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Carole Baskin Wins Control of Joe Exotic’s Former Zoo In Oklahoma

Nellie Andreeva
·2-min read

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This is yet another twist in the decades-long bitter rivalry between Joe Exotic (aka Joseph Maldonado-Passage) and Carole Baskin, which is at the heart of Netflix’s wildly popular docuseries Tiger King.

Baskin, the woman Joe was convicted of plotting to kill, and her Big Cat Rescue corporation have been granted control of The G.W. Exotic Animal Memorial Park in Wynnewood, Oklahoma. A federal judge in the western district court of Oklahoma made the ruling in the 2016 case Monday, finding that the property was fraudulently transferred to Maldonado-Passage’s mother years ago, according to the local Fox 25 station.

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The Oklahoma zoo has been controlled by Jeff Lowe who has 120 days to vacate the property— including all of his animals currently housed there, according to a copy of the ruling published by the Courthouse News Service.

Maldonado-Passage is currently in a Dallas-Fort Worth medical center after a possible exposure to the coronavirus. He is serving 22 years in prison for paying a hitman $3,000 to kill Baskin. He was also found guilty on multiple charges of violating both the Lacey Act for falsifying wildlife records, and the Endangered Species Act.

Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin are set to be played by Nicolas Cage and Kate McKinnon, respectively, in two different limited TV series projects now in the works.

Also on Monday, Joe Exotic’s Twitter account posted a letter written by the disgraced former zoo owner in prison.

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