Baskin says the 69-year-old volunteer was feeding a three-year-old animal when she reached in … [19] Baskin claims that he filed the restraining order because she would haul off some of his "junk" property whenever he visited Costa Rica. CNN has reached out to Hillsborough County Fire Rescue for more information on the attack and is waiting to hear back. Big Cat Rescue is … Late in the night, it passed. [26], Baskin has a long-running feud with Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage, the former owner of the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, who goes by the nickname Joe Exotic. Carole Baskin felt "betrayed" by Netflix over the angle they took with 'Tiger King' and claimed producers "lied" to her about the purposes of the documentary. [4][5] In January 1991, she married her second husband and joined his real estate business. Tiger 'nearly tore arm off' volunteer at Carole Baskin's Big Cat Rescue. [31][32], In November 2019, Universal Content Productions announced that they were adapting a Joe Exotic podcast for television, with Kate McKinnon portraying Baskin. [5][15] She and Lewis engaged in an affair while both were still married. The attack on a Big Cat Rescue volunteer only reinforces why the Big Cat Public Safety Act should be passed, the sanctuary said in a statement to CNN. [17][18] In July 1997, Lewis filed a restraining order against her, claiming that she had threatened to kill him; the restraining order was rejected. Described as the “Mother Theresa of cats”, Carole Baskin is the owner and CEO of the Big Cat Sanctuary in Tampa, Florida. [4] In 2020, he was convicted of attempting to hire a hitman to kill her. Coworkers attempted to stop the bleeding and save the injured volunteer's arm before an ambulance arrived about 20 minutes later. (Carole Baskin) Dancing with the Stars helped Carole Baskin fund Big Cat … [34] She later spoke out against the series, calling it "salacious and sensational", and criticized directors Eric Goode and Rebecca Chaiklin. [4][5] Baskin then hitchhiked back and forth between Florida and Bangor, Maine, sleeping under parked cars. Carole Baskin was thrust into the national spotlight earlier this year after her feud with Joseph Maldonado-Passage, aka Joe Exotic, was made famous on the Netflix docuseries Tiger King.The alleged big cat "rescuer" made news again when an employee working at her Big Cat Rescue animal sanctuary in Florida was attacked by a tiger while feeding it on Thursday, December 3, 2020. Big Cat Rescue CEO Carole Baskin has slammed Super Bowl fans ahead of the big game for hosting the event amidst the coronavirus pandemic. Carole Baskin (née Stairs Jones; born June 6, 1961) is an American big-cat rights activist and CEO of Big Cat Rescue, a non-profit animal sanctuary based near Tampa, Florida.. Baskin drew public attention when she was featured in the 2020 Netflix documentary series Tiger King about Oklahoma-based private zoo operator Joe Exotic.The Netflix series follows both Baskin and Joe … [20] Lewis told her multiple times that he wanted a divorce, but she did not think he was ever serious about it. [22], Lewis disappeared in August 1997[20] and was declared legally dead in 2002. Jeff Lowe's current zoo operation on the property was given 120 days to vacate the property with their animals. The animal rights activist … Kimba will be placed in quarantine for the next 30 days, Big Cat Rescue said, but "was just acting normal due to the presence of food and opportunity.". The injured volunteer, Candy Couser, has worked at Big Cat Rescue for five years, feeding wild animals for three. CNN Sans ™ & © 2016 Cable News Network. Due to the similarity in the facilities’ names, many people have confused our sanctuary with the Tampa facility owned by Carole Baskin. ... Baskin's Big Cat Rescue has been closed for almost one year due to the Covid pandemic. "More than 50 felines live on-site, and are cared for by Baskin, her husband Howard, staff members, and approximately 80 to 110 … We're told she is … Carole Baskin responds to YouTube pranksters tricking her Big Cat Rescue is home to over 50 exotic cats like tigers, lions, bobcats and more, … [27][28] Joe Exotic claimed that Baskin was involved in the disappearance of Lewis. Big Cat Rescue A 3-year-old tiger named Kimba nearly tore a volunteers arm off at Carole Baskin's Big Cat Rescue on December 3. (Netflix) "I'm going to leave them for Carole… Updated 12:14 PM ET, Thu December 3, 2020. [18] Lewis continued to live with Baskin afterwards. In Tiger King, Exotic made claims that his rival, Big Cat Rescue CEO Baskin, killed her husband and fed him to her tigers. Carole Baskin told Insider that the pandemic has forced Big Cat Rescue to cut some members of its staff . [21] She claimed he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder months before he vanished. [25], In October 2020, Baskin came out as bisexual. [7][23] A dispute ensued between Baskin and the children of Lewis over his estate, with Baskin prevailing as the primary beneficiary. Carole Baskin Reacts After House Passes Big Cat Public Safety Act Featured in Tiger King Tiger King star Carole Baskin expressed her excitement over … Following the release of the series, Baskin has been the subject of internet memes and conspiracy theories related to the disappearance of Don Lewis, her second husband. [29] In 2013, a court ordered him to pay Baskin $1 million in damages, leading to his bankruptcy. Carole Baskin says she will not watch the Super Bowl after slamming event as ‘deadly’ to Florida. [12], She moved in with Michael Murdock, her boss at the department store where she worked, when she was 17. [25] He joined Big Cat Rescue soon after as chairman of the advisory board. [4] She dropped out of high school and left home with a local roller rink employee. TIGER King stars Carole and Howard Baskin pulled in more than $5 million in revenue for their Big Cat Rescue last year and the organization is now … It's a bill that Big Cat owner Carole Baskin has lobbied for, for years, to prevent these types of incidents and other incidents of animal abuse. [27] Baskin said that the filmmakers lied about the nature of the series when they approached her about it, claiming that they told her that they were going to be making "the big cat version of Blackfish". [19] The case of Lewis’ disappearance is still active as of early 2021. Baskin, who rose to popularity on Netflix’s docuseries Tiger King and later competed on Dancing With The Stars, said Thursday’s incident is a reminder that: “tragedy can happen in the blink of an eye and that we cannot relax our guard for a second around these dangerous cats.” More on Big Cat Rescue tiger incident: [11] Meanwhile, during the broadcast in select Florida television markets, including Tampa, Lewis' family and their attorney ran and appeared in a commercial spot asking for anyone with information on his disappearance to come forward and offered a hundred-thousand dollar reward. A tiger nearly bit a volunteer's arm off at Carole Baskin's Big Cat Rescue on Thursday morning in Tampa, Florida. [10] On the series' September 14 season premiere she danced a paso doble with partner Pasha Pashkov to Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" and they received a 11 out of a possible 30, the lowest cumulative score of the evening. Her only donation to a Democrat in the past three years was to Cory Booker's 2020 presidential campaign. [4], As Carole Lewis, she and her husband Don founded Wildlife on Easy Street, an animal sanctuary near Tampa for big cats, in 1992. [27][35] After Tiger King was released, several Internet memes targeted Baskin and her speculated involvement in Lewis's disappearance. Meet the real life activist from Netflix's Tiger King", "Kim Kardashian Praises Tiger King — and Wonders if Carole Baskin Could Have Killed Her Husband", "Carole Baskin's 'Dancing with the Stars' debut performance falls short", "Carole Baskin's missing husband's family airs commercial during 'DWTS' premiere", "What Happened To Carole Baskin's Former Husband, Who Vanished In 1997? Carole Baskin is clearing the air after a tiger nearly tore off a woman's arm at her Big Cat Rescue. Big Cat Rescue, one of the world’s largest accredited sanctuaries for exotic cats, is a leading advocate for ending the abuse of captive big cats and saving wild cats from extinction. (CNN)A longtime volunteer at Big Cat Rescue, the Florida animal sanctuary profiled in Netflix's "Tiger King," was attacked by a tiger during a morning feeding, the sanctuary confirmed to CNN. [5], At the age of 17, Baskin worked at a Tampa department store. The department told. He was a modern Barnum who found an equally extraordinary nemesis", "Who is Carole Baskin? The Super Bowl 2021 is scheduled for Sunday, February 7 (Monday, February 8 IST) will be played at the Raymond James Stadium, with 22,000 fans in attendance. According to its website, Big Cat Rescue is "one of the largest accredited sanctuaries in the world dedicated to abused and abandoned big cats. [25] He proposed to her in November 2003,[25] and they married in November 2004. She ran out of their home barefoot and met her next husband, Don Lewis, on Nebraska Avenue in Tampa. Baskin has always strongly … Big Cat Rescue founder Carole Baskin appears in a scene from 'Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness.' [6][7][8] She has used social media such as Facebook and YouTube and her "The Cat Chat" podcast to promote activism against private zoos. [3] She expressed an interest in saving cats when she was nine, but she decided against pursuing a career in veterinary medicine after she learned that veterinarians euthanize animals. Baskin, a 59-year-old owner of the Big Cat Rescue sanctuary in Florida, she she had been told by the film-makers that Tiger King would be an exposé of … [36], Baskin, through her company Big Cat Rescue, has lobbied Congress to ban the private trade and ownership of exotic cats. Big Cat Habitat & Gulf Coast Sanctuary in Sarasota, Florida has absolutely no affiliation or connection of any kind with Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, Florida. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be the first team to host a SuperBowl tie at home when … [15] She became one of Lewis's many girlfriends and substantially grew his wealth by helping him buy and sell real estate in 1984. [5] The couple married on April 7, 1979. A volunteer at Big Cat Rescue, featured in Netflix's "Tiger King," was attacked by a tiger early Thursday. By Melissa Roberto Carole Baskin became a household name in 2020 thanks to Netflix\'s release of \'Tiger King.\' But the big cat enthusiast still claims the streamer delivered a portrayal of her that wasn\'t genuine. Big Cat Rescue and its founder were profiled in the Netflix docuseries "Tiger King," though Baskin criticized her portrayal. [38] She has also praised Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and called out Ron Desantis for not doing enough to fight COVID-19. [9] The New York Times and The Hollywood Reporter have described her as an animal rights activist. The Big Cat Rescue founder Carole Baskin, was prominently featured in Netflix’s “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness." Baskin has said that she never loved him and married him only because her parents were disappointed that they had been living together outside of marriage. Volunteer Candy Couser smiles before feeding big cats at Carole Baskin's Big Cat Rescue sanctuary near Tampa, Fla. in 2018. If you've watched "Tiger King," Netflix's docuseries about the lives of America's most infamous tiger breeders, you might come away thinking the big-cat sanctuary run by Joe Exotic's archnemesis, Carole Baskin, isn't all that different from Exotic's zoo, where, as depicted in the series, tigers are crammed together into small cages, fed expired Walmart meat, and routinely manhandled … Big Cat Rescue has suffered financially during the coronavirus pandemic. Carole Stairs Jones was born on June 6, 1961, on the Lackland Air Force Base in Bexar County, Texas. Carole Baskin awarded the zoo once owned by 'Tiger King' Joe Exotic, Carole Baskin responds to YouTube pranksters tricking her. Big Cat Rescue is home to over 50 exotic cats like tigers, lions, bobcats and more, many of which were rescued from the pet trade. [37], Baskin gave exclusively to Democratic candidates from 2005 to 2016, but since 2017 all but one of her contributions have gone to Republicans. Carole Baskin Speaks Out After Big Cat Rescue Staffer Suffers "Serious Injury" in Animal Attack Carole Baskin is clearing the air after a tiger nearly tore off a woman's arm at her Big Cat Rescue. She reached her arm through the cage to unclip a second door -- breaking protocol, according to the sanctuary -- and Kimba grabbed the volunteer's arm and "nearly tore it off at the shoulder," the Tampa sanctuary said. Baskin, a controversial animal rights activist, rose to prominence in March after appearing in the Netflix docuseries Tiger King. Baskin drew public attention when she was featured in the 2020 Netflix documentary series Tiger King about Oklahoma-based private zoo operator Joe Exotic. [4], According to Baskin, Lewis was obsessed with sex and would frequently fly to Costa Rica, where he had substantial real estate holdings, to have affairs – timing the trips for whenever she was menstruating. The Netflix series follows both Baskin and Joe Exotic, as well as exotic animal owner Doc Antle, filming their ongoing and escalating feuds over exotic animals in private zoos. Baskin said she stopped offering tours at her Big Cat Rescue on March 15 because of COVID-19 concerns. [24], She met Howard Baskin in November 2002 at a kick-off party for the newly formed No More Homeless Pets organization. She later competed on Dancing With The Stars. [30], In June 2020, a federal judge granted Joe Exotic's former zoo property to Baskin and Big Cat Rescue on the basis that Joe Exotic fraudulently transferred the zoo's real estate to his mother to avoid creditors, particularly Baskin's judgment against him. [14], According to Baskin, in 1981, when she was 19, she threw a potato at Murdock as he attempted to attack her. The sanctuary said the volunteer, still conscious after the attack, insisted she didn't want Kimba to be punished for biting her. Early in the morning on Thursday, Dec. 3, Florida's Hillsborough County Fire PIO confirmed to E! Not to be mistaken for Carole Baskin's Big Cat Rescue located in the Citrus Park area north of Tampa and featured in the hit Netflix documentary series “Tiger King,” the … He Was the Most Dangerous Predator of Them All", "Joe Exotic bred lions, tigers, and ligers at his roadside zoo. [16] The pair divorced their respective spouses and subsequently married in 1991. Carole Baskin (née Stairs Jones; born June 6, 1961) is an American big-cat rights activist and CEO of Big Cat Rescue, a non-profit animal sanctuary based near Tampa, Florida.[1][2]. Another volunteer heard the attack and ran over, and the tiger released its grip on the arm. Five days later, “Tiger King’’ premiered and turned her into a controversial celebrity. Kimba is the youngest, born sometime in 2017. Carole Baskin: 'Tiger King was pitched as a feud between two crazy people' The big cat campaigner reflects on her TV of the year, starring in the reality show that lit up lockdown – … [13] She became pregnant soon after,[5] and daughter Jamie Veronica Murdock was born on July 16, 1980. [1][2], In 2020, Baskin was cast in season 29 of Dancing with the Stars. We are the most hated, feared and lied about by circuses, backyard breeders, roadside zoos, cub petting pimps apseudo-sanctuariesies because we are the most effective at ending the abuse of big cats. [24] Exotic engaged in a pattern of harassment against Baskin, including trademark infringement. To make money, she began breeding show cats;[5] she also began rescuing bobcats, and used llamas for a lawn trimming business. [33] In March 2020, Baskin was featured in the Netflix documentary Tiger King. Founded in 1987 by Kay Rosaire & family and becoming a 501c3 non-profit organization in 2005, Big Cat Habitat & Gulf Coast Sanctuary … A tiger named Kimba grabbed a … She is the current chief executive officer of the sanctuary, which she renamed to Big Cat Rescue sometime after Lewis's disappearance in 1997. Baskin spoke to Fox News this week where she reflected on skyrocketing to fame seemingly overnight. [citation needed], American conservationist and animal rights activist, Topics (overviews, concepts, issues, cases), Media (books, films, periodicals, albums), "Joe Exotic Built a Wild Animal Kingdom. [5] She later purchased a Datsun truck and slept in the back with her pet cat. The wildly popular Netflix docuseries "Tiger King" inaccurately depicts Carole Baskin's Big Cat Rescue as keeping animals in tiny, unkempt, and inhumane enclosures while she gets rich off tourists. ", "Carole Baskin's Boyfriend After Her Husband Disappeared Also Filed For A Chilling Restraining Order Against Her", "Tiger King: Who is Carole Baskin's first husband Jack 'Don' Lewis and when did he disappear? ", "Jack Donald Lewis – The Charley Project", "Carole Baskin Claims Husband Don Lewis Was Diagnosed With Bipolar Disorder Months Before He Vanished", "Police ask for new leads in disappearance of Don Lewis, husband of "Tiger King" star Carole Baskin", "Foe of 'Tiger King' Zookeeper Granted Oklahoma Property", "Carole Baskin Awarded Control Over Joe Exotic's Zoo", "Kate McKinnon to Star in TV Series Based on Podcast 'Joe Exotic, "Carole Baskin From Netflix's 'Tiger King' Is Doing Just Fine, TYVM", "Congressional action reintroduced to end abuse of exotic cats", "Individual Contributions - Carole Baskin", Animal rights in Jainism, Hinduism, and Buddhism, Moral status of animals in the ancient world, University of California, Riverside 1985 laboratory raid, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Animalist Party Against Mistreatment of Animals, Moral Inquiries on the Situation of Man and of Brutes, An Introduction to Animals and Political Theory, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Carole_Baskin&oldid=1004514569, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2021, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 3 February 2021, at 00:08. 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