A Very Personal Message from Howard Baskin Regarding Netflix’s Tiger King

A Very Personal Message from Howard Baskin Regarding Netflix’s Tiger King
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This video is a personal one from me to our supporters to explain the deception that took place in making the Netflix series Tiger King and to thank you for the many expressions of support we have received.

Most of you know me, but for any who don’t, I’m Howard Baskin, Carole’s husband, and her partner in operating the sanctuary. This video may be rather halting because I am not used to making them and had to start and stop at times.

For those who don’t know, there was a documentary a few years ago called Blackfish that revealed abuse at Sea World and had a dramatic impact. Five years ago Eric Goode and Rebecca Chaiklin, the people who made Tiger King, approached us saying they wanted to make the Blackfish of captive big cats.

We have turned down a number of people who approached us wanting to film after the arrest of Joe Exotic because we didn’t feel we could trust them to do something meaningful instead of something sensational.

We did a little homework on Eric and Rebecca. Eric had turtle sanctuary, so he had something of an animal welfare background. Rebecca showed us the resume one of their top production people. He had worked on another award winning animal advocacy documentary called The Cove that exposed the slaughter of dolphins Japan. So we trusted Eric and Rebecca when they said this documentary would expose the abuse that tiger cubs endure when used for petting and the miserable lives they lead in roadside zoos if they survive. We believed them when they said Joe Exotic would not be the main focus.

We also believed Eric and Rebecca when they said they felt they had to mention the disappearance of Carole’s husband Don 23 years ago as part of the background on her life, but that it would be done respectfully and truthfully. Not only did they lie about that, they never even gave us the opportunity to respond to some of the false claims.

In a way the series is about con artists. People like Joe Exotic and Doc Antle who con people out of their money by convincing them that petting tiger cubs does something for conservation. In my view the biggest con artists of them all turned out to be the directors Eric Goode and Rebecca Chaiklin. I believe they are totally devoid of integrity, that they don’t care at all about the animals, and that they clearly, clearly don’t care about the truth.

In my opinion, as far as I can tell, all they wanted to do was make something as inflammatory and salacious as possible that Netflix would pay millions for. They betrayed not only us but also the animals.

Some of you have had a chance to spend time with Carole in person. Anyone who spends an hour with Carole would come away knowing without any question that she had no role in Don’s disappearance and the stupid rumors Don’s family viciously spread to disparage Carole about meat grinders and septic tanks are just nonsense.

I don’t have a way to arrange for each of you to spend that hour with Carole. So I thought the next best thing I could do try to show you who she is would be to share a minute or two of my personal experience by telling you a little bit about what it is like to be her husband and partner in this mission to stop big cat abuse.

We are getting nasty messages from people who believe Joe Exotic when he said our cages are small. Those of you have visited know that our smallest enclosure is about the size of a small house, 1200 sf, and some are over an acre. You know that the weeds Joe refers to are the natural terrain our cats live in. That is in contrast to the tiny barren chain link prison cells at Joe’s zoo where the cats walk or pebbles.

When journalist Robert Moor created the Joe Exotic podcast for Wondery, at the end he went through all of the lies Joe had told him. Tiger King doesn’t even tell people that when Joe was claiming to be a country western singer, he was paying Danny Clinton and Vince Johnson to write and sing the songs and Joe was just lip syncing.

All that being said, there is still a silver lining in all this. The series is reaching millions of people who probably never had any idea of the disreputable nature of the people who operate these exploitative cub petting operations. Hopefully some of the viewers will come away realizing they should not support the abuse by patronizing these places.

If you have taken the time to listen to this, I thank you. And mostly I thank you on behalf of Carole and myself and our staff and volunteers for your support during a time when we have to deal with this betrayal on top of dealing with the Corona Virus. With your continued support, we will put an end to the abuse of big cats in captivity!

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