The Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance made a splash last May with a “brand-new, state-of-the-art habitat” for sea lions, including a sixteen-foot viewing window, salt water pools and advanced filtration system.
Less than one year later, that same exhibit has dealt with multiple leaks and cracked areas, rusty cages and hardware, and peeling paint in the animal food preparation areas, according to a lawsuit filed in Denver District Court by the Denver Zoological Foundation, the nonprofit organization that operates the Denver Zoo.
The $19 million renovation took almost two years to complete, with the five sea lions transferred to zoos across the country in the meantime. But that process was delayed and made more expensive by design and construction failures throughout the process, according to the Denver Zoo’s lawsuit against the designer, BRS Architecture, and Vertix Builders, which led the exhibit’s construction…