A Netflix’sTiger King cast-member has claimed that Joe Exotic “killed more than 100 tigers” while in charge at his private zoo.
Erik Cowie, 51, who is the head zookeeper at the GW Exotic Animal Park in Oklahoma, alleged that the animals disliked Joe so much that “several of the big cats would have eaten him alive if given the chance”.
Cowie worked alongside Joe Exotic, 57, who is now serving time in jail after being found guilty of paying a hitman to kill animal activist Carole Baskin, and for more than a dozen wildlife violations, including killing five tigers.
Erik Cowie claimed that Joe Exotic “killed over 100 tigers” (Image: Netflix US/AFP via Getty Images)
Erik told DailyMailTV that Joe “killed more than 100 tigers” and even “hit tiger cubs if they misbehaved”.
When asked how many cats Erik thought Joe had killed, he said: “Off the top of my head? Over one hundred”.
Cowie alleged that after Joe killed five tigers to make room to board other animals at the zoo, he said to Cowie: “Damn, Erik if I only knew it was going to be that easy.”
Erik worked alongside Joe Exotic and claimed he used to “hit tiger cubs if they misbehaved” (Image: Netflix)
The Zoo worker also allegedly recalled another incident which saw Joe and another employee put down eight tigers in one day, saying: “They euthanised them and had a veterinarian sign off on them with excuses like, they were too old, sick etc.
“Most of the time a veterinarian wasn’t even around when things like that would happen, but he would write it down on a log, so he could be covered in case government inspectors wanted to check his books.”
In the video, Cowie also explained Joe didn’t spend enough time with the cats “in order to truly bond with them”.
Joe is currently serving 22 years in jail after being found guilty of paying a hitman to murder Carole Baskin (Image: Handout)
He said: “Joe only cared about them in a monetary way.”
In the video interview, Erik also claimed that Joe would hit cubs that were misbehaving when there were visitors at the zoo.
Erik said: “For one reason or another, a cub would become unruly so Joe would take the baby cub out of view of the people at the zoo and pop the cub in the nose and bring it back out.
“I then had to deal with a baby cub who had just been popped in the nose and then make sure it wouldn’t act up and bite some older women or child.”
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
