{"id":2172979,"date":"2024-01-31T06:00:42","date_gmt":"2024-01-31T05:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/?p=2172979"},"modified":"2026-07-15T10:34:03","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T09:34:03","slug":"petition-help-shut-down-abusive-zoo-in-virginia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/petition-help-shut-down-abusive-zoo-in-virginia\/","title":{"rendered":"Petition: Help Shut Down Abusive Zoo in Virginia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A private zoo in Virginia stands accused of abusing and neglecting dozens of animals to the point of death \u2013 and then leaving their body parts around the facilities.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Tiger euthanized, 91 animals seized at Natural Bridge Zoo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wv_25hwsAfs\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><span data-mce-type=\"bookmark\" style=\"display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;\" class=\"mce_SELRES_start\">\ufeff<\/span><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Source: WSLS 10\/YouTube<\/p>\n<p>Authorities searched Natural Bridge Zoo\u2019s property recently and discovered an atrocious situation. Habitats were \u201cfilthy\u201d and lacked sufficient food or water to adequately care for the animals. So it should be no surprise that many animals didn\u2019t survive.<\/p>\n<p>The dead animals at the zoo included a white Bengal tiger that the zoo had euthanized, a monkey, a lemur, a llama, a mandrill, an alligator, a Burmese python, five cranes, and seven servals.<\/p>\n<p>But that didn\u2019t even include the body parts. Officials found several zebra legs and a zebra pelt, a giraffe\u2019s head, giraffe skin, two tails, three legs, five bags of \u201cfrozen giraffe feces,\u201d the pelt of a bongo, and a mandrill\u2019s head. There were also specimens preserved in several jars on-site.<\/p>\n<p>For the animals that remained alive, their lives were pure misery. One staff member shared that Asha the elephant spent her nights chained inside a ramshackle barn, often both sleeping and standing in her urine.<\/p>\n<p>During the day, she was forced to give rides to hundreds of visitors. On one day, in particular, documents show the zoo made Asha carry 191 different guests.<\/p>\n<p>Please sign this petition to demand authorities shut down Natural Bridge Zoo and ban its owners from working with animals in the future!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thepetitionsite.com\/134\/795\/462\/dead-animals-body-parts-found-at-private-zoo.-shut-this-zoo-down\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"external\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==\" fifu-lazy=\"1\" fifu-data-sizes=\"auto\" fifu-data-srcset=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/petition-button-resized-3.png?ssl=1&amp;w=75&amp;resize=75&amp;ssl=1 75w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/petition-button-resized-3.png?ssl=1&amp;w=100&amp;resize=100&amp;ssl=1 100w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/petition-button-resized-3.png?ssl=1&amp;w=150&amp;resize=150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/petition-button-resized-3.png?ssl=1&amp;w=240&amp;resize=240&amp;ssl=1 240w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/petition-button-resized-3.png?ssl=1&amp;w=320&amp;resize=320&amp;ssl=1 320w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/petition-button-resized-3.png?ssl=1&amp;w=500&amp;resize=500&amp;ssl=1 500w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/petition-button-resized-3.png?ssl=1&amp;w=640&amp;resize=640&amp;ssl=1 640w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/petition-button-resized-3.png?ssl=1&amp;w=800&amp;resize=800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/petition-button-resized-3.png?ssl=1&amp;w=1024&amp;resize=1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/petition-button-resized-3.png?ssl=1&amp;w=1280&amp;resize=1280&amp;ssl=1 1280w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/petition-button-resized-3.png?ssl=1&amp;w=1600&amp;resize=1600&amp;ssl=1 1600w\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-2151103 size-full\" fifu-data-src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/petition-button-resized-3.png?ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"350\" height=\"149\" title=\"\"><\/a><i>This <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onegreenplanet.org\/animals\/petition-help-shut-down-abusive-zoo-in-virginia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">article<\/a> by Mathew Davis was first published by One Green Planet on 19 December 2023. Image Credit :Momo5287\/Shutterstock.<\/i><\/p>\n<h2>What you can do<\/h2>\n<p>Help to save wildlife by donating as little as $1 &#8211; It only takes a minute.<\/p>\n<hr style=\"border-top: 1px solid white;\" \/>\n<div><script src=\"https:\/\/donorbox.org\/install-popup-button.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\" defer><\/script><a class=\"dbox-donation-button\" style=\"background: #ededed; color: #333; text-decoration: none; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; display: inline-block; font-size: 13px; padding: 8px 10px 8px 10px; -webkit-border-radius: 2px; -moz-border-radius: 2px; border-radius: 4px; box-shadow: 0 1px 0 0 #a5a5a5;\" href=\"https:\/\/donorbox.org\/focusing-on-wildlife-needs-your-support?amount=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow external noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"external\">DONATE NOW<\/a><\/div>\n<hr style=\"border-top: 1px solid white;\" \/>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/ywAAAAAAQABAAACAUwAOw==\" fifu-lazy=\"1\" fifu-data-sizes=\"auto\" fifu-data-srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1&amp;w=75&amp;resize=75&amp;ssl=1 75w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1&amp;w=100&amp;resize=100&amp;ssl=1 100w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1&amp;w=150&amp;resize=150&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1&amp;w=240&amp;resize=240&amp;ssl=1 240w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1&amp;w=320&amp;resize=320&amp;ssl=1 320w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1&amp;w=500&amp;resize=500&amp;ssl=1 500w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1&amp;w=640&amp;resize=640&amp;ssl=1 640w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1&amp;w=800&amp;resize=800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1&amp;w=1024&amp;resize=1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1&amp;w=1280&amp;resize=1280&amp;ssl=1 1280w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1&amp;w=1600&amp;resize=1600&amp;ssl=1 1600w\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-161632\" fifu-data-src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/payment-methods_300px.png?ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"28\" title=\"\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"clear: both;\"><\/div>\n<hr style=\"border-top: 1px solid white;\" \/>\n<div><em>Focusing on Wildlife supports <a href=\"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wildlife-charities-supported-by-focusing-on-wildlife\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-wpel-link=\"internal\">approved wildlife conservation organizations,<\/a> which spend at least 80 percent of the money they raise on actual fieldwork, rather than administration and fundraising.<\/em><i><\/i><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A private zoo in Virginia stands accused of abusing and neglecting dozens of animals to the point of death \u2013 and then leaving their body parts around the facilities. \ufeff Source: WSLS 10\/YouTube Authorities searched Natural Bridge Zoo\u2019s property recently and discovered an atrocious situation. Habitats were \u201cfilthy\u201d and lacked sufficient food or water to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1178,"featured_media":2201555,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onegreenplanet.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/shutterstock-84116608.jpg?w=750&ssl=1","fifu_image_alt":"Petition: Help Shut Down Abusive Zoo in Virginia","footnotes":""},"categories":[6985,6989,5],"tags":[8257],"class_list":["post-2172979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-petitions","category-wildlife","tag-zoo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2172979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1178"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2172979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2172979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2201555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2172979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2172979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2172979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}