North Carolina’s Top Court Leaves Fairytale Farm Sanctuary Zoning Restrictions in Place

North Carolina’s Supreme Court will not take up Fairytale Farm Animal Sanctuary’s challenge to Winston-Salem zoning restrictions, leaving an earlier ruling for the city in place. The outcome was reported October 23, 2026, and addressed by the sanctuary’s lawyers in an October 27 statement.

The case concerns where and how the nonprofit may operate. It is not an animal-cruelty prosecution or a finding that the sanctuary provided inadequate care.

Kimberly Dunckel and her family began operating Fairytale Farm in 2021 on their residential property. The Court of Appeals described the sanctuary as housing roughly 60 to 70 farm and small animals at a time while offering volunteer activities, education and fundraising events. That figure describes its operations in the court record, not a newly verified current census.

According to the April 1 appellate opinion, the city investigated after an anonymous complaint in January 2023. Officials concluded that the sanctuary was not a permitted use in the single-family residential district. The operators complied with the direction to cease sanctuary operations, and the city did not issue a formal notice of violation.

The court distinguished operating the nonprofit from keeping animals as personal pets. It also noted that sanctuary operations could be permitted in certain commercial and industrial districts, although moving would impose costs.

Dunckel challenged the restrictions under the North Carolina Constitution. The appellate court rejected those claims, accepting preservation of the neighborhood’s residential character as a legitimate purpose of the zoning rules.

In its filings, the city argued that zoning can prevent incompatible uses before measurable traffic, noise or other impacts occur. The sanctuary’s lawyers argued that its activities caused no harmful neighborhood effects and that the restrictions violated constitutional protections.

In the October 27 statement, Dunckel said the work would continue while she sought a suitable long-term home. No completed relocation was announced.

Why This Matters for Animals

Sanctuary care depends on suitable land and the ability to organize people and resources around animals’ daily needs. Restrictions on nonprofit operations can affect that work even when keeping animals as pets remains permissible.

The decision leaves a practical challenge: securing a lasting location for the sanctuary’s mission. The verified outcome does not establish a new seizure, an eviction of individual animals or completed placements elsewhere.

Source: Institute for Justice — Fairytale Farm appeal outcome and owner’s statement