ASHEVILLE - In 2007, the Buncombe County animal shelter put down more than 60 percent of the dogs and cats it took in.

That figure shocked animal welfare advocates, including Denise Bitz, a nurse who cashed in her entire $42,000 retirement savings to form Brother Wolf Animal Rescue. Bitz said the shelter had "some of the most substandard conditions that one could think of," with "perfectly adoptable animals" losing their lives.

In the nearly 10 years since, the fledgling nonprofit has risen to become a big player in local animal welfare, helping the county increase its "save rate" to 90 percent, caring for up to 600 animals at a time and planning a $5 million animal sanctuary.

But with the sanctuary now more than two years behind schedule and new plans to close the well-known adoption center and cut staff, concerns are being raised about how changes at Brother Wolf could strain the local animal welfare network and put pressure on donors and taxpayers.

The sanctuary, as described — with in-house vet care and rehabilitation areas — should be a quantum leap from the renovated industrial building now used for the adoption center. But what happens to the thousands of animals Brother Wolf takes in annually, including more than 1,400 in the last six months, is the concern of many.

"I'm just worried the animals are going to be left out in the cold, in terms of closing Brother Wolf and increasing kill rates," said former foster owner Tara Sawyer.

Bitz and the head of the Asheville Humane Society, which runs the county shelter, have said they are preparing for the change and that the quality of care for animals will not decrease. After the closure, adoptions through Brother Wolf will be handled through its foster care network and probably a "transitional facility," Bitz said.

'Truly remarkable transformation'

A decade ago, the county shelter's save rate was 36 percent, according to figures from the humane society, which has run the facility since 1990.

Tracy Elliott, who became humane society director in 2015, said back then there were too few resources to save "sick, injured or older animals."

"So they were euthanized," Elliott said.

Bitz said given what they had, humane society staff and volunteers "were doing the best they could." But she thought she could do more.

That's what spurred her to cash in her retirement. Using a system of volunteer foster care, Brother Wolf took in animals that would otherwise be put down.

What happened over the following years was stunning, both in terms of animal welfare and the growth of Brother Wolf.

The nonprofit reported $52,000 in donations in 2008, according to federal 990 tax forms filed with the IRS, as required of most nonprofits.

Brother Wolf opened an adoption center the following year. It would later expand permanent programs as far afield as Virginia. The center with room for up to 120 animals, along with those programs and surrounding foster networks, allow the group to now care for up to 600 animals at a time.

Paid staff rose to around 80 with hundreds of more volunteers. Brother Wolf hired director Paul Berry, former CEO of Best Friends Animal Society, a high-profile animal sanctuary that draws thousands of visitors to its Utah location. Berry was given an initial salary and benefits of nearly $86,000, according to federal filings.

Anonymous donors that year gave Brother Wolf 83 acres of land off Turkey Creek Road in Leicester. At the time, county records show the property was worth $602,000.

In 2015, the latest federal filings available, the organization took in $2.3 million in donations, a more than 4,000 percent increase from 2008. That was despite not having a full-time fundraiser.

Bitz said she believed support poured in "because people really believe in the work that we're doing — and also the regional reach, the fact that we started helping other communities."

The group announced plans in 2015 for the $5 million sanctuary for the land in Leicester. Construction was to start that summer.

A year later, the nonprofit conducted disaster rescues in South Carolina and Louisiana.

Meanwhile, in Buncombe, the new county shelter reached a milestone save rate of 90 percent with Brother Wolf as a key reason.

Elliott called the euthanasia reduction, "a truly remarkable transformation."

"What has been achieved for the compassionate treatment of animals in Buncombe County should be a source of pride for all of us," he said in a March opinion piece for the Citizen-Times.

The humane society director credited "enlightened bipartisan leadership" among county commissioners. That came with at least $25 million from donors and taxpayers over 10 years, as well as the work of the humane society and other animal welfare groups, including Brother Wolf and the Humane Alliance, a high-volume spay-neuter nonprofit that became part of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Friction

What has drawn a lot of attention lately in some circles, though, is friction between Bitz and former volunteers, donors and employees.

People on both sides agree the blowup started with a decision by managers to put a pit bull back in the home of a former owner in McDowell County.

Former foster owner Jamie Lynn opposed the move to put "Callie" back with an owner who Lynn said had left the animal to be euthanized.

Lynn, a psychotherapist tapped by Brother Wolf as a "foster ambassador" to handle home visits and other responsibilities beyond foster care, said she was "fired" after an email exchange with managers.

About 20 foster owners have either quit or been asked to leave since March with Callie's situation serving as a catalyst, she said.

She and other former foster owners and a former employee interviewed by the Citizen-Times said they feel volunteers and staff have generally been mistreated.

"I would say it is a lack of respect to the humans involved. And a lack of compassion to the foster parents," Lynn said.

Jessi Moll, the former employee, said a Facebook exchange between Bitz and her mother — the former foster owner Sawyer — led to Moll being "forced to resign."

Bitz responded that the dissatisfaction has come from a "small, loud group of disgruntled former volunteers, fosters and employees" who don't like change, such as the new NeighborCorps program.

The program puts the focus on keeping pets in homes, avoiding the expensive and traumatic move to a shelter.

The humane society runs a similar program that offers help to any county pet owner and also focuses on neighborhoods with high rates of animal surrenders, said director Elliott.

The idea is to give resources to owners, including training, encouragement and assistance with medical issues, Bitz said. In the pit bull's case that included getting her spayed and building a fence.

"Not everybody is perfect, but the reality is, if we want to save all these pets, we have to meet people where they are," she said.

Bitz said she believes other conflicts came after the organization shifted to veganism and included farm animals in sanctuary plans.

"Some people are very opposed to our farm animals stance," she said.

She called the charges about Moll's resignation "absolutely false" and said she "was saddened" to hear the former employee say it.

There has been turnover, Bitz said, but she described the number of people leaving and new hires arriving as healthy.

Pay and benefits are a factor, she said, noting Brother Wolf doesn't help with health insurance and that is something she'd like to change.

"My dream is that we can pay all of our employees a competitive salary," she said.

Along those lines, in 2015, Berry took a pay cut of more than $10,000, according to federal records, dropping his executive director's salary to $75,000. That was part of a decision agreed to by Berry to put money into other positions, Bitz said.

Berry's wife also draws a salary as the planned giving manager, Bitz said, but described it as "embarrassingly low" for the work she does. That salary is not included in federal filings, which only require reporting of pay and benefits for top paid staff and board members.

Bitz's 2015 pay was listed at $42,640. She lives on the sanctuary land, but described it as extra work, not a benefit, since she takes care of the farm animals and continues to pay a mortgage on an East Asheville home.

Sanctuary

Announced in 2015, the latest plans for the sanctuary call for 220 spaces for dogs and cats, 100 more than the adoption center. The sanctuary is planned to feature a dogs village and dog park, a cats village and cat cafe, areas for rescued farm animals and a learning center for "humane education" and youth programs. Also planned are guest cabins for visiting volunteers.

One of the most important features would be a veterinary clinic, helping reduce travel time to vets and cutting in half the $40,000-$60,000 Brother Wolf spends on monthly medical bills.

Original plans called for the adoption center to stay open.

But that changed with a recent announcement that the center would shut its doors as early as Aug. 21.

A shift in the animals they were seeing was the reason, Bitz said. Rather than easily adoptable pets, they were getting more animals needing long-term care and possibly behavioral training before they could be sent to homes. That is actually a "high-class problem" to have, she said, because it means the more easily adopted animals were being surrendered at lower rates.

The center is in a cramped former industrial building near Oakley and is noisy, making it not the best setting for emotionally scarred animals, she said.

There will be layoffs with the closure, she said. That could mean a quarter of the Asheville staff of 65-70 being let go. When the sanctuary reopens, laid-off employees will get priority for the new jobs, Bitz said.

There's no hard and fast closure date because they're not sure when the center and surrounding properties will sell and if they'll be able to lease them while the sanctuary is being built.

Originally scheduled to break ground in the summer of 2015, the $1.2 million first phase of the sanctuary is now expected to be completed in June.

Setbacks were primarily due to an amount of permitting and planning that wasn't expected, Bitz said.

The group also failed to get a $500,000 county hotel tax grant for which it applied twice. The Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority didn't pick the project because TDA members said the sanctuary wouldn't bring enough hotel business.

In 2016, board members along with Bitz and Berry decided to divert fundraising from the sanctuary to helping get pets out of disaster areas in places such as Louisiana and South Carolina.

Former foster owner Sawyer criticized that decision, saying the focus should have remained on local animals.

"We all want to save all the animals in the world, but we have to realize what our limitations are," she said.

Bitz defended the move, saying they believed it was what Brother Wolf supporters wanted and that no funding for current programs was affected.

The construction planning was more of a setback, she said, since even if they had gotten the grant or more donations, the money "would have been sitting in the bank waiting."

They have gotten other support, she said including a reduced rate for roofing by a local contractor, an "amazing deal" by prefab home builder Deltec and free work by a civil engineer.

Barbara Gardner sits on the Donald C. Jones Foundation, which gave $400,000 for the sanctuary in 2015, and said she has no problem with the delay. The foundation also purchased land for Brother Wolf as part of its small complex of buildings next to the adoption center and installed a fence and watering system. The nonprofit plans to sell that land along with the adoption center, something Gardner said is the prerogative of Brother Wolf.

"Denise and I are in communication quite often and I have no problem with her plans," she said.

Ripples

The immediate concern for animal welfare advocates outside Brother Wolf has been the effect the changes could have on the rest of the county's unwanted pets and strays.

Brother Wolf has said it is slowing down the number of animals it's taking in, avoiding accepting more difficult cases requiring longer-term care.

That could mean more animals coming into the county system, which took in 5,448 animals over the last 12 months.

In the first half of this year, Brother Wolf took in 1,435 Buncombe animals, according to the nonprofit's figures.

"That's a lot," said Elliott, who noted Bitz contacted the humane society about the change. His organization is gearing up for a higher flow of animals, though it's not sure how many.

Elliott has vowed that any higher numbers won't mean an increase in kill rates.

"If they are healthy or able to be rehabilitated and are not a danger to the community, then they will be adopted out," he said.

That could mean higher costs, though, for donors and taxpayers. Nearly a third of the humane society's $3.1 million budget is funded by local government. The rest comes from donations.

This year, before news of the Brother Wolf closure, county commissioners agreed to increase the humane society's part-time vet to a full-time position, something that will definitely help, Elliott said.

Other programs to reduce the county's intake, such as neighborhood outreach, should be beneficial, he said. Those programs have already had an effect on the numbers that in years past reached 10,000 animals annually but since have been nearly cut in half.

Bitz said she hopes the transition will be smooth and said if they are able to grow their foster network, it could actually mean Brother Wolf is able to increase rather than decrease its intake.

The original hope for the sanctuary was that it would allow Brother Wolf to help an additional 1,200 animals each year avoid being put down. Now, Bitz said improved sanctuary plans could more than double that number.

"It will increase our capacity overall when we are here because we will have more physical space," she said.