Carole Baskin Is Now The Owner Of Joe Exotic’s Oklahoma Zoo

June 2, 2020 / Posted by:

Yesterday, a federal judge in Oklahoma ruled in favor of Big Cat Rescue Corporation in its lawsuit against Greater Wynnewood Development Group, LLC, Joe Exotic’s former zoo, effectively handing the keys to the Tiger Kingdom over to Carole Baskin. Sounds like a win, but as with all things Tiger King, there are no winners. Just a string of increasingly sketchy losers. According to CNN, the park’s current owner Jeff Lowe has 120 days to vacate the premises. All of the animals are being sent to his new zoo which is basically a Tiger King theme park based on the Netflix documentary. All that Carole’s going to be getting is 16 acres of land in the middle of Oklahoma, “several cabins and vehicles” which are probably no more than spider-filled meth shacks and a couple of rusted out jalopies, and the ghost of Saff’s disembodied arm.

This order is part of the $1 million awarded to Carol as a result of her copyright infringement lawsuit against Joe (convict name: Joseph Maldonado-Passage) when he tried to be cute by renaming his zoo Big Cat Entertainment during their prolonged feud which ended with Joe serving 22 years for attempted murder for hire. According to The New York Times:

The decision was the culmination of a seven-year battle that began when Ms. Baskin accused Mr. Maldonado-Passage of trademark infringement. In 2013, Mr. Maldonado-Passage was ordered to pay Ms. Baskin about $1 million after he used her organization’s name and logo to promote his own park.

Ms. Baskin sued G.W. Exotic in 2014, claiming its operators created a whole other entity, the Garold Wayne Zoo, in an attempt to get out of paying the judgment. When that entity became liable for the judgment, the park was transferred to Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park, which was created by Mr. Maldonado-Passage’s business partner at the time, Jeff Lowe.

CNN reports that Jeff was expecting this ruling.

“We anticipated Carol Baskin getting the title to the former park that once belonged to Joe Exotic, and we did not challenge her attempts to do so,” Mosley said Monday. “All of Jeff’s focus is on opening the new Tiger King Park in Thackerville, (Oklahoma), which should be opening in the next 120 days.”

Jeff is taking his association with the Netflix show all the way to the bank. Now that Joe’s in prison, Jeff profiting off all things Tiger King, including the use of Joe and Carole’s images and quotes from the show. Some of the charming items for sale at the “Official Tiger King Store” Jeff’s set up for his “zoo” include t-shirts that read “Carole Did It,” “Carol Killed Kenny,” one with an outline of Joe’s mullet with the words “That Bitch Carole” written inside, and one extremely confusing cartoon depicting a tiger pushing Joe in a wheelbarrow while Joe shoots off a couple of guns screaming “she did it” and Carole in the background popping up from behind a rock giving a thumbs up. There is also a large collection of MAGA style Make America Exotic Again items for purchase. Basically what I’m saying is it’s obvious the health and well-being of the animals under Jeff’s care is his top priority.

Pic: Instagram

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