'Tiger King' Star Joe Exotic Vows To Deploy Cadaver Dogs To Search For Carole Baskin's Missing Ex After She Unloads Florida Sanctuary
April 18 2023, Published 6:00 p.m. ET
Caged Tiger King Joe Exotic wants to deploy a team of cadaver dogs to search for Carole Baskin’s missing husband once she sells her Big Cat Rescue sanctuary in Florida, RadarOnline.com can exclusively reveal.
The Netflix star, currently serving 21 years in federal prison for a failed murder-for-hire plot to eliminate Baskin, has long claimed the body of Don Lewis, 59, was allegedly chopped up and hidden in the Tampa area zoo after he mysteriously vanished in August 1997.
In the latest battle between the archenemies, Joe, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado, has issued a press release using his long-shot presidential campaign literature to attack Baskin’s decision to sell the sanctuary and move the few surviving felines to Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.
“Jim Rathman, an ex-secret service agent, now a private investigator, wants to take cadaver dogs on that property at Big Cat Rescue,” he stated in the JoeExotic2024.com press release. “I would love to be there when that happens because I have a few places I would like those dogs to sniff out.”
The latest salvo comes just weeks after RadarOnline.com exclusively reported that Baskin filed for a garnishment seeking to collect a nearly $1 million judgment issued by an Oklahoma federal court after it found Joe liable for inappropriately lifting her “Big Cat Rescue” name, logos, and images.
The drama unfolded in the hit Netflix docuseries Tiger King.
Big Cat Rescue’s board chairman Howard Baskin was quick to defend his wife and implied the gun-toting tiger man’s brain is getting warped inside his prison cage at the Federal Medical Center Fort Worth, Texas.
"In a world where we feel so much stress dealing with change, it is comforting to find that some things never change.” Howard exclusively told RadarOnline.com. “Joe …. continues to be totally full of s..t and will do and say anything to get attention.”
“It is difficult to find a true sentence in the press release, but that is the case with everything Joe says or publishes. I think he should change his nickname from Joe Exotic to Joe Neurotic,” he added. “It would better reflect the delusional life he leads."
The Baskins announced plans to retire and sell the sanctuary in March, but they will continue to operate Big Cat Rescue to save animals in the wild.
Joe accused the couple of running a flim-flam and vowed, if elected president, “to stop non-profit scams like this to get around paying taxes and allow the rich to keep getting richer off of people’s big hearts, thinking they are helping animals and people.”
The war of words erupted on January 18 when Carole, 61, created a media firestorm when she rediscovered an undated U.S. Department of Homeland Security investigative report claiming Lewis, who was declared legally dead in 2002, was spotted in the Central American country.
In an exclusive interview with RadarOnline.com, Joe ripped her claim.
“When this story came out, I said I would voluntarily move to death row if he was alive and it made world headlines,” he roared from behind bars. “I investigated her so much I am 100% sure she, her father who is now passed away and …. killed Don Lewis and ground him up.”
The garnishment summons followed forcing Joe’s website manager, Tamara Singer, who holds his power of attorney, to file documents stating the once famous reality star is broke, unemployed, and unable to pay the judgment.
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“I do not have anything of value belonging to Joseph Maldonado, including property or cash,” Springer wrote in documents. “I am an unpaid volunteer and have my own job and business, for which I pay my own taxes.”
The money grab comes as Joe Exotic announced his candidacy for president in 2024 — and some insiders believe it’s an attempt by Carole to foil his grassroots fundraising efforts.
“I know if Carole is not going to get anything from her (Springer),” an insider told RadarOnline.com. “Carole just wants some publicity; she wants anything that’s going to mess things up for Joe. It looks like a publicity ploy to stay relevant, to stay in the news… Joe doesn’t have any real money.”
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