'Tiger King' star Doc Antle indicted on wildlife trafficking charges
- by Carmen Reese
- in Science
- — Jan 16, 2021
Bhagavan "Doc" Antle from the popular Netflix series "Tiger King" and a Virginia animal park owner have been charged with wildlife trafficking and animal cruelty.
Attorney General Mark Herring said Friday that a months-long investigation found that Bhagavan "Doc" Antle and the owner of a roadside zoo in Virginia trafficked lion cubs between Virginia and SC. Wilson has previous animal cruelty charges from November 2019, regarding his Wild Animal Park. Depending on the Tiger King character describing him, Antle was renowned for his many "girlfriends" or "wives" or "partners".
Detectives discovered the two trafficked lion cubs between Virginia and SC which prompted a search of Antle's property in December of 2019. Antle was indicted for felony wildlife trafficking, and has also been charged with 1 felony count of conspiracy to sell or transport endangered wildlife, four misdemeanor counts of conspiracy to violate the Endangered Species Act, and nine misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty.
Antle, his two daughters and his co-conspirator, Keith Wilson, were all indicted by a Grand Jury in Frederick County. Wilson and Dall'Acqua face trial next year for those charges.
Yet another wrinkle has been added to the Tiger King story.
To date, most of the show's characters have been disciplined for their role in perpetuating the cruel wildlife trade, including Exotic (who is in prision for wildlife violations and his murder-for-hire scheme against Carole Baskin); Tim Stark (who was arrested by NY authorities this week); and Lowe (whose wildlife exhibitor license was suspended by the United States Department of Agriculture, leading to the closure of the GW Exotic Animal Park to the public in August). He is also facing multiple misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty and conspiracy to violate the Endangered Species Act.
On Wednesday, the docuseries' Tim Stark, the founder of the self-proclaimed animal refuge Wildlife in Need in IN, was arrested in Granville, N.Y., according to local news outlets. "Once again, state officials have stepped up to fill the void left by lax enforcement of the Animal Welfare Act", Block said.
Animal rights groups were pleased with Antle's indictment on Friday. "We know first-hand all about his treatment of animals". It alleged that Antle supplied tigers for breeding and a traveling circus act and whipped and cruelly trained them behind the scenes.
