Tiger King zookeeper Erik Cowie’s cause of death has been revealed one month after he died.
The 52-year-old star died on September 3rd from acute and chronic alcohol use in Brooklyn, New York, said Julie Bolcer, a spokesperson for the NYC Office of Chief Medical Examiner has revealed.
His manner of death has been determined as natural, she added.
Mr Cowie, who appeared in the docuseries Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness, was found unconscious last month at an apartment in the East Flatbush neighbourhood, according to police. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Prior to his death, Mr Cowie worked alongside Tiger King star Joe Exotic, whose legal name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, as one of the zookeepers at the ill-fated G.W. Exotic Animal Memorial Park in Wynnewood, Oklahoma.
Joe Exotic is currently serving 22 years in federal prison for his role in a failed murder-for-hire plot targeting Baskin and for violating federal wildlife laws, including killing five tigers and selling lion and tiger cubs.
Mr Cowie worked at the zoo for five years after discovering the job listing on Craigslist, he revealed in the Netflix documentary: “Look at me now. I’m doing tiger shows.”
(Image: Facebook)
The reality star was charged with a DUI in Oklahoma in May and has spoken on the show about his struggles with alcohol.
His involvement with the zoo was documented on the show, which premiered on Netflix in 2020. The enormously popular docuseries was viewed by 64 million households worldwide in the first month on the platform according to the streaming site.
(Image: Netflix US/AFP via Getty Images)
Cowie later testified against Joe Exotic in 2019, alleging that he heard the former Oklahoma zoo owner shoot and kill multiple big cats in October 2017.
“I knew what was going on. I’m not stupid,” Cowie revealed. “I knew cats were getting shot.”
On the Tiger King after-show The Tiger King and I, Cowie spoke about his regrets working with Exotic.
“A lot of times when we put cats down, they used me because just by my appearance or my voice, I could get a cat up the side of a cage, where we can dart it and tranquilize it so they could be put down and stuff,” he said.
“You know, those cats trusted me up until the end, and somehow, sometimes I swear they’re like, ‘Dude, you let me down’ kinda thing. I could see it in their face and their eyes.”
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
