Brother Wolf announces plans to build animal sanctuary

LEICESTER – Brother Wolf Animal Rescue is embarking on a five-year plan to ensure no dog or cat gets left behind.

The nonprofit no-kill shelter announced Wednesday it intends to break ground this summer for a $4.9 million animal sanctuary that could hold up to 1,200 dogs and cats.

"Our goal is to help the community to go no kill, to target local animals losing their lives in local shelters," said Denise Bitz, founder of the nonprofit. "These animals can still be saved; they still have a great quality of life."

The Buncombe County Animal Shelter took in 6,574 animals last year — 1,109 were euthanized, 473 at the owner's request.

The Brother Wolf Animal Sanctuary is planned for 82.5 acres of farmland off North Turkey Creek Road in Leicester. The property, valued at $600,000, was donated to Brother Wolf last year by an anonymous donor.

The facility will provide critical care for animals so abused and neglected that they require longer-term, more specialized rehabilitation, Bitz said. The project will take at least five years and will be done in phases.

The first phase, expected to be complete early next year, will include a dog village with the capacity to hold up to 600 special needs dogs and a park with a pond and animal agility course. Brother Wolf will also build a veterinary clinic on the site.

The dog park will offer animals needing rehabilitation a space for structured play to learn from each other and their trainers, Bitz said.

Moving veterinary care to the site will also help Brother Wolf save money on animal care. The nonprofit shelter, which receives no government funding, spends around $30,000 a month in medical expenses. Over the long term, an animal clinic on the property will drop Brother Wolf's medical expenses in half.

Phase two will add a cat village for up to 600 cats, a learning center and guest cabins to the property. A welcome center, memorial garden and additional guest cabins will be built during phase three.

"The sanctuary will be a place for people all over the country and world to connect with animals," Bitz said. "It will be a place to come to heal and get better."

Bitz, a former nurse, decided to leave her career and focus on the work of Brother Wolf full time in 2010 after visiting the Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab, Utah. Best Friends operates one of the largest no-kill sanctuaries in the country. Its former CEO, Paul Berry, now lives in Asheville and works for Brother Wolf.

"People come to places like this and have life-changing moments," said Bitz. "This will be a sanctuary for animals, but it is a sanctuary for people too."

The idea is to focus on volunteer tourism and bring people from all over the world to work with the animals and help maintain sanctuary operations, said Berry, who is now the executive director at Brother Wolf. Some 30,000 people a year visited the sanctuary in Utah, he said.

Brother Wolf expects 20,000 human visitors in its first year of operation. By the time the full project is complete, it projects 50,000 annual guests.

The shelter needs to raise $1.2 million to finish funding phase one of the project. Last year, the Donald C. Jones Foundation offered to match up to $400,000 in funds. To date, Brother Wolf has raised $240,000.

Before his passing, Jones had been trying to build a dog sanctuary in South Carolina, said Andy Strauss, a lawyer at Asheville-based Strauss and Associates P.A. "(The Brother Wolf Animal Sanctuary) is very consistent with Don's vision of what he wanted to accomplish during his life — to have a village and care for orphaned animals that needed long-term rehabilitation. We're very excited. All of our prayers came true."

Brother Wolf Animal Rescue operates a 10,000-square-foot adoption center on Glendale Avenue. Typically, the organization is caring for 100 animals at its shelter and more than 450 in foster care. Operations on Glendale Avenue will not close, said Bitz. The sanctuary will just allow Brother Wolf to support additional animals.

Brother Wolf has taken more than 1,800 hard-to-place animals from the Buncombe County Shelter since 2007. "There are a lot of animals we don't take because we don't have capacity," Bitz said. "The sanctuary will help us to take even more."

Over the years, there has been a dramatic reduction in animal euthanasia in Buncombe County, partially due to partnerships among animal rescue facilities. Buncombe County Animal Shelter's live release rate was 89.1 percent in 2014. Ninety percent is a common threshold for being considered no-kill.

"Asheville Humane Society operates the county's only open admission shelter, never turning any local animal away. We do not euthanize for space and we never put time limits on any animal," said Tracy Elliott, executive director of the Humane Society, in a statement. "We appreciate the efforts of Brother Wolf as one of our rescue partners, who helped us place 443 of the 6,574 animals who came through our doors last year."

In January, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals announced plans to build a canine rehabilitation facility in Weaverville. Its $9 million, 35,000-square-foot indoor and outdoor center will focus on healing the psychological damage that afflicts abused and neglected dogs. The ASPCA intends to open its facility in 2017 and eventually make it a training institution for shelters and rescue groups around the world.

"We are very excited about working with our many animal welfare partners in Asheville and the future plans for more lifesaving efforts," Elliott added. "We feel confident that all of us working together can achieve a no-kill community."