Overview
- State inspectors found the newborns unaccounted for during an April visit after requiring the zoo to report any giraffe births.
- Co-owner and manager Gretchen Mogensen chose a 100-day jail term rather than reveal the calves’ location, with release expected in February 2026.
- The Virginia Attorney General’s Animal Law Unit seized nearly 100 animals in December 2023, citing filth, denied care, and giraffe body parts on the property.
- A March 2024 court ruling kept 71 animals in government custody and returned 29, including some giraffes, to the facility.
- Anyone with information is urged to contact the Attorney General’s Animal Law Unit at 804-786-2071, as PETA highlights a documented pattern of prematurely shipping giraffe calves.