As the dust begins to settle, and many people wrap up watching Tiger King, skeletons are coming out of the closet.

The series did gloss over a few facts, but it’s the portrayal of some of the main characters that is getting the most attention.

For example, Carole Baskin and her Big Cat Rescue operation has been torn apart by experts in the field.

Joe Exotic may have enjoyed that news, and is basking in the limelight of the current attention, but he’s not escaping unscathed by any stretch.

In a damning new interview, his niece, Chealsi Putman, who worked for Exotic on-and-off from 1999 to 2017, really went to town on her uncle.

She says that “in the Tiger King Netflix series, you can see glimpses of his evil persona but in real-life Joe is 100 times worse”, adding that she wants people to know “the real Joe Exotic”.

NewsAU with some of her claims:

“I’ve personally witnessed Joe spray a tiger with a fire extinguisher, not out of a safety or for a life saving reason, but because the tiger didn’t react the way Joe had wanted it to.

“A few years ago, at the zoo we had a monkey who just had a baby, Joe wanted to take the baby monkey away from its mother so he could sell it. The mother monkey naturally wouldn’t let Joe take the baby away from her so, he decided to ‘dart’ the mother monkey.

“He was going to shoot a tranquilliser dart into the mother monkey so he could take the newborn baby away from her. Joe shot one dart into the monkey, but after a few minutes the tranquilliser hadn’t worked, so he shot another dart into the mother, and another.

“He shot a total of five darts into the mother until she dozed off so he could pry the baby monkey away from its arms. I was disgusted by his actions, he’s lucky the mother monkey didn’t die.”

That’s horrid, but the worst is still to come.

Putman added that she had seen Joe freeze tiger cubs that died (“at least 10”), and accused him of selling those bodies to taxidermists.

Then her allegations really go off the deep end:

…Putman claimed there were videos of people performing sex acts on some of the animals at the zoo – though she had never personally seen any.

“I didn’t want to see them, I just heard about them.”

Damn, Chealsi. Yes, that is how you spell it.

She added that Joe’s 22-year prison sentence is too lenient, and that “if it were up to me, I would have sentenced him to life behind bars, he wouldn’t have ever seen the light of day”.

It’s probably best to take her claims with a pinch or three of salt, given that she was more than likely paid by the Daily Mail for the interview, so had to deliver some decent headline-grabbers.

Closer to home, and you know a show has grabbed the nation’s attention when Zapiro gets in on the act.

Here’s his cartoon yesterday from the Daily Maverick:

A tiger did test positive for COVID-19. You can read more on that here.

Finally, ever wondered if you can watch Joe Exotic’s 2014 three-way wedding in its entirety? No, me neither, but you can.

Via Joe Exotic’s YouTube channel, which must be racking up the views, here you go.

This is where we part ways…

[sources:newsau&dailymaverick]