{"id":542161,"date":"2026-06-18T19:29:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T19:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/542161\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T19:29:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T19:29:11","slug":"missing-baby-giraffes-are-finally-safe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/542161\/","title":{"rendered":"Missing Baby Giraffes Are Finally Safe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"storyParagraph\">&#13;<br \/>\n                                        The long-running question of what happened to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newser.com\/story\/381057\/zoo-owner-jailed-over-missing-giraffes-says-they-dont-exist.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">two missing giraffe calves<\/a> in Virginia now has an answer. More than a year after the babies disappeared from the embattled Natural Bridge Zoo, the Virginia attorney general&#8217;s office says the animals have been found through unspecified &#8220;legal action&#8221; and transferred to a specialized care facility, reports the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/dc-md-va\/2026\/06\/18\/two-giraffes-found-virginia-natural-bridge\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Washington Post<\/a>. Georgia Safari Conservation Park, outside Atlanta, confirmed it received two juvenile reticulated giraffes this week and says they&#8217;re settling in well.&#13;\n                                    <\/p>\n<p class=\"storyParagraph\">&#13;<br \/>\n                                        The calves were born to adult giraffes that were seized amid animal-cruelty allegations against the roadside zoo, which has been under scrutiny for years over the treatment of its animals. Instead of revealing the babies&#8217; location, second-generation owner Gretchen Mogensen chose to serve a 100-day jail sentence for contempt of court, per <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wdbj7.com\/2026\/06\/16\/baby-giraffes-found-safe-after-disappearing-natural-bridge-zoo\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">WDBJ<\/a>. The case, which drew a $50,000 reward backed by PETA <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newser.com\/story\/379342\/alicia-silverstone-offers-50k-for-return-of-missing-giraffes.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">and actress Alicia Silverstone<\/a>, unfolds alongside a raft of misdemeanor animal-cruelty and document-forgery charges against Mogensen family members and former staff. All three of the zoo&#8217;s surviving adult giraffes are already at the Georgia park. Another female, Valentine, died during transport last year. PETA says the calves endured &#8220;trauma of separation&#8221; but are &#8220;finally safe.&#8221;&#13;\n                                    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&#13; The long-running question of what happened to two missing giraffe calves in Virginia now has an answer.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":542162,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[273],"tags":[27317,43626,18,21836,19,17,3905,133,461],"class_list":["post-542161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-alicia-silverstone","tag-animal-cruelty","tag-eire","tag-giraffes","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-peta","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116772770053655303","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=542161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542161\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542162"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}