Search warrants reveal dozens of dead animals, animal body parts seized from Virginia zoo

Publish date: 2024-05-11

ROCKBRIDGE COUNTY, Va. (WSET) — The Virginia Attorney General's Office has released the warrants for the investigation at a zoo in Rockbridge County, and what's in them is quite disturbing.

Wednesday was the first day of an investigation launched by the Attorney General's Office's Animal Law Unit, with help from Virginia State Police at Natural Bridge Zoo.

"We have an animal law unit that works on animal cruelty cases when requested by the Commonwealth’s Attorney or law enforcement," spokesperson Victoria LaCivita said Wednesday morning.

The warrants describe what investigators took from the premises of Natural Bridge Zoo, which includes 95 living animals, dozens of dead animals, and several animal body parts.

The search warrant, which was filed in the Circuit Court of Rockbridge County Friday, reveals authorities are investigating charges of care of companion animals by the owner, care of agricultural animals by the owner, and cruelty to animals.

According to the warrants, a sizeable number of the animals they seized were dead, including a white tiger that was euthanized during the investigation.

Zoo owner, Debbie Mogensen, previously told WSET that Zeus, a 12-year-old white tiger who lived at the zoo, had been euthanized. The Attorney General's Office says the tiger was euthanized with the consent of the owners to humanely end its suffering.

Debbie's daughter Gretchen, who is a facility representative and zookeeper, said Zeus was sick and wouldn't eat, and that they had a vet caring for him. She said she was there for the tiger's death.

I was not only there, I was the person who cared for him from the time his eyes first opened as a newborn to the last time his eyes closed on [Wednesday]," Gretchen said.

The warrants do not reveal if the other animals were already dead when authorities arrived, or if they were euthanized during the investigation.

A hearing has been scheduled for December 20 in the Rockbridge County General District Court.

The following living animals were seized:

The following deceased animals, animal parts, and property were also seized:

On Wednesday a volunteer at the zoo spoke out against the situation, saying the grounds for the investigation were baseless.

"They get the best of the best as far as food, hay, water, care, all of that. I truly get to see how their food is prepared every day, how everything's broken down, and who is taking care of what animals. Every single animal, every day, gets the utmost care and attention," said Lara Watson, who volunteers at the zoo and has been with the animals for 25 years.

The Natural Bridge Zoo says on its website that its main purpose is to propagate and raise threatened or endangered species.

Many uninformed, but well-meaning people, believe that all exotic animals belong free in their natural habitat. What they don’t realize is that in many instances, the wild habitat has been degraded due to lumbering, poaching, agriculture, and human encroachment. We, at the Natural Bridge Zoo, have been breeding threatened and endangered species for over 50 years," reads a statement on the zoo's website.

But critics of the zoo's practices say those goals come at the animals' expense.

Debbie Leahy, Senior Strategist of Captive Wildlife at the Humane Society of the United States, said the investigation is warranted, and that action against the zoo needs to happen.

"Justice for these animals is long overdue and this pitiful roadside zoo needs to be recognized for what it really is – profit in exchange for the inhumane treatment of animals and a constant public safety risk," Leahy said.

This isn't the first time Natural Bridge Zoo has been in hot water for how animals are treated at the facility. Among other controversies over the years, the zoo was slammed with several violations from the USDA in 2017. Some of the "repeat violations" recorded in the 2017 report included the treatment of the elephant named Asha kept at the zoo.

“The appalling and archaic conditions at Natural Bridge Zoo should fill every American with shame that this roadside atrocity is allowed to keep Asha the African elephant alone from all others of her kind for years in deplorable conditions”, said In Defense of Animals Elephant Scientist, Dr. Toni Frohoff at the time of the USDA report's release. “Forcing this majestic elephant to give rides is not only cruel for the elephant, it poses a serious and unnecessary health and safety risk to the public.”

Gretchen said Asha is currently at a veterinarian in Florida.

The investigation is ongoing.

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