By Cami Knott
Actor Alicia Silverstone is joining animal activists in offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the location of two baby giraffes missing from the Natural Bridge Zoo.
The zoo’s co-owner, Gretchen Mogensen, is serving a 100-day sentence at the Rockbridge Regional Jail for failing to turn over the calves to the state. Rockbridge County Circuit Judge Christopher Russell held her in contempt of court and fined her $1,000 for failing to tell officials where the baby giraffes were.
The calves disappeared in April during unannounced inspections by the Virginia Attorney General’s Office. The inspections were tied to a court order giving 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 newborn giraffes were gone, prosecutor Michelle Welch, director of the attorney general’s Animal Law Unit, wrote in a court filing.
A licensed veterinarian later confirmed both mothers had recently given birth. One still had afterbirth on its tail.
Prosecutors say the calves were never turned over to the state as required and have not been seen since.
By now, the giraffes would be about eight months old.
Silverstone joined PETA in offering the reward. She urged anyone with information to come forward.
“Tearing babies away from their distraught mothers is devastating for both, no matter what species they are,” she said in a statement. “These missing babies need specialized care, and every day counts in finding them.”
The actor rose to fame in the 1990s with appearances in “The Wonder Years” in 1992 and her breakout role in “Clueless” in 1995.
The contempt case is part of a broader legal fight over neglect at the roadside zoo. In a six-day trial in 2024, a jury found that 71 animals at the facility had been treated cruelly. In 2023, the state seized nearly 100 animals after investigators reported unsanitary conditions and inadequate care.