‘Tiger King’ Joe Exotic has admitted he wanted rival Carol Baskin to disappear during an exclusive jailhouse interview amid his 21-year sentence for murder-for-hire.
The 55-year-old man said NBC News Channel 8 He is still awaiting a new trial, heard by telephone from a prison in the Florida Panhandle.
“I just wanted her to get away from me and leave me alone,” she said of anti-big cat activist Carole Baskin.
The zookeeper said he has prostate cancer and possibly lung cancer as well, and is also asking for a presidential pardon. His alleged target, Baskin, was not interviewed, but her third and current husband, Howard Baskin, was.
Exotic has accused Baskin of killing her second husband, Don Lewis, and feeding him to her own tigers, allegations he backed up in their filmed phone call on Tuesday.
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‘Tiger King’ Joe Exotic gave an exclusive interview from jail to a Tampa news station Tuesday amid his 21-year sentence for murder-for-hire.
The 55-year-old told NBC News Channel 8 that he is still awaiting a new trial, via telephone from a Florida Panhandle prison.
“I still think she’s completely crazy and that she killed her husband,” Exotic said of his tiger-loving rival.
“But Carol and I, Carol and I made money off of each other for years,” he quickly added.
Of course, he was referring to the Netflix movie that became the guilty pleasure of more than 30 million Americans, where viewers got to see the unconventional life of the tiger’s owner.
She also recounted how billionaire Lewis, who co-owned a wildlife sanctuary in Florida with Baskin, disappeared without a trace in August 1997 at the age of 59.
He was never found and there is no evidence to suggest he was murdered, but authorities have said they do not believe he disappeared on his own.
Shortly after his disappearance, Baskin — his wife at the time and the last known person to have seen him alive — filed a will and power of attorney granting her full control over his $5 million estate.
Baskin was never charged in connection with Lewis’s August 18, 1997 disappearance, but the case remains open and gained worldwide notoriety following the release of Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness in March 2020.
The series centers on the long-running feud between self-proclaimed animal activist Baskin and Exotic, a flamboyant polygamist and then-owner of a private zoo in Oklahoma.
The zookeeper said he has prostate cancer and possibly lung cancer as well, and is also seeking a presidential pardon.
Her alleged victim, anti-big cat activist Carole Baskin, was not interviewed, but her third and current husband, Howard Baskin, was.
Amid the heated dispute that later led to Exotic being arrested for allegedly hitting Baskin, he repeatedly accused the sanctuary owner of killing Lewis and feeding her body to one of his tigers.
After Lewis was reported missing, officers found his truck abandoned at a nearby airport, where he had reportedly planned to take a trip to Costa Rica.
Police found no signs of a struggle or blood inside, and no evidence that Lewis had ever left the country.
In 2002, he was declared legally dead and the case was dropped. Baskin, the owner of Big Cat Rescue, was never named a suspect.
She later married Howard Baskin, both of whom appeared in the popular Netflix series.
She claims producers misled her about what the show would be about as they framed her feud with Exotic with intrigue and flashbacks.
Her husband Howard had never given an interview until News Channel 8 tracked him down Tuesday.
He declined to discuss Exotic, but did discuss his wife’s activism that led her to get involved in the scam in the first place.
Exotic has accused Baskin of killing her second husband, Don Lewis, and feeding him to her own tigers, allegations he backed up in their filmed phone call on Tuesday.
After Lewis was reported missing, officers found his truck abandoned at a nearby airport, where he had reportedly planned to travel to Costa Rica. Police found no signs of a struggle or blood inside, nor did they find any evidence that Lewis had left the country.
In 2004, Baskin refused to take a polygraph test related to the investigation. She later married Howard Baskin (left)
“It was just a horrible industry,” he said of roadside petting zoos like the one Exotic ran in Oklahoma.
“The puppies would be separated from their mothers at birth, which is a torment for any mother.”
He added that he and his wife sold the property where they built Big Cat Rescue in Citrus Park, Florida, and have since transferred the animals to other facilities.
He also touted the “Big Cat Rescue Public Safety Act” that he and his wife are trying to pass in Congress, which seeks to shut down all unauthorized petting zoos.
Exotic, who was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison in 2019, previously worked with attorney John Michael Phillips to file a motion for a new trial.
On July 15, 2021, a U.S. appeals court ruled that the convictions for the two attempted murders were wrongly treated as separate and reduced his sentence by one year.
On Tuesday, Exotic revealed that he is not satisfied with that outcome and is seeking an appeal in the entire case.
“I’m actually appealing my entire case to overturn my conviction,” he told News Channel 8 from prison.
Her husband Howard had never given an interview until News Channel 8 tracked him down Tuesday.
He declined to discuss Exotic, but did discuss his wife’s activism that led her to get involved in the scam in the first place.
On July 15, 2021, a U.S. appeals court ruled that the convictions for the two attempted murders were wrongly treated as separate and reduced his sentence by one year. On Tuesday, Exotic revealed that he is not satisfied with that outcome and requested an appeal in the entire case.
Of the past five years, he said, “It’s like a prison, you know?” with a laugh.
“It’s been tough, it really has been.”
He added that he has prostate cancer and what he believes to be lung cancer, and said he never offered his friend Allen Glover $3,000 to kill Baskin.
Prosecutors demonstrated this during his trial and that he offered money to an undercover FBI special agent to kill Baskin.
Exotic continued to deny that anything happened and said that Glover made it all up to get back at him.
“At my trial they showed the undercover video and Joe never offered him anything,” Exotic said, referring to himself in the third person.
‘Joe finally asked an unexpected question to get him out of my office.
“Well, how much do you charge?” And he said $10,000 and if you watch the video that was played at my trial, Joe says, “Well, Joe doesn’t have $10,000.”
Exotic announced his candidacy for president as a Democrat from prison last year.