By Margaret Beimdiek
A Rockbridge County judge rejected a request by the owners of the Natural Bridge Zoo to disregard evidence provided by two confidential informants who told state authorities that animals were being mistreated.
Circuit Court Judge Christopher Russell instead went ahead with plans to hold four-day jury trial on Feb. 26.
Russell also denied a request by Debbie and Karl Mogensen to bring 100 animals that were seized on Dec. 9 back to Virginia. “I’m not too persuaded that the animals outside the jurisdiction need to be here,” the judge said.
He also told Mogensens’ attorneys that their request to allow experts they’ve hired to examine the animals was “irrelevant” because they’ve been in the care of other zoos and shelters for the past two months and are unlikely to look the same as they did when they were removed from the zoo more than two months ago.
The 100 animals that were seized were transported to shelters and zoos all over the United States.
Pretrial hearing
Attorneys for the state and the zoo appeared in court on Wednesday for a pretrial hearing to argue whether the search and seizure of the 100 animals from the zoo was legally justified. Russell ruled that a jury will decide.
Both sides also are appealing a Jan. 19 decision by District Court Judge Gregory Mooney that led to 61 animals being taken from the zoo, including four giraffes that were left there but were legally impounded.
Mooney also ruled that there was not enough evidence to conclude that the remaining 39 animals had been mistreated. But the 39 animals have been removed from the zoo and relocated to shelters and other zoos across the country.
Zoo owners Debbie and Karl Mogensen want all 100 animals returned to them. The state wants custody of the remaining 39 animals.
During the pretrial hearing, attorneys for both sides focused on an affidavit by Sgt. Christine Boczar, a member of the Powhatan County Sheriff’s Office, and Amy Taylor, an investigator for the Virginia Attorney General’s office. State prosecutors used the affidavit to convince a Powhatan County circuit court judge to approve the search warrant for the zoo.
Armed with the warrant, state police and other investigators searched the zoo on Dec. 6, when they observed signs of animal cruelty and neglect, according to court filings.
Attorneys Aaron Cook and Erin Harrigan, who represent the zoo, told Russell on Wednesday that the search was unconstitutional. They argued that the affidavit misled the Powhatan County judge into approving the search warrant.
Confidential informants
The affidavit relied heavily on two confidential informants: a former employee who worked at the zoo for six months last year, and another person who pretended to be a member of a public who was visiting the zoo.
Harrigan attacked the credibility of the informants. She said she believes the former zoo employee was working undercover for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
“It should have been disclosed,” she said. “We believe that that individual was being paid by an animal activist organization, PETA, to work undercover and to surreptitiously film.”
Prosecutor Michelle Welch argued the former employee was credible because the evidence was caught on camera. “The video talks about the elephant sleeping and standing in its own urine,” she said.
The defense also argued in court filings that the state prosecutors had “fabricated probable cause” by failing to tell the Powhatan County judge who authorized the search warrant that the zoo had a “recent record of immediately remedying any alleged deficiencies brought to their attention.”
In court filings, the Mogensens said the zoo has been subjected to thorough inspections by agents of the U.S. Department of Agriculture since its opening in 1972.
For example, they said, an inspection in June 2023 revealed only one “non-critical” violation that involved the public feeding of animals without adequate staff on hand to oversee interactions between visitors and the animals. In an inspection in January 2023, an inspector cited the zoo for only one “non-critical” violation over the shelter in the enclosure for muntjac deer. The violation was corrected during the inspection, court filings said.
Welch said the USDA inspection standards don’t apply and are much lower than requirements set by the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources.
Russell took issue with the fact that Rockbridge County authorities were not informed of the raid in advance and that the search warrant was approved by the Powhatan County judge.
Welch said authorities deliberately decided to go outside Rockbridge County for approval of the search warrant because the Mogensens have a connection to local law enforcement.
“We were doing this, so no one was tipped off, and in the end, they were tipped off,” she said.
Welch said the Mogensens moved the elephant that the former employee had videotaped to Florida just before the search occurred.