Jeff Lowe Says The Zoo From "Tiger King" Has Officially Been Shut Down For Good
NME- The exotic cat zoo made famous by Netflix docuseries Tiger King has permanently closed. In a Facebook post to the page of the now-named Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park, current owner Jeff Lowe (nemesis of incarcerated Tiger King star and former owner, Joe Exotic) said the zoo is closed to the public “effective immediately”.
“The Tiger King phenomenon has definitely changed our lives in many ways,” the post read. “It has, and probably will continue to make us a target of every nutjob and animal rights loon in the World, but we are prepared. As of today, we have decided to close the old zoo effective immediately.” Lowe added that due to the park’s permanent closure he has now voluntarily forfeited his United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) exhibitor’s license. He also noted that the USDA, who had previously awarded his facility “five consecutive perfect inspections”, have now “folded to the pressures of PETA and continue to make false accusations against me”.
“Suspiciously, less than 24 hours after I contacted the USDA to voluntarily forfeit my license, they notify me that they are suspending my license for 21 days for a litany of falsehoods,” Lowe wrote. “In the state of Oklahoma, exotic animal ownership is perfectly legal. Rest assured that all the animals will continue to have excellent care, and consequently will no longer be subject to USDA inspections or PETA spies.”
We have a saying around these parts that the internet always gets its man. It doesn't matter if you are a good person who donated a million dollars to a children's hospital, an asshole who sucker punched someone in a viral video, or just some random shlub with a funny name that asked a question during a political debate. If you achieve any morsel of fame thanks to the series of tubes and wires and whatever the fuck else the World Wide Web is made out of, you will get got and likely before the shine of newfound fame has stopped shining on you.
Which is why it's almost a surprise that it took half-a-year for a zoo run by garbage people to get shut the fuck down like a pub run by alcoholic family members on an episode of Bar Rescue.
The internet was going to improve its record to 8 zillion and oh by placing that zoo's head on a spike no matter what. But considering Tiger King became a cultural phenomenon during a pandemic where the entire country was stuck inside to argue with each other about everything under the sun, you had to figure the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park would be cooked sooner rather than later once COVID and PETA formed an unholy alliance to take down the somehow even more unholier Jeff Lowe.
I am hesitant to believe many of the words typed by the Axe Body Spray soaked fingers of Jeff Not D. Lowe about how fairly or unfairly things were handled. Hopefully the animals of that zoo go to a place where they are taken care of that is NOT owned by someone named That Bitch Carole Baskin so we can all close the book on one of the wildest and weirdest American pop cultural phenomenons ever.
