The case of the missing baby giraffes may sound like a children’s book, but the real-life mystery includes a court fight, a yearlong search, and an unusual allegation involving a federal cooperator. It's also a reminder that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has its own special agents. Fortunately, it has a happy ending, as the calves have been found and are receiving specialized care, but a newly public search-warrant affidavit suggests the effort to keep them hidden may have been more complicated than anyone knew.
The warrant affidavit concerns Patrick Robinson, who signed a Cooperating Private Individual agreement with FWS in 2023. According to the affidavit, Robinson allegedly shared information related to the investigation and participated in a conversation about secretly moving the giraffes. Robinson had not been charged as of early August 2026, according to The Independent, which obtained the affidavit.
While the giraffes’ wild sojourn has a happy ending in a Georgia safari park, Virginia’s attorney general has said the criminal investigation into their alleged illegal movement remains ongoing.
You Can't Just Toss a Giraffe in a U-Haul
On December 6, 2023, Virginia law enforcement executed a search warrant at the Natural Bridge Zoo in Natural Bridge, over concerns of animal mistreatment. Among the animals seized were four giraffes. Three were female, while the other was an apparently quite virile male. In March 2024, a jury awarded Rockbridge County custody of 71 of the animals, finding that they had been subjected to cruel treatment or deprived of adequate care by the zoo’s owners, Karl and Gretchen Mogensen.
The animals were kept at the Natural Bridge Zoo during their ongoing removal, subject to surprise visits from veterinarians and law enforcement while the Mogensens fought the decision. Moving giraffes isn’t as simple as just tossing them in a U-Haul, and a visiting vet discovered that all three of the females were pregnant. By the time the sole male was relocated in October 2024, one of the females had suffered a miscarriage. It was determined that the other two were in their final trimester (giraffes are pregnant for 15 to 15.5 months) and agreed that moving them before they gave birth wasn’t optimal. Since giraffe calves stay with their mothers for about two years after birth, it was decided to have them delivered at Natural Bridge Zoo and transported as mother-calf pairs afterward.
You can probably see where this is going. A visit on February 25, 2025, found both moms-to-be in good condition, but a subsequent check on April 8 revealed an issue: both mothers had given birth, yet the calves were nowhere to be seen. Their kidnapping (calfnapping?) sparked huge public interest in their return, including a $50,000 reward offered by actress Alicia Silverstone.
Refusal to divulge their location or hand them over led to a contempt-of-court charge and 100 days in jail for Gretchen Mogensen in November 2025, but a similar charge against her associate and self-described “zoo insider,” Sondra Scott, was later dropped.
Just Your Typical Giraffe Tipster
The search warrant details the professional relationship between U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Special Agent Keith LaGesse and Robinson, who approached the FWS to aid in investigations into violations of the Big Cat Public Safety Act, which amended the Lacey Act in December 2022. He signed a Cooperating Private Individual (CPI) Agreement in September 2023, a voluntary, unpaid position.
According to LaGesse’s affidavit, he asked Robinson on April 10, 2025, whether he knew anything about the two missing giraffe calves. Robinson said he had no new information but showed LaGesse limited screenshots from a text exchange with Sondra Scott, in which she asked, “I know this is terrible timing, but did you say you had a place for giraffes?” About a week later, LaGesse met Robinson to renew their cooperation agreement and asked to review the rest of the exchange. Robinson searched his iMessage history for “giraffe,” found the messages, and handed LaGesse his phone, the affidavit says.
As LaGesse reviewed the phone, the affidavit says Robinson repeatedly interrupted him and said there were things on the device he did not want the agent to see. LaGesse then allegedly found screenshots Robinson had sent Scott of private messages between the two men, including one concerning possible investigative steps involving Scott. When LaGesse asked why Robinson had shared the messages, he wrote that Robinson “got upset, grabbed his phone from my hand, and exited the vehicle.”
On April 28, 2025, a judge granted LaGesse access to Robinson’s phone records and iCloud account. LaGesse wrote that the search turned up screenshots of what appeared to be a fabricated conversation involving one of his FWS superiors, as well as a February 2025 voicemail in which Scott said they needed to make a plan to move the “baby Gs.” The affidavit was filed under seal in February 2026; Robinson had not been charged as of The Independent’s early-August review of federal court records.
Who Knew That It’s Not Just Turtles?
While the June 15, 2026, press release from the Office of the Attorney General, Commonwealth of Virginia, trumpeted the safe return of the missing giraffe calves, it also indicated that the criminal investigation remained open.
In a separate case arising from the Natural Bridge Zoo investigation, Karl and Gretchen Mogensen, Gretchen Mogensen’s parents, a zoo veterinarian, and an elephant trainer faced a combined eight felony counts of forgery of a public record and 55 misdemeanor counts alleging animal torture, overdriving, or cruelty. The charges concern alleged animal-treatment and recordkeeping violations; they are distinct from any potential charges related to the missing calves.
As of August 2026, neither Scott nor Robinson has been charged in connection with the stolen giraffes.
