By John Aguilar

Copyright denverpost

A few months after a fight between The Wild Animal Sanctuary and a home developer blew into the open this spring, the Keenesburg animal rehab haven has filed suit claiming that a years-old agreement designed to keep harmony between new exurban homeowners and a collection of nearly 1,000 lions, tigers and bears next door was violated.

In a lawsuit filed Friday in Weld County District Court, the 45-year-old wild animal sanctuary accused Wigaard Smith Estates, the developer, of breaching a 2010 agreement that required the construction of an eight-foot privacy fence and provision of an eight-foot protective buffer between the sanctuary and new homes.

It also gave the sanctuary a seat on the homeowners association so that potential impacts could be clearly communicated with future homeowners who would be living in a “medium-density residential subdivision in the middle of a rural area with the Sanctuary on three sides and a farm on the other.”

“TWAS’s concerns was and is that people would buy property in the proposed Development with no idea of the practical challenges from being next door to the world’s largest concentration of predatory animals, and that buyers taking without notice of those challenges would significantly increase — if not guarantee — friction with TWAS and, likely, litigation — to the detriment of TWAS and its critical zoological and ecological mission,” The Wild Animal Sanctuary wrote in its suit, referring to itself with an acronym.

Pat Craig, executive director of the animal sanctuary, aired his grievances on social media in May, stirring up outrage over the building plans. The developers, Sherry Wigaard and Velois Smith, said at the time that their lives were being threatened by supporters of the sanctuary.

“I’m 75 years old, and I’m getting bullied,” Wigaard told The Denver Post in May. “It’s devastating.”

The sanctuary is asking for a “permanent injunction” on construction going forward until Wigaard Smith Estates fully complies with the terms of the 15-year-old agreement.

Get more Colorado news by signing up for our daily Your Morning Dozen email newsletter.