The Town of Farmington Holds a Meeting in Light of Shalom Wildlife Lawsuit

Down a rustic dirt road covered by pine trees, in West Bend, WI, tucked away are tigers, moose, and all other kinds of animals. A place meant to educate visitors about nature and wildlife has been part of a dispute that is now headed to court in August 2026.

There are over 800 animals that roam the property of Shalom Wildlife Sanctuary, which has been in operation since 1995 by David and Lana Fetcher. The Sanctuary has not known peace for the last few years, with arguments with neighbors now escalating to lawsuits spanning across multiple parties. After lawsuits filed against Shalom and the Town of Farmington in February 2025 over the reissuing of the zoo’s conditional use permit, the Town of Farmington held a meeting on Nov. 6, 2025, to discuss amendments to its zoning code and the zoo’s fencing.

The Town of Farmington Meeting

The meeting was packed with community members, anticipating what would be decided in regards to the zoo that many of the community members have shared their support for.

“The amendments do a couple of things,” Attorney Michael Bauer said at the meeting. “They clean up some technical updates to the code to be compliant with state law. It also addresses the main challenge in a lawsuit brought against the town.”

Bauer continued to describe how the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the Town of Farmington are alleging that Shalom Wildlife does not have the legal authority to operate under the current zoning code.

“This ordinance specifically addresses that and defines ‘zoological activities,’” Bauer said. “The next section of the ordinance makes zoological activities permitted uses.”

Bauer also specifies that the ordinance only applies the animal limitations to acreages of less than five acres.

The changes were not approved at this meeting, but were sent forward for recommendation and further consideration by a unanimous vote of the board.

The board then moved on to a discussion of the fence dispute that is part of the tension between Shalom Wildlife and their direct neighbors.

“I’m sure you guys saw,” Chairman of the Plan Commission Mark Foyse said, “it looks like the two parties are starting to talk and are negotiating it. I feel that we should table it. Let them figure it out if they’re in negotiations right now.”

After concern from one board member about whether the parties can’t reach a resolution, needing to have a plan, Bauer said his recommendation as of right now is to focus on the fact that they are in current negotiations to let those occur until told otherwise.

The motion to table the conversation of the fence proposals was then unanimously voted in approval across the board members.

The Conditional Use Permit that the Town approved was initially applied for in November of 2024, with a listed reason of “agriculture/zoo, animal education… events including weddings/corporate/private.”

The CUP was discussed at large at the Dec. 10, 2024, Town meeting, with several community members bringing up concerns, including allegations that emergency vehicles would not be able to access the new venue, neighbors not being properly informed of the plans or of the town meetings to discuss the plans, a lack of permits from the DNR and a lack of permission from the WC Historical Society, given that the operations take place on historical property.

The minutes state the discussion was tabled for January 2025 due to the “unruly” crowd. 

Sides of the lawsuit

The side that is suing Shalom Wildlife Sanctuary and the Town of Farmington consists of Andrew Willetts, Leann Beehler, and their organization, created for the lawsuit, named “We Love Farmington U.A.”

The defendants being sued are The Town of Farmington and Shalom Wildlife Sanctuary, owned by David and Lana Fetcher.

In their lawsuit against the town, the first nature of action is to challenge the approval of the CUP by the Town on Jan. 14, 2025. The complaint alleges that “the review and approval of the CUP was made without almost any factual basis, allows the continuing use of a commercial Zoo that is not permitted under the Ag-1 zoning district that covers the properties, and also attempts to permit continued operation of the business despite the property being out of compliance with several enviornmental and public waters laws and regulations.”

The lawsuit continues to say that the Willets and Beehlers feel their properties are currently and will continue to be negatively impacted by the zoo operations and the planned operation of the event space.

It continues to allege that the zoo has been allowed to grow in size since 1995 because of its business operations, but that none of the individual parcels that make up the property were ever issued a CUP for the operations at the zoo until November 2024.

They express concern that the over 800 animals on the property could be “quite dangerous if not properly kept and cared for,” after alleging that the Zoo operations have been unregulated, especially in terms of land use and environmental impact. They also say that there is a “relatively flimsy wire mesh fencing or similar fencing used around several of the animal enclosures.”

The document states that the plaintiffs, as well as other neighbors, have tried to learn more about the proposed event space, but were given no information, citing that at one public meeting, the owner of Shalom Wildlife Sanctuary conceded “the details could be worked out later.”

Another main issue that the Willetts and Beehlers have is with the lights on Shalom’s property. Willetts has alleged in the lawsuit that the lights reflect off the pond that he owns between the two properties, shining into his residence. He also said that he has filed complaints with the Town about this issue, but it has not been resolved.

In an email to the Town Board of Farmington on behalf of the Plaintiffs from the DeWitt law firm, it is reaffirmed that the Willetts and Beehlers take issue with the Town Board attempting “to include the Buckley Property with the existing CUP by amendment without the Town Board conducting its diligence, determining whether the Buckly Property even qualifies for conditional use, putting in the public record how the Town Board has authority to amend an existing CUP to change the CUP holder or placing the appropriate conditions on the CUP.”

We reached out to the Beehlers, Willetts, and their lawyers for comment, but received no response.

In Shalom’s rebuttal, they said that they maintain and continue to maintain operations in compliance with all local zoning laws and conditional use permits.

“We are licensed/accredited by key regulatory agencies: the USDA, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and state-licensed veterinarians,” the Fetchers said in an email statement. “These government entities, with teams of experts including biologists, scientists, behaviorists, nutritionists, and animal housing professionals, determine the requirements for sanctuaries and zoos. We are evaluated by these institutions and professionals every year, and they provide us with our certification by issuing us our licenses. We continually exceed their standards via independent audits and are always innovating enclosures and care. Accreditation isn’t the only benchmark in evaluating animal care; our results speak louder.”

In response to facts regarding the claims at issue, Shalom denies many of the claims that the Willetts and Beehlers have presented in the case.

“Shalom Wildlife Sanctuary has been an institution in the Town of Farmington for many decades,” a comment on behalf of Shalom Wildlife Sanctuary, issued by their lawyer Matthew Fernholz, said. “This lawsuit, initiated by two of Shalom’s neighbors, threatens to shut down Shalom’s operations in their entirety.  My client has complied with all permits issued by the Town of Farmington, and we look forward to vigorously defending Shalom and its business so that it may remain operational for decades to come.”

Shalom has requested a trial by jury as of Sept. 29, 2025, which is set to begin in August 2026.

Community responses

Many neighbors and community members have felt discontent with the rising tensions and have shown their support for Shalom Wildlife Sanctuary.

“We’ve had neighbors fighting before around here,” local Alan Marx said, “but it is always over petty stuff. It’s really sad.”

According to the zoo’s Facebook page, neighbors are purchasing “We Support Shalom Shalom Wildlife Zoo” signs to place in their yards to show support that have been printed by Sheila Kruepke of Kruepke Printing. They have sold over 1,000 signs, according to Carrie Donald, a niece of David and Lana Fletcher, who helped to print the signs.

“My uncle was so blown away by the community’s generosity and compassion,” Donald said. “When he heard about all the support, he said, ‘It feels like I’ve died and gone to heaven!’ He is just so grateful.”

Other locals have shared their feelings about how far this dispute has gone and the inability to resolve it peacefully.

“It feels like a political statement,” Carol Marx, a grandmother who took her kids and now her grandchildren to Shalom, said. “‘We don’t like you, so now we’re going to eradicate you.’ I think that came from the top of our government down. You might have been here for 50 years, or you might have been born here. That doesn’t matter. We have moved into your area, we don’t like you, we want to eradicate you, and now, we’re going to.”

Oral arguments for the trial are scheduled to be heard in court on Aug. 12, 2026.