ON FALLOUT FROM BIG CATS DOC Joe Exotic tried to kill me but I’d take his help to free tigers
Carole Baskin offers olive branch to jailed rival
me over the years who are, I think, a lot smarter than Joe.”
Things escalated when Carole agreed to be part of Tiger King, a series they believed would benefit big cats.
She said: “We were told by the producers that Joe was just going to be a five-minute piece. They were going to show this huge network of animal abusers misleading the public, saying they’re breeding cats for conservation when it’s really a multi-million dollar industry to charge people to take pictures with cubs – which end up discarded, killed or traded for their parts.
“They kept coming back at me trying to get me to say something rude or hateful about Joe. I wasn’t willing to do that. They decided to make me look like I’m this villain who drove him to all of this horrible stuff that he was doing.”
They say producers Eric Goode and Rebecca Chaiklin “lied and lied” about the true nature of the show and edited it to distort Carole’s views, leading to the outpouring of hatred towards her.
“People have been really misled to reach those conclusions,” she said.
Howard added: “Eric presented himself as a conservationist. We didn’t do due diligence. We accepted it.”
Producer Rebecca is said to have asked to meet the pair to clear the air but they declined.
One silver lining to the global TV hit was that it helped to drive publicity for their goal to outlaw cats being kept in captivity.
Carole said: “If our federal bill passes this year, I will say it was absolutely worth every bit of damage it did to me and my family.”
Tonight, the pair feature in Louis Theroux’s BBC documentary, which re-examines his findings from a 2011 film he made about Joe, now 58.
The Baskins hope the 90-minute special will help redress the balance.
“We’re hoping that people will come away from it saying, ‘Wait a minute. These are not the people portrayed in Tiger King’.”
Louis’ new programme shows Carole taking over Joe’s old zoo in Oklahoma, with a view to selling it.
She finds it covered with obscene graffiti about her.
Howard said: “We’ll have restrictions in the deed that say it can’t be used for exotic animals, or anything using the name Tiger King or Joe Exotic.”
Accusations levelled at Carole in Tiger King are that she was involved in the killing of second husband Don Lewis, who vanished in 1997, and that she is a hypocrite because she started out in the business of exploiting big cats.
Carole says she will never find out the truth about Don and hasn’t been involved in tiger breeding since the 90s. “We didn’t know any different back then,” she said. “It was before the internet.”
Many breeders who featured in Tiger King have lost their licences, and Carole and Howard hope the Big Cat Public Safety Act will be passed.
Howard believes that Joe helping to end the cruel trade would be his best shot at redemption. He said: “If you look at the list of people pardoned, in many cases it’s because they did something positive with their life, either in prison or outside.” ● Louis Theroux, Shooting Joe Exotic, is on BBC2 tonight at 9pm.
There are so many people who have threatened me who are a lot smarter than Joe CAROLE BASKIN ON HER LIFE AS AN ACTIVIST FOR BIG CATS