Tiger King: Doc Antle claims he sleeps with gun due to death threats

Antle believes that animal rights activists are behind the threats

Doc Antle claims that he has been sleeping with an AK-47 after receiving up to 50 death threats a day since appearing on Tiger King.

Antle, who owns a wildlife park in South Carolina, featured in the Netflix documentary series as a contemporary of Joe Exotic, the titular “Tiger King” who was jailed for 22 years for conspiring to kill opponent Carole Baskin.

Speaking to the Mirror, Antle – who is also known as Bhagavan – said that he believes animal rights activists are behind the alleged threats.

“My life is threatened every day, one to 50 times,” he said. “People say they want to kill me, they are going to kill me, they’re going to get me. I don’t know where the next crazy person is going to go.”

On his decision to sleep next to an assault rifle, Antle said: “I’m a professional cowboy. I grew up with a six-gun on my hip when I was ten years old.

“That’s the Wild West I grew up in so I’ve always had some ­automatic weapons and a variety of another 50 guns in my life. I have a pistol in my pocket, another in my glove box. I travel like that all the time.”

Meanwhile, animal rights activist Baskin has also claimed to have been on the receiving end of death threats after appearing on Tiger King.