- Bhagavan “Doc” Antle, 63, oversaw the sale or purchase of cheetah, lion and tiger cubs, as well as a baby chimpanzee
- The court found that he had hidden payments for animals as “donations” to his nonprofit organization
- He became famous for the successful Netflix series Tiger King
Tiger King star Doc Antle faces up to five years in prison after pleading guilty to animal trafficking and money laundering on Monday.
Bhagavan “Doc” Antle, 63, oversaw the sale or purchase of cheetah, lion and tiger cubs, as well as a baby chimpanzee – all protected and endangered species.
Antle rose to fame in the hit Netflix series “Tiger King,” which followed the life of Joe Exotic, a zoo owner now serving a 21-year prison sentence for attempting to hire two different men to kill animal rights activist Carol Baskin kill.
The court found that Antle hid payments for the exotic animals as “donations” to his nonprofit organization, the Rare Species Fund.
In addition to his nonprofit organization, Antle operates Myrtle Beach Safari in South Carolina, which offers tours and encounters with exotic wildlife.
Doc Antle pleaded guilty Monday to animal trafficking and money laundering
He oversaw the sale or purchase of cheetah, lion and tiger cubs, as well as a baby chimpanzee
In Tiger King, Antle is portrayed as a conservationist and exotic mentor. He is also shown to have a cult-like approach to business, as a polygamist with a number of devoted female employees.
Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim said, “The defendant posed as a conservationist, but repeatedly violated laws protecting endangered animals and then attempted to cover up those violations.”
Between September 2018 and May 2020, Antle directed the sale or purchase of seven animals protected under the Endangered Species Act, including two cheetah cubs, two lion cubs, two tigers and a chimpanzee.
He also concealed transactions using bulk cash payments and falsified documentation and routed payments to his nonprofit organization so that he could classify the payments as donations.
Investigators also found evidence that Antle and a co-conspirator had also used funds earned from transporting and harboring illegal immigrants.
He now faces a maximum of five years in prison for each count, fines of up to $250,000 and three years of supervised release.
In another case, a jury in Virginia convicted him in June of two counts of wildlife trafficking and two counts of conspiracy to commit wildlife trafficking after he purchased the animals to display outside his business in South Carolina.
Antle with a tiger over his shoulder. He appeared in the wildly popular 2020 Netflix documentary “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness,” which spotlights big cat breeders and private zoos in the United States
Antle poses with big cats. Antle was sentenced Tuesday by a Frederick County judge to two years in prison with probation on each charge, which will run concurrently
They acquitted him of five animal cruelty charges, while the judge in that case dismissed four other animal cruelty charges against him and all charges against his two daughters.
He was sentenced to two years in prison with probation for both counts and a $10,000 fine for purchasing endangered lion cubs. He was also ordered to stay away from exotic animals.
Antle’s violations date back to 1989, when he was fined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for releasing deer and peacocks at his Virginia zoo.
Since then, he has racked up more than 35 USDA violations for animal mistreatment.
He was also criticized by PETA for allowing celebrity guests such as Beyoncé, Floyd Mayweather and Larsa Pippen to physically interact with wild animals in his park.
He was also part of Britney Spears’ legendary 2001 VMAs performance “I’m a Slave 4 U,” where he was the animal handler.
Spears, 40, began the show in a cage with Antle and a liger – a mother tiger/lion father mix – and then took the stage, where she danced with a python wrapped around her shoulders.