UPDATE: Carole Baskin and Jeff Lowe have both released statements following a court decision that gave Baskin ownership of Joe Exotic’s Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park.
Baskin, the owner of Big Cat Rescue who was long embroiled in a feud with Exotic, whose actual name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, issued the following statement:
“On June 1, 2020 the federal court in Oklahoma issued a judgment against an entity controlled by Jeff Lowe based in part on what the judge described as “willfully failed to comply” with one previous court order and “other failures to obey or respond to the Court’s orders in this case.” The ruling requires the entity to vacate the property within 120 days of service of the judgment, including removing the animals. In an Agreed Judgment in August 2019 Shirley Schreibvogel acknowledged her role in multiple fraudulent transfers some of which involved the entity controlled by Mr. Lowe.
Over a year ago Mr. Lowe announced plans to move the animals to a location in Thackerville, OK that he has been constructing and he claims will be a better facility. He recently stated that he had funds to complete the zoo and a contractor who could complete it in a few months.
If the need arises to make other plans to place the animals in new homes, Big Cat Rescue and the animal welfare organizations that have previously successfully placed big cats from large facilities in new homes stand ready to assist.”
Big Cat Rescue
Jeff Lowe, who has had control over the Wynnewood, Okla., animal park, issued the following statement:
Maldonado-Passage, famously known as ‘Tiger King’, is currently serving a 22-year prison sentence for trying to hire two different people at different times to kill Baskin, an animal activist who was one of his most outspoken critics.
Original Story
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – The ‘Tiger King’ saga continues after Carole Baskin’s Big Cat Rescue Corporation today won a suit against Joe Exotic’s Greater Wynnewood Development Group, granting her the rights to the land in Garvin County.
The lawsuit began in 2016 when Big Cat Rescue Corp. sued both Greater Wynnewood Development Group and Shirley Schreibvogel, Joe Exotic’s mother.]
Judge Scott Palk ruled the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park to vacate the property within 120 days and hand over control to Big Cat Rescue Corp. although the park is now run by Jeff Lowe.
The title to the zoo land, all portable buildings, and several vehicles must be transferred to Baskin’s business.
All animals must be taken off the property as well, but no clear instructions on the animals’ ownership were given.
Judge Palk ruled these items were ‘Sham Deeds’ given by Exotic to his mother to avoid paying Baskin in a trademark infringement lawsuit settlement.
Tiger King, Joseph Maldonado-Passage is currently serving a 22-year prison sentence for trying to hire two different people at different times to kill one of his most outspoken critics, animal activist Carole Baskin.
He was convicted of those crimes, as well as more than a dozen wildlife charges, including killing five lions, in September 2019.
Now, he is reacting to this judgement with a letter from inside the Fort Worth prison medical facility.
Exotic is currently in Fort Worth’s facility after an exposure to COVID-19 in April.
Baskin has not issued a statement on today’s ruling.
Click here to read the court documents in full.
