Eric Mogensen owns three zoos in the United States. The zoos he owns are the Gulf Breeze Zoo (Gulf Breeze, FL), the Natural Bridge Zoo (Virginia), and the Reston Zoo (Reston, VA). All of these zoos have seen their share of controversy with the largest of that controversy at the Reston location that I have visited. Not only did I visit that zoo, but I gave the zoo a great review as well. That most recent review was earned back in November after the zoo had so many close animal exhibits for my kids. It was a really cool experience. It was reviewed twice and got high marks both times. The zoo led me to believe that these owners who owned the other two zoos were fantastic and I was anxious to visit their other two zoos. I have been making plans to visit both of the other zoos owned by this family. However, those trips will not be happening and I will no longer visit the Reston Zoo!
I won't visit Mogensen zoos because I have now heard of the controversy surrounding the family and their zoos. Eric's daughter, Meghan Mogensen was charged in 2012 for animal cruelty and possession of a controlled substance. Mogensen was arrested and the zoo remained open the entire time. In fact, I had not even heard about this incident nor did my family until Feburary of this year! This lady drowned a wallaby and the zoo remained open. The Reston Zoo where this happened was also written up for violations related to animal health in 2011 and 2012. You'd think that it was just one bad family member that was too young running the zoo doing this, but then you dig deeper and it gets worse.
First, the response to her doing this at the Reston Zoo was to move her to the Gulf Breeze Zoo after she was released from prison. WHAT?!?!? She drowns a wallaby and then she is moved to your zoo in Florida. Why is she allowed near animals ever again?!?! This is absolutely mind boggling. Now that I know this, I will not be visiting the Gulf Breeze Zoo anytime soon. That is a shame because it looks like a great place to go. I guess I will have to check out some other new place next time we are up in Northwest Florida. For the Mogensen family though it gets worse....
In fact, upon further investigation I uncovered that this family has been the subject of complaints from the Humane Society since 1990. The subject of complaints since I was three years old! That is absolutely insane.
Karl Mogensen owns the Natural Bridge Zoo in Virginia. This zoo looks awesome despite being owned by George's dad Karl. However, this zoo is named by PETA as America's Worst Zoo for its poor treatment of animals and particularly elephants. They have responded to some criticism here, but it is easy to see why they get it. In fact, back in 2004 two bears escaped this zoo through an unlocked gate and had to be euthanized when they got into the community. The owner Karl had his zoo license suspended in 2007 and a hearty fine for investigations relating how the zoo treated animals. Mogensen also had his license suspended for a brief time in 1993. Twice having your license suspended is not a good sign for how you treat animals.
I could go on and on about alleged violations and abuse. However, I will stop here. I will not be visiting any of these zoos in the future and I recommend that you take the same actions. While our ratings are based solely on what we see at the zoos while we are there, we want to go to places we can go with and feel good about ourselves. These zoos would make us feel dirty if we attended them again. It is not a shock that these zoos lost AZA accreditation and don't seem to be getting it back anytime soon. Just say no to the Natural Bridge Zoo, the Gulf Breeze Zoo, and the Reston Zoo. We will find better options for you here on ZooZooReview.
-Noland
No comments:
Post a Comment