The Tiger King Zoo has been awarded to Carole Baskin!
On Monday, a federal judge in Oklahoma City has ruled in favor of Carole Baskin and her Big Cat Rescue group against the zoo formerly run by Netflix star Joe Exotic. This ruling handed Baskin the keys to the Tiger Kings kingdom! The rivalry between Baskin and Joe Exotic, real name Joseph Maldonado-Passage, became national news while everyone was in quarantine from the coronavirus on the hit documentary series Tiger King on Netflix.
The documentary if you have not watched it, is mostly about Exotic and his hatred/feud with Carole Baskin who owns Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, Florida. Joe Exotic was sentenced to 22 years in prison in January after being found guilty of trying to hire someone for $3000 to murder Baskin. This isn’t the first ruling to go in favor of Baskin against Exotic, as she sued him over use of logos and images that were intentionally made to look like the logo for her rescue. She won and Exotic was ordered to pay one million dollars to Baskin. Monday’s ruling will give Carole Baskin control of roughly 16 acres of land in Oklahoma, the zoo currently has 120 days to vacate the premises and requires them to remove all of the zoo animals from the land. According to Courthouse News Exotics mother Shirley M. Schreibvogel admitted under oath that the zoo was transferred to her by Joe Exotic to remove it from the reach of creditors including Big Cat Rescue.
The park is currently run by Jeff Lowe, who was shown on the documentary series as well and portrayed in a not so great light. Lowe has been working on opening a new Tiger King Park in a different area of Oklahoma and that should be opening shortly. Lowe also spoke to TMZ and took a jab at Baskin and the rumors she killed her first husband by saying “The possibility of human remains being buried on this land should make her feel right at home.”
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