Joe Exotic Loses His Zoo To Carole Baskin In Court Ruling

Courthouse News reports that Tiger King star Joe Exotic has lost his zoo to rival Carole Baskin. Baskin’s Big Cat Rescue was given control of the zoo on Monday in lieu of a $1 million payment on a trademark judgment.

The case centered around Baskin proving that Exotic fraudulently transferred zoo property to his mother, Shirley Schreibvogel, in 2011 as a way to avoid them being taken by creditors in the event that he lost one of his many ongoing legal battles. He did end up losing one of them in 2013, and was ordered to pay $1 million to Big Cat Rescue over a trademark infringement lawsuit that involved Exotic using logos and images similar to the ones created and owned by Big Cat Resue.

Big Cat Rescue ended up suing Exotic’s mom in 2016. She admitted under oath that Exotic transferred the zoo land to her as a way to keep it from creditors such as Big Cat Rescue.

Big Cat Rescue was also given control of cars and cabins on the zoo property. The judge in the case has given the current zoo operator 120 days to leave and remove all animals currently there.

Exotic remains in prison, serving a 22 year sentence for trying to hire a hitman to kill Baskin, as well as falsifying animal records and violating the Endangered Species Act.