Greg Frewin on his anger over ‘Tiger King’
Niagara Falls owner of four tigers concerned about number remaining in the wild
It has been one of the most binge-worthy shows of the past month, as people are cooped up during COVID-19.
It has launched countless memes and renewed debates about animals in captivity. It made instant stars out of jailed tiger park owner Joe Exotic and his arch-nemesis Carole Baskins.
It would be the year’s biggest water-cooler show, if we could gather around water-coolers.
So, what does Canada’s Tiger King think about Netflix’s “Tiger King?”
Magician Greg Frewin, who has used adult tigers in his Niagara Falls show for nearly two decades, says he nearly gave up on the documentary series after just 10 minutes.
“I saw a whip (in Joe’s) hand and I turned it off,” said Frewin. “I didn’t want anything to do with it.
“But then people started telling me, ‘There’s no abuse, it’s a good show,’ so I ended up watching it.”
His impression? Anger. Not just at the sordid world of tiger owners the show depicted, but at the fact viewers are upset about the wrong thing.
Instead of shock and outrage over Joe Exotic’s behaviour or whether Baskins killed her husband (and fed him to tigers), Frewin wishes viewers keyed in on a statistic the show shared in its final episode: There are 8,000 tigers in captivity in the United States, and only 4,000 left in the wild.
“Why is there only 4,000 tigers left in the wild, and we’re worried about ‘Did Carole Baskins kill her husband?’” he says. “Why aren’t people talking about that? That’s the part I’m interested in.
“Those characters are so extreme that the facts that are important got completely brushed over. All we talk about are how crazy they are, how abusive this and that. There’s a whole bunch of stuff in this show that’s been completely missed.”
Released March 20, “Tiger King” follows eccentric Oklahoma animal park owner Exotic and his vicious feud with Baskin, owner of Florida’s Big Cat Rescue. Over the course of eight episodes the show dives into the murky world of big cat captivity in the U.S. and the brazen antics of park owners. In one scene, Exotic is filming a TV segment in a tiger den when one of the cats bites down on his boot and starts pulling him away. Exotic then pulls out a gun and fires into the ground, scaring the cat off.
Elsewhere are scenes of expired grocery store meat being fed to the cats, and the public paying to hold and pet tiger cubs shortly after they’re born.
Exotic is currently behind bars for his part in a murderfor-hire scheme against Baskin and violations of the Endangered Species Act.
“I think people like Joe should be in jail for a lot longer for what they do,” says Frewin, who shields his four tigers from the public except for performances.
“These are extremely egotistical, greed-driven people. I don’t think Joe’s original plan was to be the way he was, but the greed, the ego, the drugs, it all took over.”
With the media glare the show has created, Frewin welcomes more regulations to weed out troublesome big cat owners. A problem less prevalent in Canada, he adds.
“There should be certain controls put in place that allows people like myself and others that work with positive re-enforcement, that do work in the correct way, that do donate to different foundations … we should be able to do what we do without being prosecuted because somebody else did it with greed and ego and tried to ruin it for everybody,” he says.
While he waits to re-open his show, Frewin is doing a biweekly livestream fundraiser with other magicians to benefit the Niagara SPCA and Humane Society veterinary hospital. The next event is Wednesday at 7 p.m. on Greg Frewin Theatre’s YouTube page.