Tiger King's Doc Antle responds to "harem of wives" claims
Another day, another angry Tiger King star is kicking off about the wild Netflix series. Following Carole Baskin's criticism of the documentary, Bhagavan 'Doc' Antle has now spoken out to set the record straight about a number of claims made in the show.
'Doc', as he likes to be called, owns The Institute for Greatly Endangered and Rare Species, (T.I.G.E.R.S.) a 50-acre wildlife preserve located in South Myrtle Beach. He also owns Myrtle Beach Safari, a tour that runs through the preserve, offering punters an up close and personal experience with exotic animals.
As well as taking a look inside his zoo, Doc was accused of having a "harem of wives" by a former employee, while there were also claims that tiger cubs were killed when they no longer served their purpose.
A post shared by Dr. Bhagavan Antle (@docantle) on Dec 4, 2019 at 8:04am PST
"They pushed several notions, the worst of which is that somehow tiger cubs exist in copious amounts and that these tiger cubs have a value only as children, and that that is a super short time, and then they’re just killed off afterwards,” he told TMX.news. "Nothing more ridiculous has ever been said. No one does that."
While speaking to Australian radio show Hit's Fifi, Fev and Byron, the 60-year-old said: "It is not a documentary - it's a sensational ride down the director's story path, but it is outrageous and unique."
A post shared by Dr. Bhagavan Antle (@docantle) on Jan 21, 2020 at 4:43am PST
He then addressed claims he had more than one wife, saying they're completely untrue. "I am a guy that does date. I live alone in my house. I have a few girlfriends now and they certainly know about each other, but I am by no means married to anybody or have a harem like they are suggesting."
The filmmakers are yet to address Doc's criticism of the series, but they previously released a statement addressing Carole's blog post. "I would just say we were completely forthright with the characters," Rebecca Chaiklin said. "With any project that goes on for five years, things evolve and change, and we followed it as any good storyteller does. We could have never known when we started this project that it was going to land where it did."
While Eric Goode added: "Carole talked about her personal life, her childhood, abuse from her first and second husband, the disappearance of her ex, Don Lewis. She knew that this was not just about … it’s not a Blackfish because of the things she spoke about. She certainly wasn’t coerced."
Tiger King is available to watch on Netflix now.
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