Virginia Passes Landmark, First-Ever Captive-Exotic Wildlife Mother-Infant Protection Law

For Immediate Release:
April 23, 2026

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Today, Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed Senate Bill 344 and House Bill 112, a groundbreaking piece of legislation that cracks down on roadside zoos and shady animal dealers. The new law, the first of its kind in the U.S., prohibits separating captive-born exotic mammals from their mothers before four months of age and bans the intentional breeding of wild mammals of different species, known as hybridization—cruel practices uncovered during extensive court proceedings involving the notorious Natural Bridge Zoo in Rockbridge County.

PETA worked with the bills’ sponsors, Senator Jennifer Boysko (SD-38) and Delegate Amy Laufer (HD-55), and rallied thousands of members and supporters from across Virginia to urge their representatives to support the legislation, which faced a disinformation campaign from a special interest group known to represent people convicted of cruelty to animals, roadside zoos, pet shops, and others in the business of exploiting animals.

“With this landmark effort to safeguard captive exotic animal families, Virginia is again playing a vital role in passing animal protection legislation,” says PETA Senior Vice President of Cruelty Investigations Daphna Nachminovitch. “PETA is grateful to Sen. Boysko and Del. Laufer for their hard work on and commitment to this lifesaving legislation, and we urge everyone never to support or visit roadside zoos, which systematically deny animals of everything that’s natural and important to them.”

As PETA shared with legislators, young animals need their nurturing and protective mothers to properly develop, and scientific evidence shows that prematurely separating wild animal babies from their mothers increases anxiety, aggression, self-injurious behavior, and immune deficiencies. Hybridization can cause deformities, neurological disorders, and chronic health problems that compromise animals’ quality of life.

Court proceedings revealed that Natural Bridge Zoo engaged in both practices—in recent years, it shipped a 3-day-old capuchin monkey and more than a dozen infant giraffes under 8 weeks old to other roadside zoos and animal dealers across the country. Earlier this year, owner Gretchen Mogensen, former owner-operators Deborah and Karl Mogensen, former attending veterinarian Dr. Ashley Spencer, and former elephant handler Mark Easley were indicted by a Rockbridge County grand jury on 55 counts of torturing, overdriving, or cruelty to animals and eight felony counts of forgery of a public record. Mogensen also recently spent 100 days in jail for refusing to disclose the location of two giraffe calves who were removed from Natural Bridge Zoo and remain missing.

Giraffe calves typically nurse for up to a year or longer and remain closely bonded with their mothers well beyond weaning. The two giraffe calves from Natural Bridge Zoo who are missing are believed to have been taken from their mothers shortly after they were born. Credit: iStock.com/Edwin_Butter

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.