When state officials raided the Natural Bridge Zoo in Rockbridge County more than two years ago, they seized about 100 animals – claiming they were abused or neglected. Among them were two female giraffes which – at the time – were pregnant. When inspectors returned sometime later, they found those animals had given birth, but their babies were gone. Daphna Nachminovich is with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals or PETA.
“They remain missing, and Alicia Silverstone has joined People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to offer up to $50,000 for the location of those giraffes," she says. "Somebody must know something somewhere.”
PETA says the zoo, which was shut down, made serious money by selling baby animals.
“The Natural Bridge Zoo has separated almost fifteen baby giraffes from their mothers over the last decade or so to sell them, and the word on the street is that a female baby giraffe goes for almost a quarter of a million dollars.”
The story prompted State Senator Jennifer Boysko and Delegate Amy Laufer to introduce a bill that bars unaccredited roadside zoos and people who collect exotic animals from separating captive-born babies from their mothers for at least four months. It also gives the Department of Wildlife Resources the right to extend that period for animals like giraffes that would normally wean over a year after birth.
