This is a video for our supporters, to
explain to you, the deception that took
place in the making of the Netflix "Tiger
King". And, to thank you so much, for so
many expressions of support that we have
received from you. Most of you know me,
but, for those who don't, I'm Howard
Baskin, Carole Baskin's husband. And, this
video may be a little halting, because
I'm not used to making them. For anyone
who isn't familiar with it, some years
back there was a documentary named
"Blackfish", which exposed the abuse at
SeaWorld, and had a dramatic effect on
SeaWorld in reducing the abuse. Five
years ago, Eric Goode and Rebecca Chaiklin
approached us, saying they wanted to make
the "Blackfish" of big cats in captivity;
to expose the abuse in captivity that's
associated with the cub petting schemes,
and how these animals live in roadside
zoos, after they're too big to pet. We
have turned down numerous people, who
came to us wanting to film, because we
did not think that they were gonna do
something meaningful. We thought they
just wanted to do something sensational,
and we didn't want to be part of it. We
did a little homework on Eric and
Rebecca. Eric had a turtle sanctuary, so
he seemed like someone who had a genuine
interest in animal welfare. And Rebecca
showed us the resume of one of the
senior people that was working with them,
who had been involved in a great
documentary called "The Cove" some years
before, that exposed the killing of the
dolphins in Japan. So we, we trusted Eric
and Rebecca, when they told us that this
documentary was going to be a meaningful
piece of work, that was going to be
designed to expose the abuse that these
poor cubs endure, during the cub petting
time, and the miserable lives they lead
in roadside zoos after that. We also
believed them, when they insisted that,
while Joe Exotic would be in it, as one
of the characters, he would not be the
focus.
We also believed Eric and Rebecca, when
they told us that, while they felt they
had to mention the disappearance of
Carole's husband, Don,
23 years before; as part of the context
and background on her; that it would be
done in a respectful and truthful way.
Not only did they lie about that, they
never even gave us a chance to respond
to many of the false claims that ended
up in the documentary. Over the 5
years that they were making this series,
they were here, probably, at least 8
times;
each time, for 1 to 3 days of
filming. We did everything we could to
help them, because they made us feel like
we were their partners in trying to
create this meaningful work, to end the
big cat abuse. In a way, this series is
about con artists. People like Joe Exotic
and Doc Antle, who con people out of
their money, by convincing them that
paying to pet tiger cubs, somehow helps
conservation. In my view, the biggest con
artists of them all, were Eric Goode and
Rebecca Chaiklin. I believe they're devoid
of integrity, don't care about the
animals and clearly, clearly do not care
about the truth. As far as I can tell,
their only goal was to make something as
inflammatory and salacious as possible,
so that Netflix would pay them millions
for it. Some of you have had a chance to
spend time with Carole, in person. Anyone
who spends an hour with Carole, would
come away knowing that there was no way
she had any involvement in Don's
disappearance; and that the vicious
rumors, that were spread by his family,
are absolute nonsense – stuff about meat
grinders and, and septic tanks. This week,
Kim Kardashian tweeted, asking followers
if they thought Carole killed her
husband. I doubt if Kim will see this
video but, if she were to come and spend
an hour with Carole, I know she would
have her answer, and I know what it would
be. And, of course, we would welcome her
visiting, if she wanted to. I don't have a
way to arrange for each of you to spend
that hour
with Carole. So, I thought the next best
thing that I could do, would be to spend
a minute or two, just personally, telling
you what it is like to have been her
husband, and her partner in this mission
to stop big cat abuse. In 15 years of
living together, we have never had an
argument. We have never even had a harsh
word, where the other one had to come
back and say, "I'm sorry I said that".
We make decisions together every week,
and we don't always agree. And what we do
is, we talk about it. We listen to each
other's reasoning. And, if we can't come
to a decision that we both agree to, at
some point in the discussion, after going
back and forth, one of us just says, "You
know what? I can see that this is more
important to you, than it is to me. Let's
do it your way." I, I honestly believe
I am the luckiest man in the world. I
cannot imagine having a more considerate,
or caring, spouse. What I'm not sure
anyone can imagine is, how difficult it
is, as a husband, to have the woman you
love so grossly mistreated by people who
we trusted, and betrayed us. For those of
you who are interested, we built a
website that goes into, in great detail,
the events that occurred leading up to
Don's disappearance. That website is
bigcatrescue.org/truth.
Unfortunately, the injustice in the film
does not stop there. We are getting nasty
messages, from people who believed it,
when Joe Exotic says that our cages are
small. Those of you who have visited, of
course, know that our smallest cage is the
size of a small house, about 1,200 square
feet. And, the rest of them are much
bigger. You know that the quote,
"overgrown weeds" that Joe refers to, are
the natural setting that our cats live
in; which is, of course, the best setting
for them. All of this is in contrast to
Joe's zoo, where most of the animals live
in tiny, rectangular chain-link boxes,
with pebble surfaces that are totally
barren. As most of you know, people can
only visit the Sanctuary going on a
guided tour of 20 people, or less; where
the guide tells them about the histories
of the cats, and then uses that to relate
to the issues that they face in
captivity and in the wild, to educate
people. The series only showed the one
day of the year, where we have our annual
event called the Walkabout, where 600
people come from all over the country,
and some, from all over the world, to
visit the Sanctuary, to raise money to
donate to conservation projects in the
wild. It's the one day where people get
to wander around the Sanctuary. But, the
series has people believing that every
day we are just packed with crowds of
people, wandering around all day. Last
year, that event generated $35,000 to
donate to projects saving cats in the
wild. When the journalist, Robert Moore,
did the Wondery podcast called "Joe
Exotic", at the end, he went through and
listed all the lies that Joe had told
them, in the course of his experience
with Joe. "Tiger King" doesn't even tell
people, that when Joe was claiming to be
a country-western singer, he was actually
paying Danny Clinton and Vince Johnson,
to write and sing the songs. And, Joe was
just lip-syncing, and lying about being a
country-western singer. All that being
said, there is still a silver lining in
all this — the series is reaching millions
and millions of people, who probably
never had any idea,
the disreputable nature of the kind of
people, who operate these cub petting
schemes for money. Hopefully, many of the
viewers will realize that they should
not patronize these places, because it
just supports this abuse. If you've taken
the time to watch this video, I just want
to sincerely thank you on behalf of
myself, Carole, our staff, the volunteers,
and, particularly, on behalf of the cats,
for the amazing expressions of support
that you have sent to us, during this
time of dealing with this betrayal; which,
of course, comes on top of the
Coronavirus, which is creating enormous
financial stress. With your continued
support, we will put a stop to this big
cat abuse. Thank you! EDITED-BBD-MGN-DQ