoming election year, that when our voices rise together, we can elevate the causes that are important to our communities.
I also want to say something about Ashley Hobbes, who was quoted in that Asheville Citizen Times article. We don’t see every part of this the same way, and I think that’s okay. I agree with much of what she said, and more importantly, I believe we share the same hope: that we can work together on real, lasting change in how Buncombe County and the city of Asheville approaches BearWise practices and bear management. That work is just beginning, and I want to do it alongside her, not across from her. Ashley’s passion and expertise has been inspirational to me.
My hope is that everyone who has collaborated, listened, engaged, and shown up for Dolly and Wendell will keep doing so — because the next big hurdle is in front of us now: making our residents, our communities, our visitors, and WNC’s bear country genuinely safer, for people and for wildlife alike.
To every single one of you — the more than 20,000 who signed, who called, who wrote, who shared, who showed up: this is yours. Thank you. Truly.
More soon.
With gratitude,
Hannah