Helotes-based WF Exotics alleges in a lawsuit filed last week in San Antonio that an Arizona zoo backed out of a deal to sell it two giraffes after the zoo got a better offer from Boerne’s WildLife Partners.SAN ANTONIO — It’s a bit of a stretch to imagine San Antonio as the setting for a fight over giraffes.
“The zoo is under new ownership and management,” Kristy Hayden, president of Worldwide Wildlife Zoo, Aquarium & Safari Park in Litchfield Park, Ariz., said in an email response to questions. “With that, it has been decided to not sell animals to anyone or any facility that is not USDA regulated. WF Exotics does not meet that criteria.”But in its complaint, the company says the zoo’s claim is “false, misleading, and fraudulent.
Brian Gilroy, WildLife Partners’ CEO and co-founder, declined to comment on whether his company had any role in the dispute. WildLife Partners breeds and sells exotic animals at ranches in Central and South Texas. Gilroy also is studying the possibility of building a $500 million safari park on San Antonio’s South Side. The company is not a defendant in WF Exotics’ lawsuit.