Tiger King star Joe Exotic ‘refuses to accept defeat’ after losing zoo to rival Carole Baskin
He described the news as 'yet another emotional blow' to his 'already fragile' state
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Your support makes all the difference.Tiger King star Joe Exotic has reacted after losing his zoo to rival Carole Baskin.
Exotic left the GW Exotic Animal Memorial Park in Oklahoma to his former business partner Jeff Lowe and his mother a few years back, but a judge has now ruled that this transfer was fraudulent.
Earlier this week, the judge awarded Baskin full control of the land to help satisfy a $1m judgement that Exotic was ordered to pay her for copyright infringement.
Lowe now has 120 days to vacate the premises and remove all of his animals from the property.
Exotic, who is serving a 22-year prison sentence for crimes including plotting to have Baskin killed, described the news as “yet another emotional blow” to his “already fragile” state.
He responded via his management team: “While we again acknowledge it is truly time to pray for justice for George Floyd’s family as well as an end to systemic racism in America, we must address Carol [sic] Baskin’s treachery before it goes unchecked.
“As hard as this news is, we refuse to accept defeat. Even as we type this message, Joe’s legal team is filing appeals and his social media/PR team are rallying public support.”
Baskin, who owns an animal sanctuary in Florida, has been a vocal critic of Exotic’s animal park for many years.
Her feud with Exotic escalated into a court battle, with Exotic arguing that Baskin was trying to destroy his business with an online smear campaign.
Baskin, however, argued that Exotic was abusing his animals.
Their story can be seen in Netflix documentary Tiger King, which has become one of the streaming service’s most-watched titles of the year.
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