Tiger King’s Carole Baskin wins control over Joe Exotic’s infamous zoo

Carole Baskin is now in control of the Exotic Animal Memorial Park in Wynnewood, Oklahoma - better known as the zoo previously owned by Joe Exotic.

Exotic, real name Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage, fled Oklahoma and left the zoo in control of his mother, and his former business partner Jeff Lowe back in 2011.

In 2016, Baskin and her company Big Cat Rescue sued Exotic’s mother, Shirley M. Schreibvogel, claiming the transfer of deeds was fraudulent and a judge has now ruled in her favour.

The land has been granted to Baskin to help satisfy the $1 million (£800,000) payment Exotic was ordered to give her after copyright infringement.

Lowe and his wife Lauren, who have been running the zoo in recent months and recently reopened it under a new name, have 120 days to vacate the land, court documents reveal.

Baskin’s Big Cat Rescue now also owns various cabins and vehicles at the property too.

Exotic’s war with Baskin was chronicled in Netflix’s Tiger King, which quickly became one of the streaming service’s most successful original shows of 2020 so far.

Baskin sued Exotic for copyright infringement when he named his travelling circus show ‘Big Cat Entertainment’, in an attempt to hijack Google users searching for information on his rival’s park, Big Cat Rescue.

The legal battle was just one of many clashes between the pair and Exotic is currently serving a 22-year prison sentence for plotting to hire someone to murder Baskin.

He was also convicted on a number of animal cruelty charges and nine counts of violating the Endangered Species ACt by killing five tigers and selling animals acorss state lines.

The saga is set to be dramatised with Nicholas Cage in line to play Exotic.