Publications
Partners
In a blog post titled, "Refuting Netflix Tiger King", Carole Baskin opened up about her husband Don Lewis' disappearance, how it was portrayed on the show and addressed comments she's been receiving from the public about the incident.
If you have not yet seen Tiger King, it is a seven-part series that revolves around the life of roadside zoo owner Joe Exotic and the events that eventually led him to hire a hitman in a failed attempt to take out his rival, Carole Baskin.
Read our Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness review here
In the show, Carole is introduced as the owner of Big Cat Rescue - an organisation that rescues big cats from dire situations and provides a sanctuary for them.
Carole has been working tirelessly to try and pass the Big Cat Safety Act which, if successful, would prohibit individuals like Joe from owning and profiting off tigers, lions, panthers, and the like.
But there's more to Carole's story. A large part of the series focuses on the mysterious disappearance of Carole's second husband, millionaire Don Lewis, with some accusing her of killing him and feeding his remains to her tigers.
In her lengthy post, which she shared on the Big Cat Rescue website, Carole starts by saying that producers sold the documentary idea to her as "the big cat version of Blackfish (the documentary that exposed abuse at SeaWorld)". According to the big cat owner, she was told the series would expose the suffering of the caged animals, and the terrible effect breeding and cub petting has on them, but this is not what happened.
"There are no words for how disappointing it is to see that the docuseries not only does not do any of that but has had the sole goal of being as salacious and sensational as possible to draw viewers. As part of that, it has a segment devoted to suggesting, with lies and innuendos from people who are not credible, that I had a role in the disappearance of my husband Don 21 years ago," she writes.
Carole then goes on to break down every detail of Don's disappearance, including the days leading up to it, the talks surrounding his wealth, and claims made by people interviewed on the show, refuting many of their statements.
She also talks about the rumours that she ground up Don's remains and fed it to a tiger.
"This is the most ludicrous of all the lies. As Gladys and the daughters did everything they could to make life difficult for me after Don disappeared, they spread this rumor that they thought I had ground Don up and fed him to the cats. And the media loved it. The meat grinder shown in the video was enormous. Our meat grinder was one of those little tabletop, hand crank things, like you'd have in your kitchen at home [sic]."
Rounding off her post, Carole said that although Don was "not easy to live with" she "certainly had nothing to do with his disappearance."
"When he disappeared, I did everything I could to assist the police. I encouraged them to check out the rumors from Costa Rica, and separately I hired a private investigator [sic]," she added.
Carole also answered questions about why Big Cat Rescue does not set their animals free, the size of their enclosures, and claims that she tried to take Joe Exotic's parent's house during their legal battles.
