Tiger King star Joe Exotic fears his cancer has returned and is convinced he will refuse treatment and succumb to the disease in prison if doctors confirm the devastating news.
The former zookeeper, 61, who is serving five years of a 21-year sentence for a murder-for-hire plot against Carole Baskin, is waiting to find out if he has lung cancer after doctors found an abnormality during a scan routine last year.
Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com from the Santa Rosa County Jail in Florida, Exotic revealed that he has already planned his funeral, which will feature in a new film that will document the “true” story of his Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park.
“In October of last year I had X-rays and something showed up in my left lung,” said Joe, who has smoked for 40 years.
Joe Exotic is awaiting the results of lung cancer tests and will refuse treatment if doctors confirm he has the disease.
The former zookeeper, 61 and a smoker for 40 years, is serving a 21-year sentence for a murder-for-hire plot.
‘I had a CT scan in January and then I had a PET scan on Friday before I boarded to come here to check that it is cancer in my left lung. I don’t have the results yet, so I may be fighting lung cancer now.’
However, Exotic said that although he loves his fan base, who have kept him from hitting rock bottom in prison, he will refuse treatment.
“This time I’m going to refuse cancer treatments if it’s lung cancer because I just can’t do it again,” he said. ‘Can’t. I can’t live in a six-by-12-foot concrete room with no TV, no radio, no one, and throwing up every day.
‘I’ll let this take me this time. I have seen many of my friends die here.
Exotic, who is currently in remission, battled prostate cancer behind bars in 2021 and received treatment at the Federal Medical Center, Butner, in North Carolina.
He said he didn’t want to treat the disease at the time, but decided to do so for the sake of his loved ones, including his partner Seth Posey.
“I did it for Seth and I did it for my team because they wouldn’t give up on me,” he said. “But I’m losing hope that this system will ever admit they’re wrong.”
Exotic has made arrangements for her death, confirming that she will leave everything in the hands of Seth and her son, and that she wants her ashes to be scattered alongside her second husband, Travis Maldonado, who fatally shot himself in 2017.
Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, Exotic said he has made plans for his funeral.
She confirmed that she will leave everything to her boyfriend Seth (pictured).
He said, ‘I already have an advance directive and a DNR (do not resuscitate). I already have the will prepared for Seth and his son.
‘I have power of attorney, instructions on what to do with my ashes to get back to the place where I put Travis’ ashes.
‘I have left everything; my trademarks, my copyright certificate, my bank account, everything, to that man [Seth] and his son.’
Exotic met Seth online in 2021 when Seth won her online contest to become her new boyfriend.
She has described Seth as “the only man who hasn’t screwed me over in the last six years.”
“He’s very supportive,” Exotic said. ‘He answers the phone every time I call him, no matter the time of day or how tired he is.
The former GW Zoo owner rose to fame in the Netflix original documentary Tiger King alongside Carole Baskin (pictured), who was the target of his murder-for-hire plot.
Exotic revealed that he is also working on a new documentary that promises to uncover the “real history” of his former zoo.
Exotic also revealed that he is currently filming a new follow-up film to the acclaimed Netflix series Tiger King: Murder, Mystery and Mayhem, which became one of the streamer’s most successful releases to date when it dropped during the COVID 19 outbreak. in March 2020.
Titled The Tiger King Returns, Exotic said: “I have a film crew that is filming and making the actual movie.”
“This time no one is paid. These will be Joe’s directors and this will be the real story.
‘It’s not going to be a bunch of promoted rubbish to sell on Netflix.
‘It’s being filmed by my people. I have investors who have financed all of this. And it will have the beginning of the real story of the zoo and what was really going on.”
He continued, “And then I’m going to cover what prison is really like, because all the prison movies I’ve ever seen are nonsense compared to what’s really going on here.”
Exotic rose to fame when Netflix released the seven-part documentary Tiger King in 2020.
The Netflix series Tiger King: Murder, Mystery and Mayhem premiered in March 2020 and became one of the streamer’s most successful releases to date.
His bitter feud with Big Cat Rescue CEO Carole Baskin was the main focus of the first season, which follows the events that led to his conviction under federal murder-for-hire statutes when it comes to light that he paid a hitman to assassinate Baskin.
Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Allen Maldonado, was also convicted of eight counts of violating the Lacey Act, which prohibits trade in wildlife, fish and plants that have been illegally caught, possessed, transported or sold.
He was also found guilty of violating the Endangered Species Act on nine counts.
Exotic, who is also currently awaiting a court appearance for a civil lawsuit related to a music dispute, founded the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park, also known as GW Zoo, in 1999.
Based in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, the attraction housed lions, tigers and other big cats.
After the Netflix series became an unlikely phenomenon, Jeff Lowe attempted to exploit the zoo’s newfound fame and reopened it as ‘Tiger King Park’ in May 2020.
But within weeks, an Oklahoma judge handed Baskin control of the GW Zoo. He promised not to reopen it or any other tourist site in the complex.
Baskin and her husband Howard found the park awash with rotting flesh, dirt in every corner, and graffiti alleging she murdered her ex-husband. Since its acquisition two years ago, the zoo has been in ruins.