Natural Bridge Zoo's 100 animals remain in state custody after Rockbridge hearing
This story is part of our ongoing coverage of The Natural Bridge Zoo's legal problems starting with a Dec. 6, 2023 search warrant. To catch up from the beginning, click here.
LEXINGTON – Deceased animals, uncleaned cages, overbreeding, hybridization, and potential federal drug charges were among the topics during a Wednesday hearing in the state's case against the Natural Bridge Zoo.
The civil case, set in Rockbridge County General District Court, will decide if Karl and Debbie Mogensen will be allowed to keep the now 96 animals currently in the state’s care, as well as four giraffes. A motion was approved to change the number of animals from 95 to 96 in the hearing, as one of the monkeys had a baby while with the state.
Michelle Welch, sporting a lavender jacket, represented the office of the attorney general, saying the zoo was "misery behind the scenes," keeping some of the animals in a "dungeon." The defense was represented by attorney Mario Williams, who called Welch's language "hyperbolic."
Law enforcement executed a search warrant looking for animal abuse and animal bodies on Dec. 6. Twenty-eight animals were removed from the zoo as a result of the search, including endangered species and animals that needed to be further investigated. State experts left behind action plans for the approximately two dozen animals left in the care of the zoo.
A deceased goat caught investigator’s attention
Sgt. Christine Boczar, an animal cruelty investigator with the Powhatan Sheriff’s Office, was called to the stand. Boczar went to the zoo twice before Dec. 6, seeing a deceased goat in a pen with other goats. Boczar testified that the goat appeared “dead and bloated” and the other goats “didn’t want to get near it." During the hearing, the state played a video of goats looking at the deceased goat, seemingly afraid to get any closer.
Williams pointed out that the goat could have died recently, and staff had not yet discovered it. However, Boczar estimated seeing the goat around 11 a.m., about an hour after the zoo opened. In her experience, “if it looked stiff and bloated, it had been there a while.” Boczar noted staff would have seen the goat had pens been inspected before the 10 a.m. opening. The goat's body remained in the pen for several hours during her first visit to the zoo in October. It was not present for her second visit in November.
The giraffes have not been removed due to transportation issues
Asha the elephant and four giraffes were not taken on Dec. 6. Testimony confirmed Asha was not on the property during the warrant search. The four giraffes there could not be removed due to the special skills necessary. According to expert testimony, there are only five giraffe transporters operating in the country that could move the animals at all, especially in the current weather temperatures.
Of the four giraffes, one was male. Zoo staff kept the male away from the others, a makeshift form of birth control. Inside, the male stayed inside a cage in the giraffe barn, given one to two body lengths to move around. Amy Phelps, a giraffe expert with 25 years of experience, testified the male would pace in a circle, traveling counterclockwise in its enclosure, over and over. “He’s bored. There’s nothing else to do,” she told the court. The path he created was visible in the video evidence from the state. Both of his front feet were overgrown, resulting in pain.
The females were able to go outside, but exhibited stress behaviors such as mane plucking each other and odd tongue movements. Phelps said the animals were fearful when investigators approached, an uncommon response for animals sometimes fed by the public and properly cared for. The females’ hooves were overgrown – the state showed a video of one high stepping to avoid the pain of walking on overgrown hooves.
Phelps said it was “difficult to breathe” in the barn due to the smell. She did not see any working ventilation. The barn did have heat when it was closed, but not if the doors were open as the females came and went. Both Phelps and Darren Minier, an expert in exotic animal care and zoo management who works for the Oakland Zoo in California, recommended the giraffes be taken from the zoo.
'Difficult to call Natural Bridge Zoo a zoo'
A calendar was found during the search. On it, one giraffe is noted as having given birth in late October. By Dec. 3, the giraffe was pregnant again. Another giraffe was marked down as having given birth in late September and was pregnant again in November. Minier noted the females were overweight, “likely due to repeat breeding.” Baby giraffes were not included in the list of seized or unseized animals.
Phelps explained that giraffe calves often stay with their mothers for at least a year if not two. They are raised as part of a herd, with mothers, aunts, and even non-related females raised alongside their mother.
In another part of the testimony, it was noted that two serval (a type of large cat) kittens had been sold.
“I think it's difficult to call Natural Bridge Zoo a zoo,” said Minier. He testified to what he saw as a focus on propagation over the lives of the animals. He pointed to the fact that many animals didn’t have names, such as one monkey who “chewed her hand off,” but didn’t have a name. Two different species of monkeys, red and white ruff lemurs, had been bred together, making hybrid babies. Minier explained that conservation aims to preserve, not combine, species, and the mixing suggested a potential profit motive.
'I’ve never seen this in 25 years of zoo management.'
The search warrant mentioned an ibis, a type of bird with a curved beak, several times. Pictures of the bird were shown in the courtroom as part of state’s evidence. The bird’s top beak was over 30 degrees warped away from its bottom beak. Boczar again noted the bird was smaller than its peers and not able to eat properly.
A reccurring issue highlighted by testimony was the treatment of exotic species as if they were agricultural animals. Minier explained domesticated species have a greater tolerance for certain types of enclosures. An example might be the straw at the bottom of a chicken coup – instead of changing the straw out, a new layer is sometimes placed on top. Zoo staff is alleged to have done this for many animals, such as in the cage of a ground hornbill bird kept in one of the zoo’s buildings.
The covered cage only allowed the hornbill to move “one to two” body lengths. The one uncovered side of the cage had approximately six feet of visibility – not enough for the bird to monitor its surroundings for incoming threats. The bird is prey in its natural environment, and Minier testified that it spent his time there frozen in fear of what it could hear but not see on the other, covered, sides of its cage.
Several tortoises lived in one ground floor enclosure inside of a building. Around them were piles of fresh and “caked” feces from different bird species kept in elevated cages. The birds, whose curiosity and intelligence was compared to toddlers, had taken up plucking their own or their cage-mate’s feathers, “a type of self-mutilation," Minier explained.
Staff allegedly fed the tortoises lettuce, placing it directly on the ground with the feces. In another part of the enclosure, “days” worth of monkey urine pooled, with lettuce and monkey food floating in the dark water.
“[The smell] clogged your throat,” Minier said about entering the building. “I’ve never seen this in 25 years of zoo management.”
Dead bodies stored in the walk-in
Investigators found animal bodies stored in bags, tarps, and even a trash can, inside of a walk-in freezer on the property. The bodies were stored alongside food for animals and food for humans, such as barbeque.
Bodies were found on so many shelves that a ladder was needed to access the top shelves in order to get them down. The total number of animal bodies is unknown, and law enforcement left some at the zoo due to space.
How the animals died is currently uncertain because state necropsy (animal autopsy) reports are not yet complete.
“You don’t know if this is a violation of the law?” Williams asked Taylor.
“I don’t know,” Taylor responded.
The warrant listed seven serval, one Kuvasz dog, one llama, five cranes, one de brazza monkey, one alligator, one red-ruffed lemur, one guenon (monkey), one mandrill, one grey-crowned crane, two ground hornbills, one white-faced capuchin, one green-winged macaw, one sitatunga, one gibbon, one Burmese python.
The tiger's euthanization took an hour
A white tiger was euthanized during the law enforcement raid due to illness.
In a federal court filing, Williams wrote that the state investor’s "ineptness led to the torture and killing of said white tiger.” According to Virginia State Police Special Agent Gabrael Spencer’s testimony, the zoo’s manager signed off on the euthanasia.
The first injection was made at 2:35 p.m. After five total injections, the tiger’s time of death was 3:23 p.m.
Spencer testified the zoo’s manager, and daughter of Karl Mogensen, Gretchen Mogensen, was allowed to stay and even assisted with the euthanasia, speaking and touching the tiger as it happened.
According to the necropsy, the tiger had several different forms of cancer, including in the spleen and intestines. The disease had progressed to the point of giving the tiger intestinal blockage.
Gretchen Mogensen was initially present for the hearing but asked to leave by the court because she could be called as a witness.
Controlled substances found unsecured
Medication prescribed for animals was found in several unsecured places around the zoo. Five vials of ketamine, a federally controlled substance, were found. Gabapentin, a controlled substance in Virginia, was found unsecured.
According to Roberto Rodriguez, an agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), any more information about the case was unavailable due to an ongoing investigation.
Taylor testified medications were found prescribed for an animal that had passed away before the prescription date.
Defense wants more time
On Monday, Williams entered a virtual courtroom, hoping to delay the Wednesday hearing. He filed a complaint against Welch, requesting injunctive relief and a temporary restraining order. During the hearing, he asked the Rockbridge County hearing be delayed, saying he had an inadequate amount of time to mount a defense. He noted there were over 2,000 documents the state provided to their defense team.
“Would we love six months? We would love 90 days,” Williams told the federal judge.
At the center of the discussion were finances. The state is using civil forfeiture in Rockbridge County to seize the animals of Natural Bridge Zoo. For now, the state is paying for their upkeep and medical care. Should the state win the forfeiture case, the animals could be sold to other institutions in better position to take care of their needs. If the Mogensens and Williams lose, then appeal the case, they would have to cover the financial cost of the state taking care of the animals.
The judge did not grant the injunction before the end of the hearing and did not stop Wednesday’s hearing. Before the hearing began, the attorneys were called into a private session, where a motion in Rockbridge County General District Court to continue the hearing was denied.
Williams, however, will get more time. The state’s case and the defense in Rockbridge County will take place over the course of two days. The first was Wednesday, Dec. 20, while the next is to take place on Jan. 5. This will give him over two additional weeks, even if time is limited during the holiday season.
No ruling was made on Wednesday.
This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Natural Bridge Zoo's 100 animals remain with state after court hearing
