Brandy McDonnell| Oklahoman
Updated at 2:40 p.m.: The original post on the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park Facebook page has been deleted, but a screenshot has been embedded below from The UK's The Daily Mail. - BAM
WYNNEWOOD - The Oklahoma zoo featured in Netflix's hit series "Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness" has permanently closed to the public.
Jeff Lowe, owner of the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park (formerly the G.W. Exotic Animal Park) in rural Wynnewood, announced the closure in a since-deleted, lengthy Facebook post that cited the success of "Tiger King."
"The Tiger King phenomenon has definitely changed our lives in many ways. It has brought us more attention than any human deserves, good and bad. It has, and probably will continue to make us a target of every nutjob and animal rights loon in the World, but we are prepared," Lowe writes on the roadside zoo's Facebook page. "It has also provided us with an unfathomable source of income. Income that will guarantee the long term care of our animals and allow us to be very selective going forward.
"As of today, we have decided to close the old zoo effective immediately."
Lowe also writes on Facebook that he's forfeiting his United States Department of Agriculture exhibitors license, while noting that the USDA has suspended it.
"The very agency that has given my facility five consecutive perfect inspections, has now folded to the pressures of PETA and continue to make false accusations against me," he writes. "Suspiciously, less than 24 hours after I contacted the USDA to voluntarily forfeit my license, they notify me that they are suspending my license for 21 days for a litany of falsehoods.
"In the State of Oklahoma, exotic animal ownership is perfectly legal."
In a news release, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals notes that the suspension means that, effective immediately, Lowe cannot exhibit big cats, bears, primates or other USDA-regulated species at the Wynnewood or any other property, including at his reportedly forthcoming new roadside zoo in Thackerville.
According to PETA, the USDA in June halted its inspection of the facility and ordered Lowe to seek immediate veterinary care for a juvenile lion named Nala, who was lying in mud, lethargic, depressed and thin.
"Jeff Lowe’s license has been suspended, a permanent revocation should be next, and his tiger-terrorizing days may soon be over," said PETA Foundation Deputy General Counsel for Captive Animal Law Enforcement Brittany Peet in a statement. "PETA looks forward to seeing every one of the long-suffering animals at the G.W. Zoo be transferred to an appropriate facility where it won’t take federal intervention for a sick cat to receive veterinary care."
In his Facebook post, Lowe said his new Thackerville animal park will be used as a private film set for the creation of "Tiger King"-related content.
"Rest assured that all the animals will continue to have excellent care, and consequently will no longer be subject to USDA inspections or PETA spies," he writes.
"Our new park will, at least for the foreseeable future, be a private film set for Tiger King related television content for cable and streaming services.
"This was in fact a decision that we made more than a month ago and was the huge news that we spoke about on Facebook a couple weeks ago."
As previously reported,Netflix's smash documentary series "Tiger King" chronicles the strange life and murder-for-hire conviction of former Oklahoma zoo operator, big-cat owner and political hopeful Joe Exotic.
As The Oklahoman's Nolan Clay reported, Joe Exotic - whose real name is Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage, but he is also known as Joe Schreibvogel - was sentenced earlier this year to 22 years in federal prison. He was convicted last year of twice hiring someone to kill big cat enthusiast Carole Baskin, a Florida animal sanctuary operator whose nonprofit organization successfully sued him for more than $1 million for trademark infringement and other civil wrongs.
The docuseries features a number of colorful characters involved in Joe Exotic's life or in the big cat business, including Lowe, the businessman and hard-partying swinger who promises to financially bail out Joe Exotic and his Wynnewood zoo, but then becomes Joe's second most-hated rival after Baskin.
In a June ruling, U.S. District Judge Scott Palk granted control of the Wynnewood zoo that was previously run by Joe Exotic to Big Cat Rescue Corp., the Florida group founded by Baskin,according to the Associated Press.
As previously reported,"Tiger King" has already spun off a veritable menagerie of follow-up programming on Netflix, Fox, Investigation Discovery and more - with more on the way.
As previously reported, Universal Content Productions announced in November a partnership with Wondery to adapt the latter's podcast about Joe Exoticfor television. Emmy-winning "Saturday Night Live" standout Kate McKinnon is starring and executive producing along with Wondery's Hernan Lopez and Marshall Lewy. According to The Hollywood Reporter, McKinnon will play Baskin.
Also as previously reported, Oscar winner Nicolas Cage will play Joe Exotic in an eight-episode scripted series from CBS Television Studios and Imagine Television. According to The Hollywood Reporter, this series is based on a Texas Monthly story published in 2019.
To read my interview with "Tiger King" co-writer and co-director Rebecca Chaiklin, click here.
To read my review of "Tiger King," click here.
-BAM
