
Latest ‘Tiger King' twist finds ‘Doc' Antle sentenced to 1 year in prison for animal traffickin
Endangered lifeFacebookTweetLink
Follow
'Tiger King' star Bhagavan 'Doc' Antle was sentenced on Tuesday to one year and a day in federal prison and fined $55,000 for trafficking in exotic animals and money laundering after pleading guilty in November 2023.
Antle's fate was resolved in a federal courtroom in Charleston, South Carolina, five years after the true crime documentary 'Tiger King' captivated a country shut down by COVID-19.
Three others who pleaded guilty in his investigation received either probation or a four-month prison sentence.
Antle's sentence is the final true-life chapter of the Tiger King saga. The Netflix series debuted in March 2020 near the peak of COVID-19 restrictions.
The show centered on dealers and conservationists of big cats, focusing on disputes between Joe Exotic, a collector and private zookeeper from Oklahoma, and Carole Baskin, who runs Big Cat Rescue in Florida.
Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, is serving a 21-year federal prison sentence for trying to hire two different men to kill Baskin.
Antle, who owns a private zoo called Myrtle Beach Safari, appeared in the first season of the documentary and was the star of the third season.
Antle's zoo was known for charging hundreds or thousands of dollars to let people pet and hold baby animals like lions, tigers and monkeys that were so young they were still being bottle-fed. Customers could have photos or videos made. Antle would sometimes ride into tours on an elephant.
Myrtle Beach Safari remains open by reservation only, according to its website. Antle had remained out on bail since his arrest in June 2022.
Antle's federal charges were brought after the 'Tiger King' series.
Prosecutors said he sold or bought cheetahs, lions, tigers and a chimpanzee without the proper paperwork. And they said in a separate scheme, Antle laundered more than $500,000 that an informant told him was being used to get people into the U.S. illegally to work.
Antle was used to having large amounts of money he could move around quickly, investigators said.
The FBI was listening to Antle's phone calls with the informant as he explained a baby chimpanzee could easily cost $200,000. Private zookeepers can charge hundreds of dollars for photos with docile young primates or other animals, but the profit window is only open for a few years before the growing animals can no longer be safely handled.
'I had to get a monkey, but the people won't take a check. They only take cash. So what do you do?' Antle said according to a transcript of the phone call in court papers.
Two of Antle's employees have already been sentenced for their roles in his schemes.
Meredith Bybee was given a year of probation for selling a chimpanzee while Andrew 'Omar' Sawyer, who prosecutors said helped Antle launder money, was given two years of probation.
Jason Clay, a Texas private zoo owner, pleaded guilty to illegally selling a primate and was sentenced to four months in prison, while charges were dropped against California ranch owner Charles Sammut.
Antle was also convicted in 2023 in a Virginia court of four counts of wildlife trafficking over sales of lions and was sentenced to two years of prison suspended 'upon five years of good behavior.' An appeals court overturned two of the convictions, ruling that Virginia law bans the sale of endangered species but not their purchase.
Antle was found not guilty of five counts of animal cruelty at that same Virginia trial.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Fast Company
13 minutes ago
- Fast Company
Trump to visit Kennedy Center to announce 2025 honorees and promote major changes to the venue
U.S. President Donald Trump will visit the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on Wednesday to unveil its 2025 honorees for artistic excellence and tout a major renovation as lawmakers push to rename the venue for the Republican president. In a post on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday, Trump teased the announcement, saying, 'GREAT Nominees for the TRUMP/KENNEDY CENTER, whoops, I mean, KENNEDY CENTER, AWARDS.' Trump also teased a physical overhaul of the center in Washington, D.C., saying he planned to restore it to the 'absolutely top level of luxury, glamour, and entertainment.' No details were immediately available. Since returning to power in January, Trump has sought to put his stamp on American culture and institutions to align them closer with his political and personal preferences. His administration has ordered a review of some Smithsonian museums and exhibitions to 'remove divisive or partisan narratives.' At the White House, Trump has added gold leaf to the Oval Office, paved over the Rose Garden, and embarked on plans for a $200-million ballroom. Trump did not attend events at the Kennedy Center during his first term but has taken a keen interest in it during his second, vowing to overhaul an institution he and his 'Make America Great Again' supporters view as too liberal. He pushed out its chairman in February and took on the role himself, fired its longtime president, and installed his former ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, as interim president. In a post on X, the Kennedy Center said its building — which opened in September 1971 — would undergo renovations thanks to Trump's advocacy aimed at restoring its 'prestige and grandeur.' The arts facility also hinted at the 2025 winners: 'A country music icon, an Englishman, a New York City Rock band, a dance Queen and a multi-billion dollar Actor walk into the Kennedy Center Opera House….' Republicans recently voted as part of a sweeping tax cut and spending bill to earmark $257 million for the building's renovation, conditional on the opera house being named after first lady Melania Trump. Republican Representative Bob Onder in July introduced a bill that would rename the modernist building the Donald J. Trump Center for the Performing Arts. Trump last visited the Kennedy Center in June for a performance of 'Les Miserables,' where he and his wife were met with a loud mix of boos and cheers. Ticket and subscription sales have fallen since Trump's conservative takeover of the venue, and some shows, including the hit 'Hamilton,' have canceled their engagements. Under his leadership, the center has sought to add conservative-leaning programming, including a show that Grenell has described as a celebration of the birth of Christ.


Geek Tyrant
13 minutes ago
- Geek Tyrant
New Line in Early Talks for WEAPONS Prequel Film — GeekTyrant
It looks like Weapons might be getting a bloody backstory. New Line is in early talks for a prequel to Zach Cregger's latest horror hit, fresh off its killer opening weekend. While plot details are being kept under wraps, the project reportedly came from a pitch by one of Cregger's writer friends, an idea he 'really sparked to' before it even reached New Line's Richard Brener or Warner Bros. chairperson Mike De Luca. Cregger's involvement in the prequel remains unclear, but I imagine that if it's a prequel, it will deal with the the crazy-ass Aunt Gladys. Right now, Cregger's plate is more than full, with two upcoming films already in the works with a Resident Evil adaptation for Sony, followed by an original project titled Flood . Weapons is a chilling mystery about 17 third-graders who vanish from their homes at exactly 2:17 a.m., leaving the town of Maybrook, Pennsylvania in shock and looking for answers. Julia Garner stars as Justine Gandy, the teacher who loses her class, alongside Josh Brolin as a desperate father and Alden Ehrenreich as a local cop. The cast also includes Austin Abrams, Benedict Wong, Amy Madigan, and Cary Christopher. Weapons has proven both a critical and commercial hit. It topped the box office its opening weekend with around $42.5 million domestically and has now pulled in over $81 million worldwide. Whether Cregger will have time to return to Maybrook's eerie world for the prequel remains to be seen, but if the idea has him this intrigued, horror fans should keep an eye out because there's a good chance the nightmare isn't over yet. Source: Deadline


CNN
14 minutes ago
- CNN
Thank you, ‘Sex and the City,' for being part of our story
As far as television show relationships go, 'Sex and the City' was the one I didn't see coming. It didn't sweep me off my feet like the 'Grey's Anatomy' pilot did. It didn't give me five years of bliss before slowly losing its spark like 'Supernatural.' It was, in many ways, the friend I slowly fell for. The show debuted in 1998, when I was too young to be watching it and my older sister was way too cool to care. I was a kid, so obviously didn't see myself in any of the women at the time, but I appreciated being privy to the adult conversations. Did they all talk and think like this? Weird! Growing up along the border in Texas, Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha were not women I knew in real life and not women I ever imagined myself being. But even as a preteen, I knew they were fabulous, funny and a good time. I didn't need them to be more than that — until I did. Back in 2023, I decided to take on my third rewatch of the original series ahead of the second season of spinoff series 'And Just Like That,' which this week will air its finale and possibly mark the conclusion of the universe (but nothing ever really ends these days, does it?). I hadn't seen the show from the beginning since my early 20s, when I was sexless in the city, having moved to New York with goals, ambitions and living up to the nickname bestowed upon me by my sisters after years of prudishness – Sister Mary Clarence. This time, I was one month postpartum and having a hard time. Because the elusive perfect latch was not part of my motherhood story, I was exclusively pumping and needed to pump every 2-3 hours around the clock for a baby that needed to eat every 3-4 hours. Do the math. I was exhausted and very much in need of a laugh not caused by sleep-deprived mania. So at night, I'd dull the sound of my whooshing breast pump with a blanket as I sat across from my sleeping son and pop my earbuds in to watch 'the girls,' as they became known in my head. By the time I got to Season 4, I was crying with Miranda as she struggled to adapt to motherhood, understanding deeply when she confided in Carrie that her fear was losing the connections that she valued the most — those with her friends. Two seasons later, when Charlotte had her miscarriage, I was thrown again. Just the year before, that sad lump on the couch had been me, and I did not recover in a day or with the help of an E! 'True Hollywood Story' about Elizabeth Taylor. I cried for Charlotte because I knew her heartache, and I was grateful to know I got through it, with a whooshing breast pump to prove it. Watching the show in my 20s had landed differently than my initial watch because by then, I knew what it meant to be lonely, to be broke because you love shoes, to feel broken, to be a good friend and be a bad one. Watching the original show and spin-off in my 30s has been a mixed bag. I have more empathy for their younger selves, more judgement for the older ones who I feel should know better by now and endless amusement that I talk about fictional characters like they're real people I've known for decades. You may not have loved every minute of on-screen or off-screen drama in the 'Sex and the City' universe, but — like real life, where the totality of our stories never hinge on one relationship, one breakup, one decision, one mistake, one triumph — a world rich enough to resonate across decades of your existence is something to be celebrated. At its best, the show has been perspective wrapped in a Tiffany blue box, if you will. Because it has been the reminder that if you survive hard things — like blessings disguised as broken hearts or broken hearts disguised as the end of the world — long enough to have hindsight, that's a gift that never goes out of style. It's time to admit that 'Sex and the City' was never a fling. It was love.