BREAKING: Tiger Kills Joe Exotic Associate

Ryan Easley, an associate of Joseph Maldonado (“Joe Exotic”), was killed yesterday by a tiger at his roadside zoo. Easley had acquired tigers from Joe Exotic and fellow Tiger King villain Bhagavan “Doc” Antle for his business, ShowMe Tigers, and for years had hauled them around the country, forced them to perform in cruel circuses—including Shrine and Carden Circuses—and kept them trapped in cages for hours when they weren’t performing.

PETA has sent an urgent letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) calling on it to cancel the operation’s license to exhibit animals and not issue a new license to any of Easley’s associates, noting their insistence on having direct contact with deadly apex predators has endangered both the animals and the public.

In 2017, Easley was caught violently whipping tigers during a training session, one of whom he reportedly struck 31 times. When Joe Exotic was operating his Oklahoma roadside zoo, G.W. Exotic Animal Park, Easley boarded his tigers in cramped cages at the roadside zoo during the winter.

It’s never safe for humans to interact directly with apex predators, and it’s never a surprise when a human is attacked by a stressed big cat who has been caged, whipped, and denied everything natural and important to them. PETA is calling for the remaining roadside zoo exhibitors who aren’t dead or in federal prison to get out of the business now and send the animals to accredited sanctuaries where they can finally live in peace.