‘Tiger King’ Zoo Reopens To “Super Busy” Crowds Despite Safety Concerns
The infamous zoo formerly run by Joe Exotic tragically reopens, as critics warn of a lifetime of misery for the captive tigers.
Credit: PETA / Amy Jones/Moving Animals
The Oklahoma zoo once owned by Joe Exotic and made famous by the Netflix hit ‘Tiger King’, has tragically reopened and is reportedly already drawing huge crowds of visitors.
After closing due to the coronavirus outbreak, the zoo has now rebranded to become the ‘Tiger King Park’, and visitors can once again pay to controversially pet captive tigers.
“It was packed. Super busy,” a visitor to the park told National Geographic. Like many others, the visitor had spent $60 per person for six minutes of private time with two baby tigers. After meeting the tigers at 6pm, the visitor said that “[the keeper] told me they’d been doing it since 9 a.m. She told me it was the same tigers...the whole time.”
Campaigners have long advocated against captive exotic animals, as zoos like Tiger King Park create significant welfare problems for animals. According to wildlife experts at National Geographic,
“many of these private facilities speed-breed their tigers so there’s a constant supply of cubs. As soon as a litter is born, the cubs are removed from the mother, making her go into heat sooner so she can breed again. Cubs are economically useful only for a short time—between the ages of eight weeks and 12 weeks—because they quickly get too dangerous to interact with visitors. They may become breeders themselves, or go on exhibit—and there’s evidence that some are killed.”
But amid the current coronavirus pandemic, there is now also the added risk that the tigers themselves may contract the virus from visitors. These concerns come after five tigers and four lions at a zoo in New York tested positive for the coronavirus.
The prominence of the Tiger King documentary, and now the opening of Tiger King Park, have once again raised America’s longstanding problem with captive exotic animals.
Whilst there are twenty-one states that prohibit the keeping of dangerous exotic pets such as big cats, there is currently no U.S. federal law concerning big cat ownership.
However, campaigners are currently trying to pass the Big Cat Public Safety Act, a legislation which seeks to protect these captive animals by outlawing direct contact between the public and big cats. This would effectively outlaw cruel places like Tiger King Park.
With around 5,000 captive tigers in the US, this act has the potential to help protect big cats by outlawing backyard captive big cat collectors and inhumane cub handling exhibits. Campaigners are urging the public to ask their Member of Congress to support the Big Cat Public Safety Act - you can find out how you can do so here.
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