Built in a barn. Powered by 410 volunteers.

In the winter of 2014, our founder Maren Holloway converted a hay barn outside Asheville into a temporary shelter for nineteen dogs evacuated from a hoarding case in eastern Tennessee. Twelve years later, that barn is still standing — and it has helped place more than eighteen thousand pets into homes across all fifty states.

The Adoption Ark is a no-kill sanctuary focused on cats and dogs. We do not put a pet down for time, space, or convenience. We work in partnership with 47 municipal shelters across the United States, accepting transfers of pets who would otherwise be at risk for lack of room — and then we keep them, fed and loved, until the right family walks through the door.

Our team is small — four full-time staff and 410 volunteers — but our network is enormous. Veterinarians who donate their Saturdays. Foster families from Maine to Montana. The retired schoolteacher who reads to the cats every Tuesday at 4 p.m. The trucker who schedules his routes around transport runs. We are, in every sense, a community project.

What we believe

• No pet is unadoptable. The right human exists for every pet in our care. Our job is patience.
• Adoption is a conversation, not a transaction. We will ask you questions. We hope you'll ask us a hundred back.
• A family is for life. Once you adopt from the Ark, our vet line, training advice, and re-home support are yours forever.