ASPCA awards Brother Wolf $1 million to rebuild Asheville center
Brother Wolf Animal Rescue got a $1 million ASPCA grant to rebuild its Asheville adoption center on Tunnel Road, a move that could restore more in-house pet placements after Helene.
A $1 million ASPCA grant gave Brother Wolf Animal Rescue a major lift in its effort to rebuild a permanent adoption center in Asheville, a move aimed at restoring the rescue hub that Hurricane Helene destroyed in floodwater. For Buncombe County, the money is less a windfall than a bridge from survival mode back to a functioning animal campus.
The award, announced June 17, is tied to Brother Wolf’s rebuild at a new Tunnel Road site, the former Black Dome Mountain Sports building near downtown Asheville. Brother Wolf bought the building in May and said the ASPCA funding will help push forward its vision for a “vibrant, lifesaving space” where animals can find safety, care and homes for years to come.
That matters because Brother Wolf has spent much of the past year operating without a permanent home after its Glendale Avenue campus was destroyed in September 2024. The nonprofit evacuated 100 animals in two hours before Helene hit, then moved 150 more to safety afterward. In the weeks after the storm, it provided free veterinary care to 1,272 pets whose families were affected by the disaster.
The rebuild could have real consequences for how quickly animals move through the county’s rescue network. Brother Wolf said it serves as more than an adoption center, with pet retention work, a low-cost mobile spay-neuter clinic, shelter-transfer partnerships and a foster network that helped carry the organization through the storm. Cause IQ reported that Brother Wolf placed 1,175 animals into adoptive homes in 2024, with 234 active volunteer foster homes and about 70% of animals in care spending time in foster homes.
Founded in 2007, Brother Wolf says it has saved 100,000 animals over the years. Restoring a permanent adoption center on Tunnel Road would give Asheville a more centralized place for intake, fostering and adoptions after months of operating in recovery mode, and it would strengthen one of Buncombe County’s most visible animal-safety nets.
The ASPCA has made Brother Wolf part of a larger Helene response, saying its relief effort included 88 grants totaling more than $3 million. For Asheville, the question now is not whether the money is welcome, but how quickly it turns into a rebuilt center, more capacity and a faster return to full service.
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