Just when you thought the Tiger King drama was over, Carole Baskin now has control of Joe Exotic’s zoo
Carole Baskin of Big Cat Rescue. (Netflix)
If you thought the Joe Exotic, Carole Baskin and Tiger King drama was over, more than two months after Netflix released the hit docuseries, you’d be very wrong.
The Tiger King himself, Joe Exotic, has been forced to hand over his Oklahoma zoo to arch-nemesis Carole Baskin.
In case you’d forgotten, Tiger King followed Exotic, a proud “gun-toting gay redneck” and a polygamist who has had several concurrent husbands, who was the self-proclaimed king of the shady exotic animal underworld.
Exotic owned Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park, a private park in Oklahoma known for breeding a large collection of tigers, lions and other big cats.
Animal rights activist Baskin, of animal sanctuary Big Cat Rescue, made it her mission to take down Exotic’s park, which offered for-profit “cub petting” with baby tigers.
Exotic had extensive legal battles with Baskin, denigrating her in public continuously – including in a viral campaign ad when he ran for president in 2016. He was eventually imprisoned for trying to have her killed.
Now, according to TMZ, a judge has ruled that Carole Baskin can take control of Exotic’s Oklahoma zoo.
In 2013, before Exotic went to prison, Baskin sued him for trademark infringement after he manipulated her Big Cat Rescue logo. Exotic was ordered to pay Baskin $1 million but she never received the money.
When he was imprisoned, Exotic transferred ownership his park to his mother, Shirley Schreibvogel, and investor Jeff Lowe, who recently reopened the zoo under the name “Tiger King Park”.
However the judge ruled that the transfer was fraudulent and Baskin has now been granted the land to fulfil the money she was owed.
Lowe told TMZ that he was planning to ditch the original location anyway, and said: “We have long anticipated that the judge would eventually undo the 2016 land transfer.
“We are thankful that he dragged out his decision this long and allowed us time to complete the new Tiger King Park in Thackerville, Oklahoma, behind the world’s largest casino.”
He added: “Considering [Baskin] spent approximately $2.5 million chasing her $1 million judgment, we congratulate her on her new acquisition of 16 acres in rural Oklahoma.
“The possibility of human remains being buried on this land should make her feel right at home.”
