Tiger King's Bhagavan "Doc" Antle — the owner of Myrtle Beach Safari and generally creepy sex cult guy — has been indicted on multiple charges ranging from wildlife trafficking to animal cruelty.
After months of sleuthing, investigators led by Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring's animal law unit found evidence of cub trafficking on Antle's part, as well as his two daughters' involvement in various related illegal activities.
Antle's charges include one felony count of conspiracy to sell or transport endangered wildlife, a whopping nine misdemeanour counts of animal cruelty and four counts of conspiracy to violate the Endangered Species Act. Antle's daughters Tawny Antle and Tilakam Watterson were also charged with violating the Act, TMZ reports.
These charges should come as no surprise to anyone that has watched Tiger King. The Humane Society of the United States certainly isn't shocked, and the organization sees the charges as a win for animal rights.
"Antle's tiger mill has been the source of immense cruelty to hundreds of tigers and must be shut down. We know first-hand all about his treatment of animals," a representative for the organization wrote, "[His] indictment comes as no surprise to us and makes a clean sweep of the cruel characters featured front and center in the series Tiger King."
Besides his big cat zoo, Antle has had a long career providing tiger-related services to Hollywood. His cats have appeared in films like Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Mighty Joe Young and Dr. Dolittle. In 2001, he brought one of his big cats to the VMAs for Britney Spears' performance of "I'm a Slave 4 U."
One of three main figured outlined in Netflix's viral docuseries, Antle and his contemporaries, Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin, have long been suspected of various crimes. Exotic is currently serving a 22-year prison sentence for a murder-for-hire plot against Baskin. Meanwhile, Baskin has appeared on Dancing with the Stars and got her very own spinoff show — despite long-standing suspicions that she murdered her ex-husband Don Lewis and fed his remains to her tigers.
After months of sleuthing, investigators led by Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring's animal law unit found evidence of cub trafficking on Antle's part, as well as his two daughters' involvement in various related illegal activities.
Antle's charges include one felony count of conspiracy to sell or transport endangered wildlife, a whopping nine misdemeanour counts of animal cruelty and four counts of conspiracy to violate the Endangered Species Act. Antle's daughters Tawny Antle and Tilakam Watterson were also charged with violating the Act, TMZ reports.
These charges should come as no surprise to anyone that has watched Tiger King. The Humane Society of the United States certainly isn't shocked, and the organization sees the charges as a win for animal rights.
"Antle's tiger mill has been the source of immense cruelty to hundreds of tigers and must be shut down. We know first-hand all about his treatment of animals," a representative for the organization wrote, "[His] indictment comes as no surprise to us and makes a clean sweep of the cruel characters featured front and center in the series Tiger King."
Besides his big cat zoo, Antle has had a long career providing tiger-related services to Hollywood. His cats have appeared in films like Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Mighty Joe Young and Dr. Dolittle. In 2001, he brought one of his big cats to the VMAs for Britney Spears' performance of "I'm a Slave 4 U."
One of three main figured outlined in Netflix's viral docuseries, Antle and his contemporaries, Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin, have long been suspected of various crimes. Exotic is currently serving a 22-year prison sentence for a murder-for-hire plot against Baskin. Meanwhile, Baskin has appeared on Dancing with the Stars and got her very own spinoff show — despite long-standing suspicions that she murdered her ex-husband Don Lewis and fed his remains to her tigers.