‘Tiger King’ park closes after losing license. What’s next for Joe Exotic’s big cats?
The Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park, once owned by ‘Tiger King’ Joe Exotic, is now permanently closed to the public, its new operator said.
The popular zoo has been run by Jeff Lowe since 2016. Its former owner, the subject of the popular Netflix series “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness,” is serving a 22-year prison sentence following a murder-for-hire plot.
Lowe wrote on the zoo’s Facebook page Tuesday night the United States Department of Agriculture was suspending his license for three weeks. However, he made the decision to forfeit his license and close the zoo.
The USDA shows Lowe’s license was suspended as of Monday.
The animals at the park will continued to be cared for and “will no longer be subject to USDA inspections of PETA spies,” Lowe wrote.
“Our new park will, at least for the foreseeable future, be a private film set for Tiger King related television content for cable and streaming services,” according to a post on the zoo’s Facebook page.
Lowe’s new private park will be in Thackerville, Oklahoma, according to Fox 23.
PETA pushed in June for the exotic animals to be confiscated due to some of them “plainly suffering.” Lowe wrote Tuesday that the USDA folded to pressure from PETA.
In a statement to McClatchy News, PETA said Lowe’s “tiger-terrorizing days may soon be over.”
“PETA looks forward to seeing every one of the long-suffering animals at the G.W. Zoo be transferred to an appropriate facility where it won’t take federal intervention for a sick cat to receive veterinary care,” PETA stated.
Carole Baskin, the adversary of Joe Exotic, won ownership of the animal park in June following a court decision, KFOR reported.
The court ruled the animals must be removed from the Oklahoma property within four months, according to the Associated Press.
Lowe said in June he felt Baskin securing the land was “the appropriate outcome,” KOCO reported.
This story was originally published August 19, 2020 at 8:58 AM with the headline "‘Tiger King’ park closes after losing license. What’s next for Joe Exotic’s big cats?."