Hey all you cool cats and kittens! We’ll admit it, we jumped on the bandwagon and dove deep into the wild world of Tiger King – and as always, we have some thoughts (Spoilers coming—but if you haven’t seen the show yet you aren’t going to believe us that this is real.) Get your leash on your tiger and let’s go!
A quick recap: Tiger King is Netflix’s new number documentary. The show tells the story of Joe Exotic, a character to say the least, who runs Greater Wynnewood Zoo. The private zoo is home to hundreds of large cats – panthers, tigers, snow leopards and more. But what draws customers into the zoo is the baby tiger experience. Visitors are able to spend time snuggling the baby animals before taking a souvenir photo. Sounds nice right? One woman, Carole Baskin, founder of Big Cat Rescue doesn’t think so. The majority of the documentary focused on the rivalry between Joe’s GW zoo and Carole’s Big Cat Rescue. Long story short, Carole thinks Joe’s operation (and others like it) are unethical and Joe thinks Carole is a grifter who is out to get him.
Who isn’t, Joe? Who isnt?
We saw Joe and several of his staff create videos threatening Carole and her husband which eventually led to Joe’s arrest for attempting to hire someone to murder her.
Yes, this is a real show. Yes, these people and these stories are real. We know, it was shocking for us too.
There are enough red flags in this show to sew a quilt the size of Connecticut. We could talk about the abuse that animals suffer in private zoos. We could talk about the ways that nonprofits (like Big Cat Rescue) often operate in the same way as those they fight against. We could talk about labor laws and the exploitation of volunteers and staff. We could talk about OPENING A PIZZA RESTAURANT THAT USES SPOILED MEAT TO KEEP COSTS DOWN. The point is, there is a lot we could focus on. But we’re a domestic violence and sexual assault crisis center, so guess what this blog will focus on? Yes, that’s right: the blatant abuse of humans that went on with hardly a comment the entire documentary.
Let’s start with Joe. It is hard to say if he was meant to be the star or the villain of this documentary. He’s a complicated man, but his relationship history is clearly problematic at best. He says himself that he fell in love with and married multiple straight men. Joe and Travis, the first two of his husbands that we meet in the documentary, both seem tied to Joe by a variety of strings, including financial abuse, isolation, and addiction.
The issue in Joe’s relationships isn’t polygamy. Having multiple partners or spouses can be complicated and different people will have different opinions about the morality of multiple partnerships, but it isn’t inherently abusive. The problem is when one person in the relationship holds all the power. That’s true in monogamous AND polygamous relationships. Joe was much older than any of his partners (Joe, Travis, and later Dillon were all 20-30+ years younger than Joe). Joe was known to give his partners drugs or expensive gifts to keep them with him. They were isolated and kept from family and friends, forced to rely on Joe for support and drugs. This is, obviously, not a recipe for a healthy relationship. In fact, these are some of the more subtle ways that relationships may be abusive. You may not see bruises or injuries, but that doesn’t mean that someone isn’t being abused. In fact, as one of Joe’s partners (Travis Maldonado) goes on to kill himself, either in a gun accident or via suicide, we can see how the lack of equality and independence in these relationships can be incredibly devastating.
Abusive polygamy is a recurring theme in this documentary, so let’s turn to Doc Antle.
If a white guy riding in on an elephant doesn’t scream trustworthy, I don’t know what does.
Bhagavan Antle is the owner of Myrtle Beach Safari, a cat breeder who has provided wild animals for films like Ace Ventura, Dr. Doolittle, and even music videos for P. Diddy and Britney Spears. Doc Antle seems to regularly hire young women as assistants at his facility, asking them to work over 12+ hours, and often entering romantic relationships with them. In the documentary, he has 3 female partners who live and work at his facility. He and many others in the documentary note that he is often accused of running a “tiger sex cult”.
One of the women who left Doc Antle’s employ was filmed for the documentary and alleges that women were encouraged (or expected) to sleep with Antle to earn a better position at the facility. Women were told what they could and couldn’t wear. She herself was pushed to get breast implants, as if that has any bearing on how well she could care for tigers. She said that she was too afraid to say that she didn’t want to have the procedure and she was looking forward to the required post-op rest after the long hours she spent working with the animals.
Like Joe’s partners, Doc Antle’s partners seem isolated at Myrtle Beach Safari, working long hours with only each other (and Doc Antle) for support. The level of control to be able to say what someone was or wasn’t allowed to wear or to change someone’s name is a classic red flag for abuse. Even if none of these women were in romantic relationships, Doc Antle’s sexualization of his employees and clear quid pro quo sexual harassment make him one of the most egregious examples of abusive behavior in the series.
Let’s turn next to someone who made our skin crawl: Jeff Lowe. He was initially Joe’s financial saving grace when Joe’s legal beef with Carole and Big Cat Rescue threatened to bankrupt the zoo. Their partnership quickly soured as Joe started to feel that Jeff was just out to steal his tigers. He may not have been wrong. While Jeff certainly seemed more legally savvy and less naïve when compared to Joe, his relationship with his wife Lauren was beyond icky.
A main theme of his early appearance in the series was his need for tiger cubs to attract young women into threesomes with him and his wife. We’re not even going to touch that beyond to say if you can’t get a sexual partner without exploiting wild animals, maybe you need to take a long hard look at your life. BUT let’s look at a scene that took place toward the end of the series when we found out Jeff’s wife Lauren was pregnant. Jeff and Lauren were discussing hiring a nanny to help Lauren care for their child. Jeff was insistent on finding a nanny he found attractive. THAT’S NOT WHAT YOUR NANNY IS THERE FOR! They are there to care for your child, NOT to give you a tingly feeling in your pants. This is so obviously sexual harassment that I almost can’t believe it is real.
I feel like if I used this as an example in a sexual harassment training, people would tell me that my presentation is too over the top and I need to tone down the hyperbole. I feel SO WORRIED for whoever has taken that position.
In that same conversation, Jeff also told Lauren that her first priority after having the baby would be “hitting the gym” and getting back in shape. Again, he’s acting like the only thing that matters is whether the women in his life are aesthetically pleasing to him. He’s not worried about his wife’s health or the development of their child. He doesn’t care about her recovery or her learning to be a parent. He just cares that she gets “hot” again.
This shouldn’t need to be said, but treating your partner like a real-life sex doll where the only thing that matters is them measuring up to your [almost always impossible to achieve] physical standards is abusive.
Finally, let’s turn to the star of the biggest question in the series: Carole Baskin and did she or didn’t she kill her second husband Don Lewis?
Just kidding. We’re not even going to touch that.
Us cycling RIGHT PAST that question
The documentary hashed that out and if you’re looking for a true-crime blog, you’ve come to the wrong place. We’re here to talk about the multiple times Carole disclosed graphic and horrifying abuse that the documentary glossed over like we didn’t even need to care.
In sharing her story, Carole disclosed that she was sexually assaulted at age 14 by three men who lived near her family. Not only did she experience a horrific sexual crime, a gang rape, as a CHILD, she was also forced out of her home not long after. Her family, she noted, believed that women who were sexually assaulted must have done something to invite the abuse. In essence, she says her family blamed her, a 14 year-old child, for being sexually assaulted. No surprise she didn’t feel safe continuing to live at home and she left by age 15.
She was married with a child only a few years later and again, she disclosed that her first husband was a violent man of whom she was afraid. She was too afraid to leave, worried about what would happen to her daughter if she tried to start over on her own. One night after an argument where she had to flee the house to feel safe, she was picked up and comforted by her future second-husband Don Lewis. Like Joe (and Doc Antle and Jeff Lowe), Don was significantly (22 years) older than Carole. Not every relationship with an age gap is abusive, but it is a red flag that could indicate a power disparity that might lead to abuse.
To recap: Carole Baskin was sexually assaulted at age 14, blamed and shamed by her family, stuck in an abusive marriage until she was “rescued” by a man over two decades her senior. Did she feed Don Lewis to her tigers? Honestly, that isn’t the question that is on my mind. I want to know what we can do to ensure no other young girl or young person goes through that level of abuse again.
We know that animals should not be abused. I wish we had the same level of passion for advocating to end abuse against our fellow humans. John Finlay and Travis Maldonado should never have felt pressured into relationships with Joe. Lauren should know that her value comes from something so much deeper than her appearance and she shouldn’t have to be with a partner who treats her like that is the only thing that matters. The women and Myrtle Beach Safari should be free to dress as they like, go by their own names, and not have to sleep with their boss to get ahead. Carole should never have been abused.
Tigers shouldn’t be abused for our entertainment. People shouldn’t either. We’re not saying Tiger King shouldn’t have been made or that we’re bad people for enjoying the BONKERS ride each episode took us on. We’re just saying we can’t sweep these things under the rug anymore. We need to talk about these things. Only by talking openly about abuse can we ever hope to end it. Survivors, you are not alone.
