Tag: tiger king
‘Tiger King’s’ Carole Baskin Denies Murdering Second Husband, Mincing Him and Feeding Him to Big Cats
In a lengthy post, the Baskins say the show also misrepresents their animal sanctuary and that they feel let down and deceived by the makers of the hit series.
Carole Baskin has hit back at suggestions in the Netflix show Tiger King that she murdered her second husband, Don Lewis, 23 years ago and fed him to her tigers.
Her third husband, Howard Baskin, with whom she runs a Florida tiger sanctuary, has also challenged Kim Kardashian to come and visit their rescue center after the reality-TV star sent out a tweet referencing the possibility that Carole murdered Lewis.
Wow the amount of texts I’ve gotten about Tiger King since I tweeted about it all have mentioned their belief that Carol killed her husband! What are your thoughts? Do you think Carol killed him?— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) March 23, 2020
The Baskins posted a lengthy statement and an emotional video on their website refuting the suggestions, made in Episode 3 by the documentary’s antihero, Joe Exotic, that Carole murdered Lewis and fed his body to their big cats.
Exotic went as far as to make a video showing a woman, who bore a resemblance to his archenemy Baskin, tossing meat to a big cat.
As viewer of the series will know, Exotic is in prison, serving 22 years for plotting to murder Baskin.
Hey All You Cool Cats and Kittens!
On Monday, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister tweeted a message seeking new information on the disappearance of Lewis in August 1997, fanning the flames of rumors that Carole was involved in his disappearance.
Since @netflix and #Covid19 #Quarantine has made #TigerKing all the rage, I figured it was a good time to ask for new leads. #CaroleBaskin #DonLewis #Netflix #Tiger #BigCatRescue #JoeExotic #TigerKingNetflix #HCSO pic.twitter.com/LHoJcBZVOI— Chad Chronister (@ChadChronister) March 30, 2020
Carole said in her post that she believed Lewis had Alzheimer’s disease and admitted he was “not easy to live with.” Three months before his abandoned van was found at an airport near the couple’s home in Tampa, he had sought a domestic-violence injunction against Baskin.
However Baskin has long maintained that she had nothing to do with the disappearance of her second husband. Cops told Oxygen that Baskin was looked at as a “person of interest,” but “nothing linked her to being involved.”
In the video and post on their website, Howard and Carole pick through the many allegations leveled at them in the course of the hit Netflix docuseries, which lifts the lid on the bizarre world of backyard tiger keepers, zookeeper rivalries, and blackmail and betrayal in the exotic-animal trade.
The Baskins, who say their sanctuary has an excellent reputation in the big-cat world and is misrepresented in the show, slam the directors of the series, Eric Goode and Rebecca Chalking. They say they agreed to co-operate because the pair told them “they wanted to make the big cat version of Blackfish [the documentary that exposed abuse at SeaWorld] that would expose the misery caused by the rampant breeding of big cat cubs for cub-petting exploitation and the awful life the cats lead in roadside zoos and backyards if they survive.
“There are not words for how disappointing it is to see that the series not only does not do any of that, but has had the sole goal of being as salacious and sensational as possible to draw viewers. As part of that, it has a segment devoted to suggesting, with lies and innuendos from people who are not credible, that I had a role in the disappearance of my husband Don in 1997. The series presents this without any regard for the truth or in most cases even giving me an opportunity before publication to rebut the absurd claims. They did not care about truth. The unsavory lies are better for getting viewers.”
They also insist that their sanctuary is grossly misrepresented in the series as being in some way equivalent to roadside zoos.
“We take in abandoned, abused, confiscated, and orphaned cats and give them a permanent home. A sanctuary does not breed, buy, sell, allow people to touch the cats, or put them through the stress of traveling offsite. It is basically a retirement home. Joe Exotic incessantly bred tiger cubs so he could make money charging people to pet and take photos with them. The cubs are torn from their mothers at birth, a torment to any mammal mother and infant. They are deprived of the antibodies in the mother’s milk that prevent disease that bottle formula does not have. There is no tracking of how many die, although some years ago Joe was investigated for the death of 23 cubs. They are deprived of sleep whenever there are customers wanting to pay. They are physically punished to diminish their natural behaviors.”
“Our cats live in large, spacious enclosures in a natural setting full of foliage. Joe’s lived in small barren chain-link boxes with pebble floors that are bad for their feet.”
The Baskins also point out that their organization has a four-star rating at Charity Navigator, America’s largest independent charity evaluator.
“Charity Navigator, which reviews our audited financial statements in detail, gives us their top 4-star rating and a perfect numerical score of 100, something less than 1% of charities achieve,” Baskin says.
Article via TheDailyBeast
Browns’ Odell Beckham caught in ‘Tiger King’ controversy?
Among the more popular shows to binge-watch during the coronavirus pandemic is Netflix’s seven-part documentary series “Tiger King.”
For those who haven’t seen it, the series focuses on big-cat collector Joe Schreibvogel, who now goes by the name of Joe Exotic. Eccentric doesn’t begin to describe the gun-toting, mullet-wearing former country music singer, or the life he leads as a big cat collector, breeder and zoo keeper.
Among the people to visit his zoo in Oklahoma was N.J. native Shaquille O’Neal, an admitted big-cat enthusiast, who made the trek in 2014 and used a recent podcast to distance himself from Joe Exotic.
Sounds like Cleveland Browns wide receiver Odell Beckham could be in a similar situation, according to cleveland.com:
One of the people prominently featured (in the series) is Doc Antle, the owner of Myrtle Beach Safari, who has a long list of celebrities who have visited his business. According to Antle’s Instagram page, among the famous visitors are Floyd Mayweather, Beyoncé and OBJ.
You may remember Beckham posted a video of himself petting a tiger and playing catch with a chimpanzee at Myrtle Beach Safari in January of 2019, when he still played for the New York Giants. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals used Beckham’s video as a chance to further its cause:
“These sensitive and much-abused animals belong with their families in nature, not pimped out as props by shameless roadside zoos. We’re sure that Odell Beckham Jr. had no idea that the sleazy safari park where this young chimpanzee is kept has a lengthy record of violating federal law and uses great apes and big-cat cubs in cheap publicity stunts like this. These encounters are incredibly dangerous, and PETA urges everyone — including Beckham, who certainly doesn’t want another injury — to steer clear of cruel facilities that exploit animals.”
WFAN reached out to Antle after Beckham posted his video:
Doc Antle, director of Myrtle Beach Safari, which provided the animals in the video, told WFAN.com that while the facility has been investigated for federal violations, it has never been cited for any violations. He added that the animals are well cared for and live in groups with other animals of the same species. “This is not a backyard zoo,” Antle said. “This is a really magnificent wonderful place.”
Article via NJ.com