Netflix's Tiger King Star Doc Antle Is Protecting His Cats From COVID-19

Netflix's Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness featured a cast of surreal and intriguing characters that are somehow all real, including Doc Antle. Antle runs a Safari compound in Myrtle Beach, a compound that includes exotic animals like tigers, elephants, and more. The safety of those animals came into question due to the coronavirus, as a Bronx Zoo tiger recently tested positive. Antle recently told TMZ that his tigers are safe from the virus, and they were that way before the Bronx Zoo tiger tested positive.

Doc said that his Safari is set up much differently than the Bronx Zoo, and because he and his 25 employees all live on the property, he says it makes for a more controlled and self-isolated environment.

He also said that the facility was put on lockdown right after the government issued guidelines on staying at home and social distancing. Since then he and his staff have been in quarantine, with no visitors or physical contact with groups from the outside allowed.

The tigers and other animals are bathed and cleaned regularly according to Antle, and since specific caretakers are assigned to the animals, the potential exposure is limited.

Now, if one of his animals does test positive for COVID-19, they will be put into self-isolation for 14 days to keep it from the other animals, though Antle says the chance of that is very low.

As for the Bronx Zoo Tiger, that tiger is expected to recover.

You can find the official description for Tiger King below.

"Among the eccentrics and cult personalities in the stranger-than-fiction world of big cat owners, few stand out more than Joe Exotic, a mulleted, gun-toting polygamist and country western singer who presides over an Oklahoma roadside zoo. Charismatic but misguided, Joe and an unbelievable cast of characters including drug kingpins, conmen, and cult leaders all share a passion for big cats, and the status and attention their dangerous menageries garner. But things take a dark turn when Carole Baskin, an animal activist and owner of a big cat sanctuary, threatens to put them out of business, stoking a rivalry that eventually leads to Joe's arrest for a murder-for-hire plot, and reveals a twisted tale where the only thing more dangerous than a big cat is its owner."

Tiger King is available on Netflix now.