Carole Baskin Slams Netflix’s ‘Tiger King’ Doc, Insists She Didn’t Kill Her Husband By Feeding Him To Tigers

Netflix’s true-crime docuseries Tiger King focuses on the insanely petty beef between zookeeper Joseph Maldonado-Passage, aka Joe Exotic, and Big Cat Rescue sanctuary owner Carole Baskin. Baskin and Maldonado-Passage’s decades-long feud eventually ended with Joe Exotic being put away in jail when he plotted to kill his long-time nemesis.

The doc has plenty of wild revelations but one of the craziest accusations made on the show is that Baskin killed her first husband Don Lewis, who went missing in 1997 and has yet to be found.

Joe Exotic even made a music video called “Here, Kitty Kitty” alleging Baskin murdered her husband and fed him to her tigers.

After watching the documentary many believe the Baskin murder theory is true and are asking “where is Don Lewis?”

https://twitter.com/rtyler/status/1242535370769575936

Baskin has seen “Tiger King” and slams the directors for not only misleading her about the content of the doc but also for making up “lies” about her husband’s disappearance.

Via Big Cat Rescue blog

When the directors of the Netflix documentary Tiger King came to us five years ago they said they wanted to make the big cat version of Blackfish (the documentary that exposed abuse at SeaWorld) that would expose the misery caused by the rampant breeding of big cat cubs for cub petting exploitation and the awful life the cats lead in roadside zoos and back yards if they survive.

There are not 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. The series presents this without any regard for the truth or in most cases even giving me an opportunity before publication to rebut the absurd claims. They did not care about truth. The unsavory lies are better for getting viewers.

There is no short, simple way to refute so many lies. If you do want to know the truth, it requires understanding the history of events in the years before my husband’s disappearance and the roles and behaviors of the people interviewed in the series, which I have tried to do as concisely as I can below but still requires a few page

Baskin then provided several alternate theories as to how her husband may have disappeared. According to Baskin, Lewis was acting strangely before his disappearance and may have had Alzheimer’s but was never able to get it confirmed by a doctor.

In the few years preceding his disappearance Don’s behavior was gradually showing signs of mental deterioration. Originally Don, from time to time, would buy vehicles or other equipment at auctions with a view to reselling them, although mostly he never got around to reselling them. But gradually his hoarding of junk that he brought to the 40 acres the sanctuary now sits on increased and involved junk of no value. He deteriorated into dumpster diving and even got stuck in a dumpster and called me crying because he did not know where he was.

Back then Alzheimer’s was not a commonly used word. I had not heard of it. Someone mentioned Alzheimer’s to me and I got Don to agree to set up an appointment with a specialist, Dr. Gold. Anne McQueen intervened and convinced him to see her psychiatrist, Dr. Blasini. He referred us to a Dr. West in the same building who was not there, so Don saw Dr. Russell. He diagnosed Don with Bi-Polar Disorder and gave him a prescription to have an MRI at St. Joseph’s Hospital. I did not find the prescription until I was searching his bedside table looking for clues to his disappearance.

His behavior became increasingly strange. He started refusing to use the bathroom and defecating outside. He brought in a homeless man to stay in our house. I rescheduled an appointment for him to see the specialist Dr. Gold. But he disappeared before the appointment date.

Baskin’s blog post is extremely long and she goes on to respond to many claims on the show about the application of a restraining order and the disappearing power of attorney papers, it’s definitely worth a read but probably won’t change many minds about her.