Carole Baskin was not looking forward to her cameos in the second season of Tiger King.
With the Don Lewis Cold Case reopened and his family stalking her Dancing with the
Stars premiere, we can’t exactly say we blame her.
But we are fascinated by this Queen of Big Cats.
Hi, I’m _______ from WickedBinge and today we’ll be looking at the best deed
and worst deed of Carole Baskin on Tiger King.
RULES
Since there wasn’t as much current information on Carole as there was on some of the other cast;
we have had to take into account her actions from both Season 1 and 2.
HOWEVER
We will not be taking into account any rumors. Specifically the one regarding her husband,
Don Lewis, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances.
For these deeds we will be taking only things we can confirm.
BEST
For Carole’s Best Deed we have Working to Pass the Big Cat Public Safety Act.
As with literally any deed we could have chosen for Carole, this one is controversial.
In the first season especially,
we saw people making a strong case against the Big Cat Public Safety Act,
which would essentially put a stop to the big cat industry in America as it exists today.
But if you’ve been watching Tiger King for two seasons,
you probably know that’s not the worst thing.
True, we have seen some animal/human bonding that we don’t think is inherently bad on its own.
It’s just everything that surrounds it that’s terrible. The breeding and
selling of big cats for profit ends up in the mistreatment of a lot of animals,
as does a lack of regulation in the private zoo market.
If passing this bill can in any way lower the amount of big cats who are declawed or left to
die in the back of un-ventilated trailers, we think it will be for the greater good.
More importantly, we think Carole is doing it for the greater good.
Her rescue organization, whether she likes it or not, does profit off of the breeding and selling
of big cats, after all. Putting a stop to it will help the cats more than it will help her business.
There may be a lot of questionable causes that she’s tackled that have benefited her directly,
but we don’t think that the Big Cat Public Safety Act will be one of them.
And for that, we have chosen it as her most noble deed.
WORST
For Carole’s Worst Deed, we have Working with PeTA.
They touched on this in season 2 in a very,
VERY fleeting capacity that we feel is worth revisiting.
PeTA is not a good organization.
We don’t doubt that this was a good business move for Carole.
Having a well-known source like PeTA work with you for a common goal is a great way to get funding,
publicity, and validation, especially if you’re operating as a smaller entity.
Having their backing with her fights against Joe Exotic was undoubtedly a smart move.
But unfortunately, that’s a two way street. By taking their support,
it also seems like she’s supporting them. Which is something that, as animal lovers,
we hopefully know better than to do in this day and age.
There’s a sign that Jeff Lowe hangs outside his facility
that’s shown for just a moment of this season. It reads as follows:
“Don’t blame us. Blame PeTA. PeTA has killed 97.3% of all the animals
they have gotten their hands on. They do not own a shelter or an adoption center.
Our government has claimed them domestic terrorist. Please stop funding them.”
While we hate siding with Jeff Lowe, it’s not like he’s making this information up. PeTA
is a hypocritical organization that has, countless times, been proven guilty of
misappropriating funds. They seem more interested in policing people’s interaction with animals,
rather than actually protecting the animals they claim to fight for.
And actually when you put it that way, it does sound a lot like the
complaints people lodged about Carole and her Big Cat Rescue in season 1.
Though their shady practices were not addressed at all in either season of Tiger King,
we think it’s important to know what they’re about. What they’re really about,
which is inappropriate PR stunts and money. Their representative on the show made a lot
of good cases about the poor conditions that the tigers and other cats were living in,
but did little to address accusations against her own organization.
For those reasons, and many others, we just can’t condone Carole’s alliance with PeTA.