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A post-trial hearing scheduled in the Natural Bridge Zoo case for this past Monday, June 10, has been continued, by motion of the defense.
In early March, at the end of a sixday trial in Rockbridge Circuit Court, a jury determined that ownership of 71 of the 100 animals seized during the December 2023 search of the zoo would be transferred to the state (legally the county of Rockbridge), while the remaining 29 would be returned to the zoo.
The hearing Monday was to have determined how much zoo owners Karl and Debbie Mogensen would be required to pay toward the cost of care for the 71 seized animals awarded to the government.
A continuance motion was filed due to a death in the family of one of the zoo’s attorneys. With no objection from the government, Judge Christopher Russell signed the request for continuance on Monday.
Prior to the continuance, a filing in Rockbridge County Circuit Court last Tuesday, June 4, laid out the Mogensen attorneys’ objections to the government’s requested cost of care.
In this document, Erin Harrigan, attorney for the Mogensens, says that government had at first set the cost of care at $118,343.
However, Harrigan writes, “On May 2, 2024, the county submitted a new order and affidavits allegedly supporting $234,048 for the cost of care of 71 animals from the date seized to June 10, 2024.”
She also writes that $366,747 was requested for an appeal bond.
In the document filed last week, Harrigan returns to some of the arguments made earlier in the case.
“Additionally, [the Mogensens] renew their objections set forth in their filing of March 28 as this court should not use a statute designed for disposition of companion animals and livestock to permit the forced ‘donation’ of extremely valuable animals like giraffes and capuchins without any compensation of that value to the business that owns the animals,” she writes.
The government’s “rescue partners,” or the facilities where the animals were placed after seizure, are also questioned.
“The county cherry picked the facilities to take the seized animals, not caring about the cost of care, transport fees, or reasonable market rates,” writes Harrigan.
“The county failed to consider the prevailing market rate and did not provide evidence that any of its selected rescue partners warranted a deviation from prevailing rates.”
The document goes on to break down daily cost of care provided by the government, and asks the court to reduce the cost for many of the animals.
For example, it asks that care of the hornbills be reduced from an average of $62 a day to $10.50 (per animal) a day, and that care of the ball pythons be reduced from $4.13 to $3.07.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the government had not responded to last week’s filing.
Another hearing has been scheduled in Rockbridge County Circuit Court for Aug. 26.
