Appalachian Bear Rescue has launched the BEARS ARE BACK IN TOWNSEND Campaign to continue rescuing orphaned and injured black bears in the Great Smoky Mountains and throughout Tennessee.
Letter from Executive Director Greg Grieco
Friends,
Without your support, our organization and our mission would not exist today, and there would be nowhere for orphaned and injured cubs from the Smoky Mountains to go. Our staff, our board members, and our cubs, present and future, are in your debt. From January 2025 to August 2026, we made the most of every single dollar via the Cubs Forever Campaign and your generosity. That overwhelming support fueled every bit of fence building, land clearing, cleaning, hanging, digging, designing, cutting, constructing, researching, engineering, and so many more monumental tasks that we had to complete to get to this point.
Together, we built a gold-standard facility. Now, it is time to ensure ABR’s world class rehabilitation system is there to help cubs in perpetuity.
We’re on our way. On July 28, 2026, Hemlock Bear (ABR #0427) was admitted into our care. Shortly after, four siblings came barreling in together (Redbud, Quince, Marsh, and Wintergreen Bears, ABR #0428-0431). Three weeks later, we reached our current maximum cub-capacity with the addition of Poplar Bear (ABR #0432). And, just like that, Bears are Back in Townsend!
Today, the return of cubs also means a return to 24/7 ‘round the clock cub care and facility operations. As you can imagine, it is a tad more expensive to operate a bear rescue with bears than without them. Moreover, we are working diligently to restore full operational capacity to our old wild enclosures to be able to house up to 18 bears on site at one time.
Once again, we turn to our incredible community–our ABR Family–to raise the bar for Appalachian bear cubs in need.
Launching today and lasting through New Year’s, our Bears are Back In Townsend campaign will bring more cub’tastic energy to our fundraising, events, merch, and rescue efforts than ever before. Our goal is to raise $400,000 through this holiday season. Those funds will guarantee that our facility and our staff will be ready and willing should any cubs or yearlings need our state-of-the-art services through the coming Winter and Spring.
While the origin, timing, and circumstances of the next young bear requiring rescue remain unknown,your continued devotion guarantees this absolute truth: Appalachian Bear Rescue stands prepared to answer the call.
We’re thrilled to embark on another wonderful, beyond worthwhile campaign with you all, and we hope you will join us at The Showroom in Maryville, TN on December 5th for our first gala event since 2019: The Black Bear Affair: In Memory of Tom and Bev Brosch.
Greg Grieco
Executive Director
Appalachian Bear Rescue