Carole Baskin of ‘Tiger King’ selling iconic wild cat sanctuary, transferring animals to Arkansas

Carole Baskin, the animal rights activist whose infamous feud with zoo owner Joe Exotic who was the subject of the hit Netflix series “Tiger King,” is selling her iconic wild cat sanctuary.

Her husband, Howard Baskin, wrote in a post on Big Cat Rescue’s website last week that the couple intends to sell their property after transferring most of their rescue cats to another sanctuary in Arkansas.

Changes in industry practices and a new federal law have reduced the size of the “cub petting” industry at roadside zoos and circuses and, in effect, led to fewer big cats in need of rescue, Baskin said in the post.

As the sanctuary’s rescue population has dropped from 100 to 41 cats, Baskin added that continuing to operate the site has become “an increasingly inefficient use of donor funds,” with expenses per cat more than doubling over the past several years.

“We have always said that our goal was to ‘put ourselves out of business,’ meaning that there would be no big cats in need of rescue and no need for the sanctuary to exist,” he wrote.

Baskin said the Florida-based Big Cat Rescue has entered into an agreement with Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge. The sanctuary in Arkansas will take in the majority of the animals from Big Cat Rescue, while the Baskins will continue to fund the animals’ care for the rest of their lives.

Construction on the new enclosures at Turpentine Creek is underway and expected to finish in six months, Baskin wrote, adding that Big Cat Rescue’s tigers may be transferred as soon as July.

After selling the sanctuary, Baskin said the couple will focus on saving endangered big cat species in the wild.

“The threats to many species of big cat in the wild are not off in the distant future. They are very real right now,” he said.

Big Cat Rescue, located near Tampa, and Carole Baskin, were the subject of much attention following the release of Netflix’s “Tiger King” in 2020. The series starred Joe Exotic, the gun-toting Oklahoma zookeeper whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison after killing five tigers and plotting to have Baskin murdered.

Exotic was resentenced to 21 years in prison last year after a federal appeals court ruled that the prison term should be shortened.

The show focused primarily on the feud between Baskin and Maldonado-Passage, including accusations by him that Baskin was behind the disappearance of her ex-husband, Don Lewis, which Baskin has denied.

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