After more than a year, the two baby giraffes that went missing from Natural Bridge Zoo have been found.
According to a statement released by the Office of the Attorney General on Monday, the giraffe calves have been placed in a professional facility that specializes in giraffe care, and they are “safe and receiving proper medical and behavioral support.”
Due to an ongoing criminal investigation, details regarding where and how the giraffes were located have not been disclosed. Anyone with information that might assist in the investigation is asked to contact the attorney general’s office.
The giraffe calves were at the center of a charge of violating a court order filed against Gretchen Mogensen, the current owner of the Natural Bridge Zoo, last fall.
According to the charge, the calves were discovered to be missing in April of 2025 when inspectors from the attorney general’s office arrived to inspect the three female giraffes being held there. Two of the giraffes had been pregnant and it was discovered at that inspection that they had given birth, but the calves were no at the zoo.
Mogensen was ordered to reveal the location of the calves or spend 100 days in jail. She opted for the latter, reporting to the Rockbridge Regional Jail at the end of October and being released in February.
Last November, actress and animal rights activist Alicia Silverstone offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to the location of the giraffe calves.
Mogensen, along with former owners Karl and Debbie Mogensen, are facing multiple criminal charges of animal cruelty related to alleged treatment of animals at the zoo. Gretchen and Debbie Mogensen have also been charged with two counts of forging a public record.
Two other individuals are also facing criminal charges stemming from the investigation into the zoo. Ashley Spencer, a former veterinarian with the Blue Ridge Animal Clinic, has been charged with four counts of forging a public record, and Mark Easley, a former animal handler at the zoo who was responsible for care of Asha the elephant, has been charged with three counts of animal cruelty. Easley is scheduled to be arraigned today, June 17, and a hearing for several pretrial motions is also scheduled for all defendants has been scheduled for today.
Federal Suit Dismissed
The federal lawsuit filed by Karl, Debbie and Gretchen Mogensen was dismissed last week.
The ruling came following a motion filed on June 8 by Mario Williams, the Mogensens’ attorney, requesting that the suit be dismissed without prejudice “with consent of the remaining defendants.” The motion was granted on June 10 by Judge Norman Moon.
Among the defendants remaining in the suit were Rockbridge County as a municipality and Rockbridge County Commonwealth’s Attorney Jared Moon, both of whom had filed motions to dismiss the suit. Those motions were ruled moot due to the dismissal.
The suit, which was filed in December, alleged several violations of the Mogensens’ constitutional rights, primarily by attorneys and investigators with the attorney general’s Animal Law Unit, which has overseen the investigation and prosecution of this case.
Williams did not respond to a request for comment regarding the dismissal, nor did the attorney of record with the attorney general’s office.
Since the suit was dismissed without prejudice, it could be refiled at a later date. A previous suit filed by Karl and Debbie Mogensen in December of 2023, shortly after the initial seizure of the animals from the zoo, was similarly dismissed in January of 2024.
