ROCKBRIDGE CO., Va. – There’s a new twist in the years-long legal saga involving the Natural Bridge Zoo and the Attorney General’s Animal Law Unit. Saturday, a lawyer representing zoo owner Gretchen Mogensen and former owners Karl and Debbie Mogensen filed a lawsuit in Rockbridge County District Court alleging a slew of civil rights violations made by the state over the past few years.
The suit names nine defendants, including the Virginia Attorney General’s office, Virginia State Police (VSP), Rockbridge County and Virginia Animal Fighting Task Force.
The allegations span almost two years long during the state’s investigation into the zoo’s practices from December of 2023 to October 2025. The allegations include deprivations of constitutional rights under color of law, conspiracy to interfere with civil rights through witness intimidation, evidence manipulation, and retaliatory proceedings and failure to prevent such conspiratorial harms despite knowledge and authority to intervene.
According to court records obtained by 10 News, the family feels as if the initial warrant issued for “the seizure of all animals, alive, dead, unborn, and any record, digital device, and document” was too vague and violated their 4th amendment right protecting against unreasonable search & seizure.
The complaint then goes on to allege Virginia State Police used “non-sworn out-of-county task force members and private volunteers” who seized “items beyond the warrants’ scope” when raiding the Mogensens’ private residence on December 6-7, 2023. During that same period, the complaint alleges VSP coerced Gretchen to surrender her cellphone and passcodes, a move they feel violates the Fifth Amendment protecting against self-incrimination.
Throughout the complaint, questions were also raised over the legality of many of the warrants relating to the case being issued out of Powhatan County. The county is where undercover agents with the State’s Animal Law Unit are originally from.
Gretchen’s testimony also took center stage, being mentioned several times throughout the 15-page-long complaint. It alleges that the prosecutor, Michelle Welch, interfered with several witnesses, claiming Welch “intimidated” one witness and caused them not to testify.
The ever-present giraffe case is also one of the focuses of the suit. The family feels their First Amendment freedom of speech rights were violated after orders from a judge banned the family from speaking about the seizure of the zoo’s giraffes online and live-streaming their capture.
The complaint also claims the two giraffe calves, which the state has been seeking for months, are non-existent. Gretchen was ordered to turn over the two calves to the state, but failed to do so and was sent to jail for 100 days.
The family is asking for compensatory and punitive damages, injunctive relief, and attorney fees & costs.
The defendants listed in the suit have not yet commented. This is a breaking story and will be updated here as more information is released.