“Tiger King” star Jeff Lowe, the owner of the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park in Oklahoma, has been ordered to surrender his cubs and their mothers after the death of two young tigers in his care.
“The Lowes have shown a shocking disregard for both the health and welfare of their animals,” Jonathan Brightbill at the Justice Department’s Environmental and Natural Resources Division, said in the statement on Tuesday.
The federal court found that two tiger cubs had died less than a week apart because of a failure by the Lowes to provide proper nutrition and veterinary care.
The court ordered the couple to surrender all big cat cubs under the age of one year and their mothers, and to provide records for all animals the Lowes got since June 2020. They were also ordered not to put animals on public display without a license.
Jeff Lowe is the former business partner of zoo operator Joe Exotic, whose story was featured in the hit 2020 Netflix series “Tiger King.”
Lowe took over ownership of Wynnewood after Joe Exotic was sentenced to 22 years in prison in 2019. A judge found him guilty for hiring a hitman to kill Carola Baskin of Big Cat Rescue and for killing and selling tigers.