'Tiger King's' Carole Baskin Competes In 'Dancing With The Stars'

TAMPA, FL — The derision that came Carole Baskin's way following the airing of the Netflix docuseries "Tiger King" hasn't caused the founder of Tampa's Big Cat Rescue to shy from the spotlight.

ABC announced this week that Baskin will join the upcoming season of "Dancing with the Stars," the television series in which celebrities take part in a series of dancing competitions in pursuit of the coveted mirror ball trophy.

Baskin's husband, Howard, told Patch his wife was thrilled when ABC asked her to take part in "Dancing with the Stars." He said she views it as a chance to further advocate on behalf of her nonprofit 67-acre Citrus Park sanctuary for tigers and other big cats, which she founded in 1992.

ABC said Baskin is one of 30 celebrities competing, along with Backstreet Boys member A.J. McLean, Netflix’s “Cheer” head coach Monica Aldama, “Bachelorette” star Kaitlyn Bristowe, Olympic figure skater Johnny Weir, rapper Nelly, Super Bowl champion Vernon Davis, Disney Channel star Skai Jackson, “Catfish” host Nev Schulman, NBA player Charles Oakley, actress Anne Heche, “The Real” host Jeannie Mai and “Selling Sunset” real estate agent Chrishell Strause.

Baskin appears in a newly released promotional video for the television series wearing her trademark 1960s-style flowered head wreath.

The new season will premiere at 8 p.m. on Sept. 14.

Courtesy ABC

DWTS is also a chance for Baskin to shed the negative perceptions following the airing of the Netflix series, "Tiger King - Murder, Mayhem and Madness."

"For weeks before leaving for California yesterday (Monday), Pearlie, Mae and I got to watch Carole practice dance steps playing YouTube dance instruction videos on the TV," Howard said, sharing a home video of Baskin doing the cha-cha.

Pearlie and Mae are the Baskins' domestic cats rescued after being abandoned.

In the five months since the "Tiger King" series captivated millions of viewers around the world, Baskin has been vilified, threatened, become a punchline for late-night talk show hosts and questioned in a cold-case murder investigation.

It was an outcome Carole and Howard Baskin never anticipated when they first sat down with the producers of "Tiger King" to take part in what they thought was an exposé on the mistreatment of big cats at roadside zoos. Baskin has been outspoken in her condemnation of roadside zoos for their mismanagement and cruelty toward tigers, lions, cheetahs and other big cats.

While the docuseries, which premiered March 20, did reveal the dark side of the roadside zoo business, it also focused on a feud between Baskin and her longtime nemesis, a flamboyant zookeeper who goes by the name Joe Exotic.

Known for his trademark bleach blond mullet haircut, Joe Exotic is a former police officer, aspiring country singer and an ordained minister who ran for president of the United States in 2016.

In 2000, he acquired a pair of abandoned tigers and began using them in sideshows around the country. According to court documents, he also took in abandoned horses. But none were destined for shows. Witnesses said he would shoot them horses and feed them whole to his big cats.

His menagerie grew into the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park in Oklahoma. When he wasn't managing the zoo, he continued to travel across the country hosting live animal shows using tiger cubs. When Baskin learned he was separating young cubs from their mothers and exploiting them in traveling shows, she organized protests.

Joe Exotic retaliated by launching a decade-long campaign of harassment against Baskin. He created parodies of her in YouTube music videos, publicly accused her of murdering her first husband, Tampa millionaire Don Lewis, who disappeared on Aug. 18, 1997, and stressed out her exotic cats by flying at a low altitude in a helicopter over her sanctuary.

His harassment caught up to him when the FBI, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement, U.S. Marshal's Service and Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation began investigating him for abusing wildlife.

Joe Exotic was arrested in Gulf Breeze, Florida, in 2018. A year later, he was convicted on nine counts of violating the Endangered Species Act and attempting to hire a hit man to kill Baskin.

See related stories:

• Court Sides With PETA; Dade City Zoo Banned From Owning Tigers
• Dade City's Wild Things Reportedly Closes Following PETA Lawsuit
• Netflix's 'Tiger King' Prompts Sheriff To Seek Tips In Cold Case

Despite the fallout from the Netflix series, Baskin said she's staying on task.

"The war against the exploitation, abuse and extinction of the tiger and other exotic cats has always been my focus," she said in an email to Patch. "Despite the fact that 'Tiger King' producers chose to focus on the personalities involved in the trafficking of exotic animals, we at Big Cat Rescue stayed true to our mission, even during the backlash caused by the series and the negative impacts of COVID-19."

She rarely misses an opportunity to publicize and raise money for her cause.

Baskin was one of the first CEOs of a charity to recognize and take advantage of the benefits of social media for a donation-dependent nonprofit. She attracted more than three million Facebook followers when she installed webcams throughout her sanctuary so the public could watch the rescued cats in real time.

She launched an online store featuring animal conservation novelty items including the latest addition, tiger-print coronavirus face masks.

And, most recently, she teamed up with the Xennial Digital virtual reality company to create a Big Cat Rescue VR online experience that offers a live, up-close personal encounter with big cats.

The offer to appear on "Dancing with the Stars" was simply another opportunity to get her message out, said Howard Baskin.

Baskin will be dancing to bring awareness to big cat abuse by sharing the stories of tigers such as Aria, now a permanent resident of Big Cat Rescue.

The Ohio Department of Agriculture seized the tiger after she was discovered suffering from life-threatening open wounds in a backyard in Ohio.

"Aria was most likely the castoff from a cub-petting scheme that ended up in the backyard of a private owner who was not subject to any federal oversight by USDA, and who refused for years to comply with rules made at the state level requiring private owners to provide proper vet care," Baskin said. "Aria suffered horrific injuries in silence for over four years."

Baskin hopes her rumba moves on national TV will inspire the U.S. Congress to do some soft-shoe shuffling of their own and finally pass a bill with regulations to prevent the mistreatment of big cats like Aria.

For the past several years, Baskin has lobbied for the passage of The Big Cat Public Safety Act (H.R. 1380- S.2561), a federal bill that would prevent people from owning big cats as pets and stop exploitative roadside zoos from offering cub petting and photo ops. The bill has 138 co-sponsors but has yet to get a congressional hearing.