By Cami Knott
Natural Bridge Zoo co-owner Gretchen Mogensen is now in jail after failing to turn over two missing baby giraffes to the state.
She turned herself in Wednesday to the Rockbridge Regional Jail to begin serving a 100-day sentence. Last month, Rockbridge County Circuit Judge Christopher Russell fined her $1,000 and gave her until Oct. 29 to return the giraffes or face jail time.
The case stems from a six-day trial in 2024, when a jury found that 71 animals at the zoo had been treated cruelly and that 29 had not.
The contempt ruling followed unannounced inspections by the Virginia Attorney General’s Office in April. The inspections were tied to a court order granting the state custody of several animals at the zoo, including four giraffes — two of which were pregnant at the time.
Mogensen refused to let investigators onto the property during three separate visits on April 7 and 8. When inspectors were finally allowed inside, the two newborn giraffes were missing, prosecutor Michelle Welch, director of the attorney general’s Animal Law Unit, wrote in a court filing.
County officials later confirmed with a licensed veterinarian that two giraffes had recently given birth. One of the mothers still had afterbirth on its tail.
Prosecutors said the baby giraffes were never turned over to the state as required and have not been seen since.
Russell ruled that Mogensen violated a court order requiring her to give investigators full access to the zoo and forbidding any animals from being concealed while the case continues.
“Gretchen asserted incorrectly that the court order did not apply to her,” the prosecutor wrote.