Virginia authorities are seeking physical custody of four giraffes seized in early December from the Natural Bridge Zoo.
Special prosecutor Michelle Welch, a senior assistant attorney general who leads the office’s animal law unit, filed a motion Tuesday in Lexington/Rockbridge County General District Court requesting physical possession of the giraffes.
The motion came in the wake of a judge’s decision on Friday that upheld the seizure of the giraffes and 56 other animals (or 57, counting a capuchin monkey that was born to its pregnant mother in the interim) already impounded by law enforcement in a Dec. 6 raid of the roadside zoo in Rockbridge County.
Judge J. Gregory Mooney’s decision returned to the zoo’s custody 39 other animals, including an array of lemurs, exotic birds, reptiles, hooved stock and one Kuvasz dog.
Both Welch and defense attorneys Mario Williams and Aaron Cook have appealed last week’s split decision.
The giraffes — a male named Jeffrey and three females, Valentine, Wrinkles and Little Girl — remained in the custody of Natural Bridge Zoo owners Karl and Debbie Mogensen despite their seizure “because the four giraffes could not be safely moved off the property at the time of the search warrant,” the motion said.
“As this court found that the Mogensens cruelly treated or inadequately cared for the giraffes, the County is now respectfully requesting to take physical possession of these 4 giraffes in order to alleviate them of the cruel and inadequate conditions,” Welch continued.
Williams, the Georgia-based attorney for the Mogensens, said he is appealing Friday’s decision because his clients felt the court had not adequately considered the case of each animal, including the four giraffes.
“You went onto a property and wrongfully took, at least according to this judge, 40 to 45 animals that should not have been taken,” Williams said. “We are hoping for a much different result when we can appeal to the conscience of those seven jurors.”
Welch’s appeal, meanwhile, questioned the other side of the split decision. She is requesting that the cases of the 39 animals returned to the zoo be reexamined in a jury trial. Those animals spent the last six weeks being cared for by the animal law unit’s group of rescue partners. The attorney general’s office declined any further comment on the case, citing the ongoing investigation.
A hearing is set for Feb. 1 in Rockbridge County Circuit Court.