Tiger King Zoo Closes Permanently, Owner Jeff Lowe Confirms
19 August 2020, 15:23
Tiger King’s exotic cat zoo is closing for good, effective immediately, following an announcement made by owner Jeff Lowe.
The Tiger King zoo, which was made popular by the Netflix series, has permanently closed.
The current owner of the exotic cat zoo, Jeff Lowe, confirmed the news in a Facebook post.
In the statement, which was shared on the page of the now-named Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park, he explained that the former public zoo is set to shut its doors ‘effective immediately’.
It read: "The Tiger King phenomenon has definitely changed our lives in many ways. It has brought us more attention than any human deserves, good and bad. It has, and probably will continue to make us a target of every nutjob and animal rights loon in the World, but we are prepared."
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The post continued: "It has also provided us with an unfathomable source of income. Income that will guarantee the long term care of our animals and allow us to be very selective going forward. As of today, we have decided to close the old zoo effective immediately. Do the the permanent closure of the Wynnewood Zoo, I’m forfeiting my USDA exhibitors license.
"The very agency that has given my facility five consecutive perfect inspections, has now folded to the pressures of PETA and continue to make false accusations against me. Suspiciously, less than 24 hours after I contacted the USDA to voluntarily forfeit my license, they notify me that they are suspending my license for 21 days for a litany of falsehoods.
"In the State of Oklahoma, exotic animal ownership is perfectly legal. Rest assured that all the animals will continue to have excellent care, and consequently will no longer be subject to USDA inspections or PETA spies.
Our new park will, at least for the foreseeable future, be a private film set for Tiger King related television content for cable and streaming services.
"This was in fact a decision that we made more than a month ago and was the huge news that we spoke about on Facebook a couple weeks ago. So, thanks to all the people who have visited the Wynnewood Zoo over the years! We thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. Effective immediately, we are closed to the public!”
Jeff first took ownership of the zoo back in 2016, when he bought it with his wife Lauren Lowe.
He put his name down to buy the zoo from the former owner, Joe Exotic when Joe filed for bankruptcy, so that it wouldn’t be taken by animal rights activist and Joe’s arch-nemesis, Carole Baskin.
For those who didn’t follow the Netflix series, Jeff later turned on Joe and ended up being an informant for investigators who were looking the murder-for-hire plotted against Carole.
Joe is now serving time in prison after being convicted in April last year, of 17 charges of animal abuse, as well as two counts of murder for hire.
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