|
PHOTOGRAPH BY HELEN H. RICHARDSON, MEDIANEWS GROUP/THE DENVER POST VIA GETTY IMAGES
|
|
By Rachael Bale, ANIMALS Executive Editor
All the odds are in my favor Something’s bound to begin It's got to happen, happen sometime Maybe this time I’ll win
Cabaret’s Sally Bowles singing “Maybe This Time” has been stuck in my head all morning, and that’s not because I just watched the musical (though plausible, because everyone knows I love a good Broadway power ballad). It’s the soundtrack to the Tiger King 2 trailer (caution: bad language), which I’ve watched several times this morning. Maybe it’s because I woke up with a headache, but thinking about another round of the Netflix docudrama—and all the people who are going to come away from it still idolizing its campy main character, Joe Exotic, makes me want to go back to bed. I truly don’t understand how so many people have looked past his mistreatment of animals and turned him into a folk hero. My kvetching may sound to some like an “opinion,” but I’m perfectly OK with saying this: Forcing female tigers to breed over and over, passing around young, scared cubs to hundreds of people, and shooting tigers to make room for more (one of the instances that resulted in Joe Exotic’s imprisonment) is objectively a bad thing. Tim Stark, “Doc” Antle, and Jeff Lowe—who also make appearances in the show—have dismal records on animal welfare too. In fact, the ongoing legal cases against them could transform the cub-petting industry, as we reported earlier this year. (Pictured above, two young tiger brothers that were rescued from Joe Exotic’s former zoo.) I’d like to end on an insightful note, but Liza Minnelli is still belting songs from Cabaret inside my skull, so it’s hard to think clearly. Instead, before rushing to check out Tiger King 2 or Carole Baskin’s new show, check out this story about what Tiger King got wrong, and catch up on the legal woes plaguing the show’s stars. Also, stay tuned for an upcoming story on the conclusion of the government’s case against Lowe.
Subscribers also can read about how tigers in the United States outnumber those in the wild—and why it’s a problem. Do you love animals and wildlife? Want unlimited digital access to Nat Geo’s animal and wildlife stories and images? Subscribe here.
|
|
|
|