Tampa’s ‘Tiger King’ stars help pass legislation

Long before a Netflix documentary took the country by storm, Carole and Howard Baskin were known for animal activism and their Big Cat Rescue sanctuary.

In 2012, eight years before Tiger King and the name Joe Exotic became ingrained in American culture, the Baskins lobbied lawmakers to introduce legislation that bans people from keeping lions, tigers and the like as pets. President Joe Biden signed the bipartisan Big Cat Public Safety Act into law Dec. 20.

The legislation also prohibits public contact with those species, including paid interactions like cub petting. In addition, Howard Baskin told the Catalyst that he and other nonprofit leaders petitioned the U. S. Department of Agriculture to ban interactions with other exotic animals, like primates and bear cubs. The agency began moving that initiative forward earlier this week.

“For decades, we’ve had these tiger cub exhibitors just pumping out tiger cubs because they can only use them for a couple months, and they needed a constant supply,” said Baskin. “And now, that all stops.”

Of the two, Carole received the most notoriety from the documentary. Both maintain its producers’ false pretenses led them to participate, and the final product misled viewers.

However, Carole wrote in an email that Howard “was the real driving force behind passage of the Big Cat Public Safety Act.”

“He was the only one of us who ever spoke to Joe Exotic and was responsible for the lawsuit that resulted in the judge awarding us Joe’s zoo,” she wrote. “Howard was the person who documented all of Joe’s threats and passed those on to the authorities.”

Max is one of several tigers at Tampa’s Big Cat Rescue. Animal photos courtesy of Big Cat Rescue, Facebook.

Joseph “Joe Exotic” Schreibvogel is now serving 21 years in prison after a federal jury convicted him of hiring someone to travel to Tampa and murder Carole. He was also found guilty of eight counts of falsifying wildlife records and nine counts of violating the Endangered Species Act.

Howard Baskin noted that even before the act’s passage, many of Tiger King’s featured personalities – Exotic, Jeff Lowe and Tim Stark – lost their animals. Another, Bhagavan “Doc” Antle, faces a slew of state and federal charges related to money laundering and animal endangerment.

Antle’s Myrtle Beach Safari website still shows people taking pictures with primates. Baskin said Antle removed photos of tiger cubs because human contact is now illegal.

“The stars of Tiger King have fallen from the sky,” added Baskin.

Despite a constant influx of interviews, he said no one ever asks if the new legislation will help increase the population of big cats in the wild. Experts estimate less than 4,000 tigers remain free, while people keep nearly double that number in the U.S. alone.

Baskin said that while it is somewhat challenging to explain, the answer is yes. Anyone who owns tigers must receive USDA licensing, and the agency keeps strict records regarding where the animals are kept – and for what purpose.

Baskin said the gravest threat to wild tigers is poachers, and representatives from many countries in Southeast Asia attend international conferences to advocate for the legal sale of tiger derivatives.

“The Chinese could very correctly say, ‘wait a minute, you guys (the U.S. delegation) are hypocrites. You don’t even know where your tigers are,'” said Baskin. “And so, it (the law) takes away that diminution of our credibility … and gives us more power to preserve the tiger in the wild.”

Panthers are one of many species protected under the recently passed Big Cat Safety Act.

Baskin organized lobbying efforts for nearly a decade. While lawmakers typically don’t interact with citizens outside their districts, he noted they like to meet celebrities.

In December 2021, a lobbyist asked Baskin if his wife would spend a few days in Washington, D.C., to talk with officials. Carole participated in 30 meetings in three days.

That process continued through March 2022. Baskin said the appointments were predominantly with conservative Republican lawmakers, “who are the ones that it is more difficult to get onto an animal welfare bill.” He added that the duo had three advantages in those meetings.

The first is the public safety issue. The bill documented that since 1990, captive big cat incidents resulted in the deaths of five children and 19 adults. Hundreds more suffered traumatic injuries, including a worker at Joe Exotic’s facility.

That led to the support of the National Sheriff’s Association, and Carole’s celebrity status gave the initiative its final push.

Baskin said Tiger King created a nightmare after its release, “with some idiot” swearing at or threatening Carole “every two minutes.” However, he added that public interactions are now friendly and supportive, and called the show a “net positive” for helping to spread awareness of the issue.

He said the documentary’s producers are “totally devoid of integrity,” and he believes “they pride themselves on being effective conmen and liars.” While its producers fictionalized some aspects, Baskin said Joe vs. Carole, now streaming on the Peacock network, provides a better portrayal of its namesakes.

In addition, Jane Velez-Mitchell’s nonprofit streaming company UnchainedTV acquired and offers 100 short films produced by Big Cat Rescue. The videos highlight how animals can recover physically and emotionally once they are removed from abusive situations and housed in a sanctuary.

“After people see these, we get emails saying, ‘you know, I saw this, and now I feel bad about what I thought about you after Tiger King,'” said Baskin. “My guess is that Carole’s celebrity is not one of these fleeting 15 minutes of fame.”