USDA Should Revoke Virginia Zoo’s License for Animal Cruelty

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WASHINGTON-Today, the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) filed a complaintwith federal government agencies urging them to investigate and revoke the Natural Bridge Zoo's Animal Welfare Act(AWA) exhibitor license, and refrain from granting one again in the future, for violating Virginia anti-cruelty laws. ALDF asserts that the Natural Bridge Zoo's history of animal cruelty violations in Virginia bars the facility from being able to hold an AWA exhibitor license, which is granted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

In December 2023, a search warrantwas executed at the Natural Bridge Zoo a few days after an affidavitwas certified by the Chief of Virginia's Animal Control Department, Sgt. C.M. Boczar. The affidavit described the months-long investigation into Natural Bridge Zoo that involved two confidential informants - one of them a Natural Bridge Zoo employee.

The search warrant led to 95 animals being impounded under Virginia's anti-cruelty and seizure statutes. The officials found that Natural Bridge Zoo was feeding animals insufficient food; providing them insufficient, dirty water; providing them with inadequate enrichment; and housing them in too-small, dirty, or otherwise flawed cages - some with sharp, exposed wires, among other documented issues.

A Rockbridge County jury later found that 71 animals had "been cruelty treated or [were] suffering from a deprivation of adequate care that rendered the animal in such a condition as to constitute a direct and immediate threat to its life, safety, or health."

"The Animal Welfare Act is one the most consequential animal protection laws in the United States, but ensuring the USDA enforces it against facilities like Natural Bridge Zoo when they are charged with animal cruelty is just as critical," says ALDF Managing Attorney Daniel Waltz. "The evidence is clear that the National Bridge Zoo should no longer have a license to operate in Virginia."

Karl and Deborah Mogensen owned and operated Natural Bridge Zoo starting in 1972. In the summer of 2024, Gretchen Mogensen and her brothers took over the zoo's operation. In the last few years, according to inspection reports from the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service(APHIS), the zoo has "moved out a large number of animals" including members of endangered and threatened species, whose breeding "has always been" Natural Bridge Zoo's "main purpose."

From 2014 until July 2022, Karl Mogensen held a Class C Exhibitor AWA License for the Natural Bridge Zoo, which is required to be able to exhibit animals at the zoo. Mogensen's APHIS inspections are sometimes unremarkable, but sometimes reveal serious problems. For example, a January 2015 APHIS inspection found eight direct non-compliant issues. During that inspection, APHIS officials identified 35 animals in need of veterinary care. Instead of getting the care needed, Mogensen told officials they didn't need to go see a veterinarian because he had been treating them at the facility on his own.

According to inspection reports, this treatment included euthanizing guinea pigs "by hitting them against a hard surface." Inspectors also found "intentional harassment of a primate on a recurring basis [that was] inhumane and sufficient to constitute abuse."

The Natural Bridge Zoo's exhibitor license is up for renewal in July 2025.

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