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Giraffe Move On Hold Appeals Court Issues Stay
Three o f t he f our g iraffes seized by the Virginia Attorney General’s office last December – and awarded to the state in a trial earlier this year – will remain in Natural Bridge Zoo for the time being following an emergency stay order issued by the Virginia Court of Appeals on Friday.
The order came just two days after Rockbridge County Circuit Court Judge Christopher Russell gave the state’s Animal Law Unit the green light to begin removing the giraffes.
The zoo’s four giraffes were among nearly 100 animals seized last December, and the only ones who remained at the zoo.
Following a hearing in Rockbridge County General District Court in January, Judge Gregory Mooney ruled that the giraffes and all but 39 of the other animals would be forfeited to the state.
Karl and Debbie Mogensen, the owners of the Natural Bridge Zoo appealed the ruling in a trial held in the county’s circuit court in March, at which time a jury gave custody of 10 of the animals originally awarded to the zoo back to the state. The giraffes were housed at the zoo during the entire process.
Following a post-trial hearing in August, Judge Russell ordered that the Mogensens pay nearly $200,000 to cover the costs of caring for the animals that had been awarded to the state and that the animals that had been rewarded to the zoo be returned to them.
At that hearing, it was reported that at least two of the three female giraffes were pregnant, which could lead to additional risks in trying to move them from the zoo. Russell requested an assessment of the risks of potentially moving the pregnant giraffes and a second hearing was scheduled for Oct. 2.
Attorneys for the state and the zoo each entered affidavits from experts that said that moving the giraffes came with risks, though the experts for the state concluded that leaving them in the conditions at the zoo was a higher risk to their health.
Emily Harrigan, the attorney representing the Mogensens, presented a proposal from Gretchen Mogensen - Karl’s daughter who, along with her brothers, took over ownership of the zoo last spring - to adopt the giraffes from the state, which the state’s attorneys refused to accept.
Russell noted that the giraffes appear to have been well-cared for at the zoo, and acknowledged the risks involved in moving the pregnant giraffes, but ultimately ruled that the risk fell to the owner of the giraffes, which was the state, allowing them to move forward with plans to move the giraffes.
The Mogensens’ attorneys filed a motion for an emergency stay of the execution of the final order with the Virginia Court of Appeals on Wednesday and supplied supplemental materials from the trial to the court on Thursday. The Court of Appeals granted the stay order on Friday, 4, meaning the three female giraffes won’t be moved for now.
The male giraffe, Jeffrey, had already been moved on Thursday. The attorneys for the state will have until Oct. 15 to file a response to the emergency stay, and the Mogensens’ attorneys will then have until Oct. 22 to file their response to that response. -Gretchen Mogensen livestreamed the efforts to load Jeffrey into a trailer through her Facebook page on Thursday. The stream drew a total of around 500 viewers and spanned the nearly seven hours it took to load Jeffrey into the trailer used to transport him.
During the live-stream, she showed security camera footage from inside the giraffes’ barn which showed the methods that were being used to load the giraffe. As the crew of loaders set up a make-shift corral to guide the giraffe out of the stall to the trailer, Jeffrey was isolated in the larger of the two stalls.
Once the corral was set up, the loaders opened the gate nearest the trailer, but despite approaching the gate several times, he wouldn’t go on his own. Around 1 p.m., several people with the Animal Law Unit’s team entered the stall with what appeared to be a large tarp or trashbag, waving it at the giraffe and laying it on the floor to reduce the space within the stall and guide him out to the trailer.
When that didn’t work, the team left the barn, with several people leaving the zoo to “use the facilities.” After returning, the crew shifted the corral into the smaller of the two stalls, all the while leaving Jeffrey in the larger stall, where the cameras showed him pacing and throwing his head back, which Mogensen noted was a sign that he was becoming stressed.
Around 4 p.m., Amy Phelps, an assistant zoological manager at the Oakland Zoo who has worked with the giraffes at the zoo for over a decade and was one of the key witnesses for the state on the treatment of the giraffes by the staff at the Natural Bridge Zoo, entered the stall with a Hot-Shot paddle.
Despite what the name would imply, the paddle was not an electrical device, but a plastic paddle full of small BBs that is used to guide and sort livestock. Phelps can be seen on the video waving the paddle at the giraffe to get him to move into the other stall. When he moved into the other stall, Phelps attempted to close the gate behind him, but Jeffrey turned to move back into the larger stall and was hit by the gate. Phelps then made another attempt to get Jeffrey out of the stall with the paddle, this time approaching from the other side and banging the paddle against the wall.
When that didn’t work, a different member of the crew entered the stall and was able to coax Jeffrey into the other stall without using the paddle, closing the gate behind him. Jeffrey then exited the barn and was loaded into the trailer. As the trailer left, Mogensen noted that she could hear him slamming around in the trailer and reiterated concerns she’d raised throughout the day of the lack of ventilation on the trailer.
“The closest thing to a risk to their lives was today, and not at our hands,” Mogensen commented as she concluded the livestream.
Throughout the day, no food or water was provided to Jeffrey, and the female giraffes, which were kept outside of the barn for the entire day, were also not fed on their regular schedule due to members of the zoo staff being prevented from approaching the enclosure. Water buckets were set out for the females, but they did not drink from them, which Mogensen explained on the livestream was because they were unfamiliar with the buckets as a water source. After the crew left and Mogensen was able to approach the barn, they found a large piece of a giraffe hoof that had broken off.
Throughout the live-stream, Mogensen noted that Senior Assistant Attorney General Michelle Welch who prosecuted the case, had not informed the Mogensens or the court where the giraffes were to be taken. In a post on her Facebook page on Saturday evening, Mogensen stated that she had been contacted by three staff members from the Georgia Safari Conservation Park in Madison, Ga., and was told that Jeffrey had arrived there, with one mentioning that his hoof “should be okay.” She said they wouldn’t provide any other details to her. The News-Gazette reached out the park, but was unable to confirm that any new giraffes had arrived in the last few days.
-Just after 2:30 on Thursday, the Virginia Attorney General’s office put out a press release which incorrectly identified the giraffe that had been moved as Wrinkles, the female that is not pregnant.
“Animal cruelty cases are the ones that break your heart,” Attorney General Jason Miyares said in the release. “Wrinkles the Giraffe and her family will find safe, loving environments who know how to care for them. My congratulations goes out to our Animal Law Unit for stepping up and bringing justice to Wrinkles and her playmates. Every Virginian with a heart looks forward to seeing Wrinkles in her forever home.”
The release also said that the relocation of the giraffes was “being handled by trained professionals in coordination with animal welfare experts and veterinarians to ensure the giraffes’ health and safety during the move.”
A criminal investigation into the Mogensens and Natural Bridge Zoo is ongoing, and it is unclear when charges will be filed, who will be charged, and what the severity of the charges will be.
The News-Gazette attempted to contact the Attorney General’s Office for a comment on the live-stream but received no response. Harrigan and Gretchen Mogensen also did not respond to requests for comments on the appeal.
