Missing Giraffes Are Safe

Some animals are easy to hide. Try to figure out where mice are entering your home, for example. They are tiny and elusive. However, other animals would seem to be simpler to locate. Giraffes, for example, can’t exactly scrunch down their long necks and cram into a crawl space.

Still, someone in Virginia managed to conceal a pair of baby giraffes for more than a year. After an extensive search, “the animals are safe and are receiving proper medical and behavioral support,” the attorney general’s office announced this month. They are now living “with a professional facility specializing in giraffe care,” the office added.

It didn’t say where the animals are now or where they’ve been since they vanished in 2025, but an Atlanta TV station reported they are now at the Georgia Safari Conservation Park.

That’s a happy ending for a saga that started when former Attorney General Jason Miyares’ office raided the Natural Bridge Zoo in December 2023 and seized scores of animals. After a jury trial in 2024, the state won custody of 71 of the animals, and 29 others were returned to the zoo, which is operated by Gretchen Mogensen.

The giraffes were among the animals that were supposed to be removed from the zoo, but because the females were both pregnant, they were allowed to remain in Rockbridge County.

By last April, the adult females were no longer pregnant, but the calves were not on the grounds. Actress Alicia Silverstone said she would put up a $50,000 reward for information leading to the return of the young giraffes, but it isn’t clear whether anyone has collected that money.

Meanwhile, Mogensen refused to say where they had been taken. Instead, she served 100 days behind bars for contempt of court.

Mogensen was freed from jail in February, but her legal problems are about to ramp up again. Judge Christopher Russell announced there will be at least three criminal trials springing from the Natural Bridge Zoo case: one case trying three members of the Mogensen family, one case trying a former elephant handler, and one case trying a veterinarian who treated an elephant at the zoo.

Trial dates may be set at an Aug. 3 hearing.

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