Doc Antle, others in ‘Tiger King,’ respond to ‘mistruths’ in popular Netflix series
The owner of Myrtle Beach Safari, and others featured in Netflix’s new hit true crime documentary series, are alleging misrepresentations as they face severe public backlash.
“Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness” has been among the most-watched programs on Netflix since its premiere Friday and is the number one most watched daily in the U.S. as of Wednesday.
The seven-episode series primarily follows the story of Joseph Maldonado-Passage, better known as Joe Exotic, a boisterous exotic animal exhibitor in Oklahoma who was sentenced to 22 years in jail earlier this year for attempting to hire someone to murder Carole Baskin, an outspoken animal rights activist who operates a big cat sanctuary near Tampa, Florida.
But the show also delves into the stories of several other exotic animal exhibitors, including Bhagavan “Doc” Antle, who runs Myrtle Beach Safari, also known as The Institute for Greatly Endangered and Rare Species (T.I.G.E.R.S.).
Antle is heavily featured particularly during the second episode, when the show’s producers show an interview with his former employee Barbara Fisher, who accuses him of running his business with cult-like tendencies, while she and others point out that his numerous romantic partners include employees who started working for him when they were teenagers.
Antle posted a picture of his staff on Instagram on Wednesday along with a long caption noting that they are disappointed the facility was mentioned in the series.
“We can only assume it is because Doc Antle has been such a high profile wildlife personality for so many decades that his association would create more buzz,” the post states. “It is important to understand that this series is not a documentary; it’s sensationalized entertainment with paid participants.”
The post notes that the show is meant to chronicle the “bizarre” feud between Joe Exotic and Baskin, but those two “are not representative of experts in the wildlife sector or world class facilities like ours here in Myrtle Beach.”
The post continues that Myrtle Beach Safari is internationally recognized for its tiger conservation efforts, and they follow all federal guidelines.
“Over the decades we have heard every sort of fantasy scenario regarding our facility,” the post reads. “Many of these less-than-flattering mistruths have been manufactured by those in the animal rights movement that oppose animal ambassador programs of any sort.”
The post concludes that Myrtle Beach Safari remains open despite the coronavirus, but their 50-acre preserve allows plenty of room for social distancing.
Comments under the post included a mix of support and condemnation, which is indicative of the heavy attention the facility’s social media pages have received since the show became available.
Antle did not return a voicemail seeking comment, but did speak with The Sun News last week prior to the show premiering on Netflix.
He had said that he suspected the show’s producers were just using his facility’s popularity on social media to drum up public interest, though he knew they had talked to Fisher, who he believes has a “highly distorted sense of reality.”
The show’s other claims
Toward the end of the series, producers also note that Antle’s facility was raided by police last December, and play an audio clip of Joe Exotic accusing Antle of euthanizing tiger cubs after they become too old to interact with the public. The show states that Antle never responded to those allegations.
Antle told The Sun News in December that the raid was related to three juvenile lions his facility received from a Virginia zoo that is under investigation for animal cruelty, and law enforcement communications backed up that assertion.
Tommy Crosby, a South Carolina Law Enforcement Division spokesman, told The Sun News he couldn’t release the search warrant related to the raid because they were produced to support an investigation being conducted by authorities in Virginia.
Antle also denied the euthanization accusations in an interview with The Sun News, which also interviewed Joe Exotic last year while he was in jail waiting sentencing.
Exotic, who considered Antle a mentor, told The Sun News the exact opposite — that he knew for a fact Antle didn’t euthanize tiger cubs because a lot of those cubs ended up at his facility.
Antle has denied anything more than a “peripheral” connection to Exotic, and said tigers from his facility only ended up with Exotic after the exhibitor he originally sent them to suffered major facility damage from a tornado.
Other tiger owners respond
Antle wasn’t the only one who took issue with the way he was portrayed in Tiger King.
The third episode of the series dives deep into the story of Baskin and appears to show a significant amount of evidence suggesting she murdered her former husband, potentially feeding him to a tiger.
Baskin authored a lengthy post refuting many of the assertions made in the documentary, pointing to numerous public records she wrote would completely disprove some of the people interviewed.
“They did not care about truth,” she wrote. “The unsavory lies are better for getting viewers.”
Jeff Lowe, another exotic animal exhibitor featured in the show, has taken a different approach and is leaning into the publicity.
Lowe, who partnered with Joe Exotic before his arrest, wrote on his Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park Facebook page that he was slightly concerned how people would view his “Son’s Of Anarchy lifestyle,” but those concerned vanished when he saw how it compared to the show’s portrayal of Antle and Exotic.
Lowe even changed the header of his business’ Facebook page to read “As Seen on Netflix Tiger King.”
This story was originally published March 25, 2020 at 5:15 PM with the headline "Doc Antle, others in ‘Tiger King,’ respond to ‘mistruths’ in popular Netflix series."
