For decades, some tribal members have kept bears in concrete pens across the Qualla Boundary, the 57,000-acre home of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina, charging tourists to see them. Now the tribe's own Tribal Council has voted to end that practice, but the fight isn't over yet.

In an 8-4 vote, the council passed an ordinance banning anyone from caging bears, along with other wildlife and livestock, anywhere within tribal jurisdiction. Owners would get a two-year window to find the animals new homes, and violators could face fines of up to $5,000. But the ordinance still needs one more signature to become law: Principal Chief Michell Hicks has yet to sign it.

For Cherokee Elder Mary Crowe, who wrote the ordinance, this is bigger than animal welfare. In Cherokee tradition, bears are seen as transformed relatives, once human members of the Ani-Taguhi clan who still gather each fall beneath the sacred mountain Kuwohi. Crowe says caging them reflects generations of cultural loss that began when boarding schools stripped Cherokee children of their language and beliefs. "We were cut from that spiritual connection when they first took our language away from us," Crowe said.

Chief Hicks and the Tribal Council have not responded to requests for comment on when he might sign the measure. Every day without his signature is another day these bears stay in cages instead of being rehomed.

Sign this petition urging Principal Chief Michell Hicks to sign the bear captivity ban into law now, before more bears spend another season behind bars.