The roadside Oklahoman zoo that served as the primary location in Netflix’s Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness is officially no more. The location, once owned by Tiger King star Joe Exotic — real name Joseph Maldonado-Passage — was sold earlier this summer under the condition it can no longer be used as a zoo.
Shortly after Tiger King first hit Netflix, a federal judge granted Carole Baskin ownership of the land and business due to a settlement she won against Exotic. Baskin and her husband Howard have now sold it, according to TMZ, for a paltry $140,000. The tabloid managed to obtain a copy of the deed, which “expressly bars” the land’s new owners from housing “exotic animals of any kind” at any point in the next 100 years. In that same time frame, the land cannot be used as a zoo or wildlife park.
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The rules don’t stop there. The deed also prohibits the new owners, listed as Francisco and Nelly Vazquez, from using the land to profit off Tiger King, Exotic, or any new business using “tigers” or “big cats,” even in likeness.
In 2016, Exotic lost a lawsuit filed against him by Baskin and her husband. A judge awarded Baskin a $1 million judgement, which Exotic was unable to pay. In an attempt to avoid paying the judgement, the court said, Exotic transferred ownership of the land and zoo into the ownership of his mother.
“Schreibvogel later admitted under oath that the zoo land was transferred to her by Joe Maldonado to remove it from the reach of creditors, including BCR, should BCR win its Florida lawsuit,” the complaint stated. “Schreibvogel also admitted in 2015, via a confession of judgment she entered into to resolve a lawsuit filed against he by the Chapter 7 bankruptcy trustee overseeing Joe Maldonado’s personal bankruptcy estate, that the zoo land was fraudulently transferred to her by Joe Maldonado in 2011 to avoid his creditors.”
Now, the land belongs to no parties affiliated involved with Netflix’s hit pandemic release.
Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness is now streaming on Netflix.
