BEFORE Carole Baskin would become a focal point of the new Netflix documentary series
“Tiger King”…
BEFORE Carole Baskin would be accused of murdering her husband, disposing of his remains with
a meat grinder, and feeding him to the large jungle cats that populate her Big Cat Rescue
facility…
BEFORE Kate McKinnon would sign on to portray her in a scripted version of her life and
decade long feud with Joe Exotic…
Up until about two weeks ago, the only people who knew the name Carole Baskin were those
heavily invested in the Exotic Cat community or the 75K people subscribed to Joe Exotic's
YouTube channel where he would obsessively mention her in nearly every video.
… And then proceeded to put a literal hit on her life…
As can be seen on the Netflix series, that didn’t work out so well for the guy and
now Carol’s nemesis is behind bars for at least 22-years.
But just who really is Carol Baskin?
Where did this animal rights activist come from and how did she wind up in the crosshairs
of a Zoo Operator?
I've dug up lots for you guys in todays video.
What's going on guys?
It’s your boy Michael McCrudden, back at it again, this time hitting you up with the
Newman to Tiger King’s Seinfeld, the one and only Carole Baskin.
The Mother Teresa of Cats stood her ground firmly against an extremely eccentric character,
but as it turns out, she’s got a little eccentricity herself and some skeletons of
her own that need further explaining.
So, let’s dig into her past and see if we find anything under her Septic Tank.
Carole Baskin was born Carole Stairs on June 6th, 1961, in San Antonio, Texas.
She was born to an extremely poor family; her parents had met a couple years before
at television station WEDU where her mother, Mary Barbara Jean Norris was a secretary and
her father, Vernon Charles Stairs was a camera man.
Carole always felt a “super-natural” connection with her grandmother, but never felt particularly
close to anyone else in her family.
As for family pets, I’ll let Carole tell you…
Carole’s family was so poor that they couldn’t even afford a crib for her.
She slept in a drawer!
Now don’t freak out guys, I know it’s hard to tell from that pic, but that cat isn’t
real.
It was actually just a stuffed animal.
Carole attended first grade at Florida College Academy, where…
Huh, so I guess Carole didn’t always have such a proclivity towards wildlife.
At the time, she liked to draw, paint, skate and play dodge ball.
In second grade, her family moved to Panama City, which Carole balked at because they
would be moving away from her grandmother.
Her father continued to pick up wholly unrelated jobs and now worked as a flight instructor.
It was during her time here that Carole first risked her life for the sake of an animal…
Sadly, despite managing to save her cat, it wasn’t much longer for this world.
After Tampa, Carole’s family moved to Charleston, West Virginia, where her father became the
private pilot to Governor Arch Moore.
There they lived in a trailer park.
But by 1975 they had moved into a nice new home with an in-ground pool and three new
cars in the garage.
It wouldn’t take long for her father’s lack of career stability to force them into
selling the house and they bounced between cities again before resettling in West Virginia.
In fact, in the first 13 years of her life, Carole and her family would move cities a
total of 14 times!
Her father’s eclectic career path even included time spent working as a private detective.
It was while watching her father work that Carole came to learn to hate liars.
A teenager now, Carole began working odd jobs, helping out as a gardener and selling glass
jewelry that she would make by hand.
When not working, Carole spent time exploring the world of nature around her:
I gotta say, if something like that had happened to me, Nature and I would be through.
Lucky for jungle cats all around the world, Carole’s made of sterner stuff.
In fact, she was such an adventurous spirit that she would take to hitchhiking, at a very
young age.
But don’t worry, she brought protection…
I bet you’re probably wondering why she had the axe on her…
Carole managed to escape that lunatic’s car, but in 1974 Carole’s luck ran out.
At the age of fourteen, Carole was sexually assaulted by three men.
This attack led to the down spiralling of her life.
At around 16, Carole began to develop a drinking problem while babysitting.
She would go over to the house she was sitting for and make herself a drink, which was readily
available.
After the kids went to bed, she would start drinking Whisky directly from the bottle.
Her alcoholism would last for 2 years and would only come to a stop when she became
pregnant with her daughter, Jamie in 1979.
By 1977, Carole ran away from home after getting in a fight with her mother over having sex
with one of the many boys she was seeing at the time.
She moved out with a boy friend named Jim Jones… but I ain't talking about the rapper
nor the cult leader.
This relationship would turn sour as he would routinely beat Carole so in 1977 she made
a fateful decision:
Thankfully, a homeless man was nearby and helped get her out of danger.
His selfless actions taught Carole no matter how bad things are, you can never give up.
Carole left Jim and ended up marrying a man named Michael Murdock.
Despite tying herself to him, Carole didn’t really love Michael and she only became pregnant
with her child after he beat her up and forced himself on her.
After that…
Despite not wanting to bring a child into this world, Jamie ended up being a blessing
in disguise for Carole and they became inseparable once she was born.
In 1981, Carole met Don Lewis, the man who would come to change her life completely.
While running away from her husband, Carole was offered a ride by Don.
Carole resisted at first, but Don was persistent.
He so badly wanted someone to talk to that he even offered to let her hold a pistol on
him while they drove around.
He ended up taking her to a motel where they spent a platonic night together.
Carole fell in love with him right then and there.
When Don dropped her off the next morning, something even crazier happened…
From that point on Carole and Don began a love affair.
Don was married and they worked hard to hide their relationship… eventually though, Don
would leave his wife and marry Carole.
Carole helped Don with all of his many real estate holdings and they sometimes used llamas
to mitigate the brush on Florida properties that they owned.
It was while going to an exotic animal auction to buy a llama that her life would change
forever.
During the auction, a baby bobcat was put up for sale.
Carole couldn’t help but notice the man next to her was bidding repeatedly for the
animal.
Carole informed him that if he won the bid, the animal would rip his face off.
The man replied by telling her that he was a taxidermist and he was going to kill and
stuff the animal as soon as he got it.
Carole was understandably horrified.
She made Don outbid the man and they brought the animal home.
They named the cat Windsong.
When confronted with an issue like the one above, Carole explains her thought process
as follows:
“I just don’t see the problem; I see it in sort of a split screen in my head.
On the left is what I have.
On the right is what I want.
That clarity makes it possible for me to make quick decisions about what needs to be done
right now and I can see the steps needed to get to what I want.”
In other words, Carole is the Jungle Cat version of Sherlock Holmes.
Just imagine the baddie in that clip is an asshole who want to hurt cats!
From that point forward, Don and Carole began buying up all the bobcats and lynx kittens
they could find.
They transformed a 40-acre property they owned into a sanctuary with tourism and breeding
components.
Calling it Wildlife on Easy Street, the duo amassed a collection of 150 exotic cats and
17 different species.
For $75 a night, guests could share a small cabin with an animal.
Don insisted that they breed the animals, and Carole reluctantly gave into his demands.
But Carole always felt guilty treating the animals as a commodity.
Then, in 1997, Don disappeared.
Carole’s roll in Don’s disappearance was called into question by his former wife and
children.
She was considered a suspect for a time, but no proof was ever uncovered that could link
her to the crime in anyway.
Soon after her husband’s disappearance, Carole stopped breeding and began spaying
and neutering all of her cats.
After having Don declared legally dead on the five-year anniversary of his disappearance,
she inherited the majority of his estate and rebranded her business as Big Cat Rescue.
In 2003 she began accepting wild cats of all types, offering them a home to live out the
rest of their lives.
It was this dedication to the preservation of wild cats of all types that would bring
Joe exotic into her orbit.
Unhappy with how he treated his animals, Carole attacked his business and Joe’s profits
plummeted, sparking a blood war that only recently came to an end.
As for how that feud played out?
Well, I’m pretty sure you’ve probably seen this documentary series already.
Don’t forget this is Before They Were Famous, and since it was this feud that threw Carole
into the public spotlight, that story is best left to be explored in another video.
If you want to hear more about Carole’s run in with Joe, be sure to check out our
Rich Life of Carole Baskin video that will be coming out soon!
Until then, let us know what you think of this video in the comments below.
How about a Where Are They Now?
On Don Lewis?
Sound off in the comments down below.
BOOM!