Carole Baskin wins control of Tiger King star Joe Exotic's former zoo
Remember when the biggest drama going on in the country was a show on Netflix called Tiger King?
That was approximately 3,872 years ago (or feels like it, at least).
But for whatever it's worth, there has been a major update in the whole Game of Zoos real-life docu-drama: Carole Baskin has won control of Joe Exotic's former zoo.
A federal judge ruled that Baskin's Big Cat Rescue Corp will take over the 16,439-acre Oklahoma property that was heavily featured in the Netflix series. The current owners have 120 days to vacate Greater Wynnewood Development Group, a.k.a. Tiger King Park. They also have to remove all zoo animals from the land (so Baskin apparently won't be responsible for all those cats and kittens). Yet ownership of several trucks based on the property will now go to Big Cat Rescue as part of the deal (two Dodge RAMs, a GMA Sierra, and a Ford F-150 to be precise). So, no, Exotic is probably never going to financially recover from this.
The court ruled that the property's owner, Exotic's mother Shirley M. Schreibvogel, fraudulently transferred the park in an attempt to shield it from a $1 million settlement owed to Big Cat Rescue Corp.
Baskin had successfully sued Exotic (a.k.a. Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage) for trademark infringement.
In January, Exotic was sentenced to 22 years in prison for a murder-for-hire plot to kill Baskin, as detailed in the Netflix series which became a national sensation in March.
There's also more Tiger King in the works: A scripted series version of Tiger King is in development with Nicolas Cage to star as Exotic. Also, Saturday Night Live star Kate McKinnon is reportedly playing Baskin in a rival project based on Wondery's Joe Exotic podcast.
Related:
-- Watch Tiger King's Carole Baskin get pranked by Jimmy Fallon impersonators
-- Nicolas Cage to play Tiger King's Joe Exotic in new TV series with fresh perspective
