Natural Bridge Zoo Owners Indicted on Dozens of Cruelty Charges

Natural Bridge Zoo owner Gretchen Mogensen, former owners Debbie and Karl Mogensen, the roadside zoo’s former veterinarian, and its former elephant trainer were indicted by a Virginia grand jury on 55 criminal counts of torturing, overdriving, or cruelty to animals and 8 felony counts of forgery of a public record. The indictments follow the Virginia Attorney General’s Office and State Police’s execution of a search warrant in December 2023, when nearly 100 living animals were seized, as well as dead animals and body parts. Some of the indictments pertain to how Asha—a solitary elephant who was chained, forced to stand in her own urine, and jabbed with a sharp bullhook—was spirited away to a roadside zoo in Florida under suspicious circumstances just days before law-enforcement officials arrived.