Thirty-nine of the 95 animals impounded by Virginia law enforcement in a December raid will be returned to the custody of Natural Bridge Zoo, a Friday afternoon ruling in Rockbridge County General District Court concluded.
Judge J. Gregory Mooney upheld the seizure of the other 56 animals under section 3.2-6569 of Virginia law, which allows the Commonwealth to impound any animal that “has been abandoned, has been cruelly treated, or is suffering from an apparent violation … that has rendered the animal in such a condition as to constitute a direct and immediate threat to life, safety or health.”
Friday’s ruling came following three days of hearings in December and January in which the court heard testimony from 16 witnesses, most of them experts in areas of animal care and zookeeping, regarding zoo owners Karl and Debbie Mogensen’s treatment of the creatures in question. Mooney made clear that the ruling is not a judgment on “overall conditions and practices at Natural Bridge Zoo,” but rather the application of the animal abuse and cruelty laws on the books as specifically applied to the animals seized in the December 6 raid.
Virginia law enforcement determined at that time to seize nearly 100 animals from the Rockbridge County zoo on grounds of animal abuse and cruelty. Many of the animals were removed that day, and one, a 12-year-old tiger named Zeus, was euthanized on site due to poor health.
Two red ruffed lemurs, three black-and-white ruffed lemurs, six ring-tailed lemurs, 15 macaws, two pink and grey cockatoos, two Burmese pythons, two ball pythons, one skink, one mini donkey, one donkey, two llamas, one sheep and one Kuvasz dog will be returned to the Natural Bridge Zoo. The decision did not specify when or how the 39 animals will be returned.
The animals that remain in state custody are 12 white-faced capuchin monkeys, four brown capuchins, six cotton-top tamarin monkeys, two gibbons, two sacred ibis, three ground hornbills, one kookaburra, four Amazon parrots, one sulphur-crested cockatoo, one serval, five red-eared sliders, one painted turtle and 14 tortoises. Those animals have been rehomed at a number of facilities around the country, including the Cincinnati and Oakland zoos.
Four giraffes slated for state custody continued to be housed at the zoo at the time of last week’s hearings. The ruling did not outline the state’s plan for their care going forward.
Mooney outlined the challenge of inspecting the cases of 95 different animals in his decision.
“In evaluating the evidence,” the judge wrote, “the court found it necessary to review the proceedings a number of times, in part because of the number of animals impounded.”
The ruling came a week after attorneys submitted written final arguments to Mooney. The state’s case, led by special prosecutor Michelle Welch, who heads the attorney general’s Animal Law Unit, rehashed its presentation of evidence and expert testimony from the three prior days of hearings in its final argument while downplaying the defense’s witness testimony.
“Defense witnesses clearly only had access to highly curated information and hadn’t been given all of the photos from the scene,” Welch wrote in her argument. “Many of them had not seen highly relevant records and ended up testifying in direct contradiction of those records. None of those experts knew Virginia law.”
The state contended it was the only side to present evidence to the condition of the animals prior to and at the time of the raid, saying the zoo “introduced almost no evidence whatsoever of many of the factual claims about the care the animals were receiving.”
By contrast, the zoo’s argument criticized the state’s case as “cursory examination” of the animals at the time of the search warrant that failed to provide a complete enough picture of the animals’ care to warrant seizure. Attorneys Mario Williams and Aaron Cook also questioned the state’s lack of video evidence and contended that lab results from parasite testing were not abnormal for the species in question.
“The government rushed in, performed minutes assessments [sic], hoping that later lab results would support their hasty and ill formed decisions,” the defense wrote. “To the opposite, the lab results supported clean bill of health [sic] for these animals, and so did the body composition scores. … [T]he government simply disrespected the law.”
The court withheld ruling on the state’s motion for reimbursement of care costs for the impounded animals until the state provides receipts. Welch requested $103,200 in her final argument.
The court denied the state’s request for unannounced inspections of Natural Bridge Zoo over the next five years.
Williams said the defense plans to file an appeal for a jury trial on Monday. The Attorney General’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday afternoon.