"Notoriety wasn't as good as fame, but was heaps better than obscurity."
- Neil Gaiman, Good Omens
I wonder if Doc Antle would agree.
The past few days has been a slew of bad news for the stars of the sensational Netflix series Tiger King. Bhagavan "Doc" Antle, proprietor of Myrtle Beach Safari, was charged with wildlife trafficking and animal cruelty. Tim Stark of Wildlife in Need was arrested several states from home after fleeing his property and going on the lam, wanted in questioning for some missing animals he was supposed to surrender. Jeff Lowe, heir-apparent of series star Joe Exotic, has lost his zoo license and is attempting a comeback with a virtual zoo, but its legality remains up for debate.
Myrtle Beach Safari owner, 'Tiger King' star charged with animal cruelty in Virginia
Wildlife in Need zoo owner Tim Stark's time ont he run ends with arrest in New York
'Tiger King' zoo owner loses license, plots new animal venture
The "Tiger King" himself, Joe Exotic, is, of course, still in jail for attempting to hire a hit-man to kill his arch-rival, Big Cat Rescue's Carole Baskin, but is holding out hope for a pardon from President Trump. It's 2020, so who's to say it will or won't happen?
What Antle and Stark were doing was illegal all the while... but I wonder if they would have been able to slide under the table, ignored, if not for the extra scrutiny that TV stardom brought them (lessons may not have been learned - prior to these charges, Antle was announcing that he was going to star in his own spin-off series of Tiger King).
When I see stories like these, I always get embarrassed. I worry that the general public will just latch onto the word "zoo" in the article headlines and develop a poor opinion of our profession. And, to be fair, I consider folks like Tim Stark to be genuinely embarrassing - an embarrassment to zookeeping. I've said before on this blog, I have no inherent bias against zoos that aren't members of AZA, and there are plenty of privately owned facilities that take great care of their animals and make meaningful contributions to conservation and education.
At the same time, there are abusers out there who deserve to be exposed and have their animals removed from their subpar care.
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