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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Korked Bats

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Carole Baskin Has Spoken Out About ‘Tiger King’ And It Is Wild!

Hey all you cool cats and kittens.

Carole Baskin has spoken out about Netflix’s Tiger King on her own Big Cat Resue website and her “defense” is absolutely wild. Why? Well, for one, it’s not locked up in one of Carole’s cages. But two, the entire essay (if you want to call it that) keeps switching from the first to third person. Sometimes it’s “Carole” and other times it’s “me.” The question of “Who wrote this?” is almost as burning as “Who killed Carole’s husband?”

Aside from writing down her defense, she also had her husband read a statement on video that loos a lot like an ISIS film.

Howard, blink twice if you need help!

Let’s go ahead and dig into the written portion of this thing…

When the directors of the Netflix documentary Tiger King came to us five years ago they said they wanted to make the big cat version of Blackfish (the documentary that exposed abuse at SeaWorld) that would expose the misery caused by the rampant breeding of big cat cubs for cub petting exploitation and the awful life the cats lead in roadside zoos and back yards if they survive.

Pause it right there. Have you guys seen Blackfish? Oh man, so good. Obviously lacking in the character department (there are no Joe Exotic’s or Doc Antle’s), but still very strong. Check it out if you haven’t seen it. Ok, continue.

There are not words for how disappointing it is to see that the series not only does not do any of that, but has had the sole goal of being as salacious and sensational as possible to draw viewers.

“There are not words” is always a great way to start off a 4,230 word essay about how disappointing this series was to you.

As part of that, it has a segment devoted to suggesting, with lies and innuendos from people who are not credible, that I had a role in the disappearance of my husband Don in 1997. The series presents this without any regard for the truth or in most cases even giving me an opportunity before publication to rebut the absurd claims. They did not care about truth. The unsavory lies are better for getting viewers.

First off, lies? Maybe. Innuendos? Not at all. No one in this documentary insinuated you fed your ex-hubby to tigers, they just flat out said it.

Second, how are you going to claim the people interviewed are not credible or you had no opportunity to rebut the absurd claims, when you were literally one of the people interviewed and asked about Don Lewis’ disappearance. Eric (the filmmaker) literally asked you about the rumor of you feeding your husband to tigers. Your response was as believable as Joe being a natural blonde.

Before continuing in the attacking defense of why she didn’t murder her husband – I believe the lady doth protest too much – she answers a few of the claims and criticisms people have sent her.

Side Note: If people think you’re a loony person, maybe don’t write a defensive essay attacking others that’s longer than the damn menu at Cheesecake Factory.

Should not be in cages. The good news is that the series appears to have reached an audience that had no clue about roadside zoos and hopefully now see the seedy underbelly of this exploitative and abusive business. It has been interesting to see that some people who have contacted us have complained that animals should not be in cages. We totally agree and our goal is to end having them in cages and have no need for a sanctuary like ours. Our federal bill, the Big Cat Public Safety Act, would stop the cub petting that drives the breeding and end ownership as pets in back yards.

This has a very Happy GilmoreI didn’t break the rake” defense type of feeling to it. Tigers shouldn’t be in cages? Yeah, we know! Our goal is to get the tigers that we currently have in cages to not be in cages! How? Oh, rehabilitation… because nothing will get a tiger more suited for wildlife than being fed three square meals of store-bought steak everyday by humans.

Cage size. Others have gotten the impression that our enclosures are small because they showed a picture of a tiny part of a large enclosure that Joe Exotic falsely claims is the entire enclosure.  Our smallest enclosure is the size of a small house, about 1200 sf, and our largest is over two acres, all in a natural setting full of foliage. In contrast, many of Joe’s tigers live in small, barren prison cells on pebbles. We would not be accredited by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries, who have the highest standards in the industry if our cages were what Joe falsely claimed

First off, sick humble brag about 1,200 square feet being a “small house.” We get it, Carole. You’re a millionaire because you turned your husband into Meow Mix. No need to take veiled shots at “small houses.” Second, I love how this is supposed to be a defense of how bad her facilities are and she can’t help but point the finger back at Joe. Uhhh, yeah, Carole. We all KNOW Joe’s zoo sucks. No one is disputing that. But at least Joe isn’t trying to market his place as some sort of tiger day spa. If we’re comparing yours to Joe’s, sure, you win. But overall, it doesn’t appear to be all that great. But hey, at least you have a bike path!

Suing Joe’s mother. Others believed Joe’s claim that in suing his mother we were trying to harass her and take her house. We never made any claim to her house.  We had to sue her because she actively participated with Joe, and later with Joe and Jeff Lowe, to transfer assets into and out of her name, that belonged to Joe or his zoo, in order to hide them from us. We reached a settlement agreement with her where she admitted the long list of fraudulent activities she had participated in and it did not require her to make any payments to us.  Shirley Schreibvogel Settlement Agreement & Court Order.

Again, Carole didn’t break the rake. She was merely testing it’s durability. And then she placed it in the woods, because it’s made of wood, and she just thought it should be with its family.

Make money and paying workers. Some viewers not familiar with how IRS approved 501(1)(c)3 nonprofits operate hear Joe lie and claim Carole “makes money” or “profits” from the sanctuary and that we do not pay our workers. Nonprofits have some paid staff. Salaries here are in the 30’s to 60’s. Then they have people who want to do something meaningful for a good cause with their time, so they volunteer their time to help.  By definition, volunteers are not paid, they donate their time. All sanctuary income, whether it is from tours, donations, or a gift shop, stays in the nonprofit to support its mission. Carole gets none of that money, just her salary like the other employees. She works 60+ hours/week and didn’t take a paycheck for the first 20 years of the sanctuary.  In the first 11 years of the sanctuary she was the largest donor each year.  Joe never had volunteers because of the horrible way he treated people.

Don’t salaries and the money you put back into the facility both increase the more income you receive? I never want to be ‘that guy’ who rips on rich people for not donating more money to something. Those people are tools. However, I will ask, why is ol’ C-Basks not the largest donor anymore? Why after 11 years did that stop? Could it be because of how much money she saw there could be made?

Also note: the shot at Joe at the end of that paragraph. Joe is a nasty human, not really going to go into the defense of him, but I will say, he offered to pay people to work, who genuinely needed it. And they all said they liked Joe.

Cats are in cages so we and Joe are the same? Another idiotic Joe lie. At the sanctuary, we take in abandoned, abused, confiscated, and orphaned cats and give them a permanent home.  A sanctuary does not breedbuy, sellallow people to touch the cats, or put them through the stress of traveling offsite. It is basically a retirement home. Joe Exotic incessantly bred tiger cubs to he could make money charging people to pet and take photos with them.  The cubs are torn from their mothers at birth, a torment to any mammal mother and infant. They are deprived of the antibodies in the mother’s milk that prevent disease that bottle formula does not have. There is no tracking of how many die, although some years ago Joe was investigated for the death of 23 cubs. They are deprived of sleep whenever there are customers wanting to pay. They are physically punished to diminish their natural behaviors.

Ugh. This is starting to feel like 2016 Presidential Debates. She didn’t even answer her own question really. Just said her place is an old folks home for tigers and then went on to attack Joey Ex.

Then she embeds a few propaganda films showing how great of a place Big Cat Rescue is, blah blah blah. Let’s get to the juicy stuff.

Click the right arrow to read Carole’s address to Don’s disappearance.

Austin

Austin hosts a country music morning radio show in Chicago after nearly a decade in sports talk radio (The Jim Rome Show, Steve Gorman SPORTS!) Colin Cowherd and Smash Mouth follow him on Twitter and he wears pants every day.

Austin

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