Jury grants government custody of 71 animals seized from Va. zoo

A Virginia jury awarded custody of 71 zoo animals to a local government after they were seized by state officials in December as part of an animal cruelty investigation of the Natural Bridge Zoo, the Office of Attorney General Jason Miyares said Tuesday.

The verdict followed a six-day trial during which an attorney for Miyares’s office argued the animals had been improperly fed and kept in dirty cages at the Rockbridge County roadside zoo, which has been the subject of complaints by animal rights activists for years.

An attorney for the zoo told jurors the animals’ cages were dirty because they were seized before daily cleanings and that some animals were thin or sick because of their advanced age, not mistreatment.

Rockbridge County will keep custody of four giraffes, 17 capuchins, 14 tortoises and one skink, among other animals. The attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to a question about what the county will do with the animals.

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The jury returned care of 29 seized animals to the zoo, which remains closed.

“Virginians support clean, safe environments for animals, whether they be personal pets or zoo animals,” Miyares said in a statement. “We are grateful for the jury’s thorough deliberation and thank our law enforcement partners for their assistance in ensuring the future welfare of these animals.”

An attorney for the zoo declined to comment Tuesday.

Authorities seized about 120 animals from the zoo in early December following a raid.

An investigator for Miyares’s office wrote in a search warrant that the ongoing investigation found animals in distress and that the probe revealed the zoo’s elephant, named Asha, had been found standing in a puddle of her own urine and feces because she was chained and could not move away. Asha was not among the animals seized.

Miyares’s office said the criminal investigation of the zoo is ongoing. No charges have been filed to date.

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