The feud between Carole Baskin and the rest of the Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness cast is still going strong. After the Big Cat Rescue founder was awarded the Tiger King Park, owner Jeff Lowe has admitted that he hasn’t been taking care of the zoo since being forced to vacate. In an interview, he said by the time she gets her hands on it; it will be “complete hell.”
“I mean, because I’m not taking care of it as we leave,” Lowe told Entertainment Tonight. “The bamboo is about taking this place over.” Lowe was given 120 days to leave the premises and clean everything out including the animals, and the last thing on his mind has been the upkeep. Baskin was given the park on Monday as part of a trademark judgment against the zoo’s former owner Joe “Exotic” Maldonado-Passage, who is currently in prison. This is the latest move which falls nearly seven years after Maldonado-Passage was ordered to pay her $1 million for trademark infringement.
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“We have anticipated this for almost two years,” Lowe confessed. “As soon as we came into the picture, Carol kind of automatically wrapped us under the same umbrella as Joe and tried to get me included in his judgment for a million dollars. I think she expected I could pay it when Joe never could so she fought long and hard and wasted a lot of money to get me named in her lawsuit.” However, despite him having to give up the zoo, Lowe isn’t hurt about it since his intention was to leave the zoo behind in the first place for something bigger and better. “It’s always been our intention to leave this place. We don’t particularly like it here, because of its geographical location. It’s not a great place for a business, it was poorly constructed, so we’re happy to let her have it… I wish her all the luck in the world, and she can have these 16 acres of haunted memories.”
The Tiger King star added that he could care less about the recognition he has got from the show and that Baskin is the least of his worries; he cares about the animals’ well-being, and that’s it. “We don’t care about the TV show; we don’t care about Carole Baskin, we care these animals finally get the life that they deserve. That’s why we’re anxious to get down to Thackerville.” Lowe said that he has a bigger and better plan in mind for building something fans won’t be able to resist in the future.
