1 00:00:05,589 --> 00:00:12,179 ♪ ♪ 2 00:00:17,518 --> 00:00:20,062 REPORTER (over TV): Stars like Jared Leto dressed up like Joe Exotic. 3 00:00:20,812 --> 00:00:22,439 COLBERT (over TV): There's really only one big story. 4 00:00:22,439 --> 00:00:24,566 WOMAN (over TV): The number one show in the U. S. 5 00:00:24,566 --> 00:00:26,443 ROBERTS (over TV): You cannot turn away. 6 00:00:26,443 --> 00:00:29,488 MARIANA: Joe Exotic, Carole Baskin, Doc Antle. 7 00:00:29,488 --> 00:00:31,615 SIMPSON: White people, what's with you and wild animals? 8 00:00:32,783 --> 00:00:34,910 MARIANA: When Tiger King became a phenomenon. 9 00:00:34,910 --> 00:00:36,411 CAROLE: Hey, all you cool cats and kittens. 10 00:00:36,411 --> 00:00:38,705 DEGENERES: Hey, all you cool cats and kittens, it's me Ellen. 11 00:00:38,705 --> 00:00:41,375 MARIANA: It made each of them household names. 12 00:00:41,375 --> 00:00:42,417 MAN: Joe Exotic. 13 00:00:42,417 --> 00:00:43,877 (speaking in native language). 14 00:00:43,877 --> 00:00:45,295 WOMAN: Netflix Tiger King. 15 00:00:45,295 --> 00:00:47,297 JOE: And I saw tiger. 16 00:00:47,798 --> 00:00:50,092 REPORTER: Cardi B wants to free the Tiger King. 17 00:00:50,092 --> 00:00:52,844 JOURNALIST: He's asking you for a pardon, saying he was unfairly convicted. 18 00:00:52,844 --> 00:00:55,180 TRUMP: I'll take a look. 19 00:00:55,180 --> 00:00:57,766 MARIANA: But while the series focuses on the bizarre private lives at the center 20 00:00:57,766 --> 00:00:59,977 of America's big cat industry, 21 00:01:00,602 --> 00:01:04,231 very little attention is given to the status of tigers today. 22 00:01:06,275 --> 00:01:10,195 In America, tiger cubs are bred so guests can snap pictures at roadside zoos. 23 00:01:14,241 --> 00:01:17,869 In Asia, they're poached, farmed, butchered, and turned into products. 24 00:01:20,872 --> 00:01:24,167 At a time when one of the most iconic predators faces extinction, 25 00:01:25,919 --> 00:01:28,380 we set out to tell the real story of the tiger. 26 00:01:30,215 --> 00:01:31,842 Who are the breeders? 27 00:01:31,842 --> 00:01:33,802 DOC: I am the only one qualified. 28 00:01:33,802 --> 00:01:36,471 No one else in the world has ever done what we do. 29 00:01:36,471 --> 00:01:38,807 MARIANA: Who are the traffickers? 30 00:01:38,807 --> 00:01:40,601 ANNA: They do not like journalists. 31 00:01:40,601 --> 00:01:42,978 They're probably gonna torture you if they find out you're a journalist. 32 00:01:45,147 --> 00:01:48,191 MARIANA: And what can we do to save the tiger? 33 00:01:55,240 --> 00:01:57,743 ♪ ♪ 34 00:02:03,457 --> 00:02:06,585 (phone ringing) 35 00:02:11,923 --> 00:02:13,008 VOICE (over phone): Prepaid call from. 36 00:02:13,008 --> 00:02:14,760 JOE: Joe Exotic. 37 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:17,137 VOICE (over phone): An inmate at the Grady County Jail. 38 00:02:17,137 --> 00:02:20,641 This call is also subject to being recorded or monitored. 39 00:02:20,891 --> 00:02:22,100 JOE (over phone): Hello? 40 00:02:22,100 --> 00:02:24,102 MARIANA: Hi. How are you doing? Mariana here. 41 00:02:24,102 --> 00:02:25,270 JOE (over phone): Hi. 42 00:02:25,270 --> 00:02:27,314 MARIANA: Thank you so much for calling me. 43 00:02:27,314 --> 00:02:30,025 It all started with an online reality show. 44 00:02:31,109 --> 00:02:34,196 JOE (over TV): I'm Joe Exotic, the gay, gun‐carrying redneck with a mullet. 45 00:02:35,322 --> 00:02:39,660 MARIANA: Before Netflix's hit series Tiger King made Joe Exotic famous worldwide. 46 00:02:41,119 --> 00:02:44,206 MAN: He was like a mythical character living out in the middle of (bleep) Oklahoma. 47 00:02:45,290 --> 00:02:47,042 MARIANA: But lost in the hype surrounding the series... 48 00:02:52,673 --> 00:02:56,176 MARIANA: Was a serious discussion about private tiger ownership in America. 49 00:02:57,969 --> 00:03:02,015 JOE (over phone): I've been in the tiger industry for a little over 20 years now. 50 00:03:02,015 --> 00:03:06,061 Probably the largest breeder and handler of, of tigers in the United States. 51 00:03:07,646 --> 00:03:13,276 MARIANA: So give me just a sense of the tiger sort of community, cub petting, zoos, and all that. 52 00:03:23,286 --> 00:03:26,790 You know, I, I'm stuck trying to figure out why the hell I'm in jail for, first of all. 53 00:03:28,166 --> 00:03:30,836 MARIANA: To be clear, Joe Exotic is behind bars 54 00:03:30,836 --> 00:03:33,588 because he was convicted of the attempted murder for hire 55 00:03:33,588 --> 00:03:38,176 of Carole Baskin, as well as 17 wildlife crimes. 56 00:03:39,511 --> 00:03:42,139 CARNEY ANNE: In the words of the judge at Joe Exotic's sentencing, 57 00:03:43,181 --> 00:03:47,102 Joe is a master manipulator who has engaged in quote, 58 00:03:47,102 --> 00:03:50,522 "systematic trafficking of tigers and other big cats." 59 00:03:52,065 --> 00:03:55,694 MARIANA: Yet critics of Tiger King say the series celebrated Joe, 60 00:03:55,694 --> 00:03:58,447 while largely overlooking his treatment of animals. 61 00:03:59,072 --> 00:04:02,117 CARNEY ANNE: Joe is not a folk hero. 62 00:04:02,117 --> 00:04:05,620 He is somebody who, for decades, profited off of the 63 00:04:05,620 --> 00:04:08,457 exploitation and abuse of animals. 64 00:04:08,457 --> 00:04:10,834 And Joe is finally where he belongs. 65 00:04:12,169 --> 00:04:14,254 MARIANA: So why would you want to breed a tiger? 66 00:04:15,005 --> 00:04:18,758 Well, in the U. S., roadside zoos can bring in big money by 67 00:04:18,758 --> 00:04:21,678 offering cub petting experiences to tourists. 68 00:04:22,971 --> 00:04:25,807 JOHN: You know, they raise tiger cubs so that people can pay money and take selfies. 69 00:04:26,391 --> 00:04:29,436 So they have to have this constant supply of these little tiny tiger cubs 70 00:04:29,436 --> 00:04:31,605 between one and four months. 71 00:04:33,023 --> 00:04:34,483 WOMAN: Oh, look, look, look, look. 72 00:04:34,483 --> 00:04:36,401 JOHN: So there's just this huge breeding operation. 73 00:04:36,401 --> 00:04:39,905 But the key thing here is that after the cubs are about four months old, 74 00:04:39,905 --> 00:04:42,282 they're too dangerous to, for the public to handle. 75 00:04:42,657 --> 00:04:45,327 They need to be handed off somewhere. 76 00:04:45,327 --> 00:04:47,370 And often I don't think we really know what happens to them. 77 00:04:48,038 --> 00:04:49,998 MARIANA: To understand the scope of the issue, 78 00:04:49,998 --> 00:04:53,794 National Geographic Magazine reviewed Joe Exotic's records 79 00:04:53,794 --> 00:04:59,925 from 2010 to 2018 and learned that his zoo traded nearly 200 tigers with 80 00:04:59,925 --> 00:05:03,595 dozens of other private owners across America. 81 00:05:04,471 --> 00:05:07,724 MARIANA: Breeders like Joe are one of the reasons that there are now an estimated 82 00:05:07,724 --> 00:05:11,019 5,000 to 10,000 tigers in the United States. 83 00:05:12,813 --> 00:05:16,107 With less than 4,000 tigers left in the wild, 84 00:05:16,107 --> 00:05:19,361 there are now more tigers living in captivity in the U. S. 85 00:05:20,070 --> 00:05:22,906 than there are wild tigers living in the rest of the world. 86 00:05:24,324 --> 00:05:27,118 JOE (over phone): If something' endangered, hell, we need to start breeding it, do we not? 87 00:05:27,661 --> 00:05:31,540 Is that not what the purpose of being endangered is is we need more of? 88 00:05:32,541 --> 00:05:34,751 MARIANA: But it's not that simple. 89 00:05:34,751 --> 00:05:38,964 And my journey to understand why, takes me to the other side of the world. 90 00:05:42,008 --> 00:05:45,720 Tigers face a grave threat in the wild as they make up part 91 00:05:45,720 --> 00:05:49,516 of the $20 billion‐a‐year illegal wildlife trade. 92 00:06:02,153 --> 00:06:06,658 ♪ ♪ 93 00:06:07,534 --> 00:06:10,120 (singing in native language) 94 00:06:18,879 --> 00:06:22,632 ♪ ♪ 95 00:06:23,091 --> 00:06:25,468 MARIANA: To see just what the tiger is up against, 96 00:06:25,468 --> 00:06:29,180 I'm headed to the frontlines of that global black market. 97 00:06:34,394 --> 00:06:38,940 STEVE: One dead tiger will usually fetch between $30,000 and $50,000. 98 00:06:40,191 --> 00:06:43,612 MARIANA: Steve Galster is the founder of Freeland Foundation, 99 00:06:43,612 --> 00:06:47,073 an NGO working to end wildlife trafficking all over the world. 100 00:06:48,283 --> 00:06:50,076 STEVE: They're taking pictures of what they're gonna sell. 101 00:06:50,076 --> 00:06:52,704 There is the head, and then they've got the ribs. 102 00:06:53,455 --> 00:06:56,916 MARIANA: Steve is showing me tiger parts seized by authorities. 103 00:06:56,916 --> 00:07:00,420 The parts were likely destined for tiger wine or tiger pills. 104 00:07:01,921 --> 00:07:06,593 Due to age‐old cultural traditions, buyers believe, without any scientific evidence, 105 00:07:07,927 --> 00:07:11,973 that tiger products cure everything from rheumatism to male impotence. 106 00:07:13,391 --> 00:07:15,393 So the bone wine, all of that, this is all black market? 107 00:07:16,019 --> 00:07:19,105 STEVE: Yeah. All tiger part trade is illegal. 108 00:07:19,105 --> 00:07:22,108 MARIANA: To brew tiger wine, bones of a recently slaughtered 109 00:07:22,108 --> 00:07:25,904 tiger are steeped in a vat of rice wine for up to eight years. 110 00:07:27,822 --> 00:07:29,908 Demand for the product has increased, 111 00:07:29,908 --> 00:07:31,826 as rising incomes in the region have allowed 112 00:07:31,826 --> 00:07:34,829 more people to afford luxury goods. 113 00:07:35,330 --> 00:07:39,250 There may now be as many as 8,000 tigers in Asian farms alone. 114 00:07:41,002 --> 00:07:43,797 STEVE: This is structured very much like drug trafficking. 115 00:07:44,047 --> 00:07:45,965 You're moving illegal commodities. 116 00:07:45,965 --> 00:07:47,300 The profit margins are high. 117 00:07:47,300 --> 00:07:51,137 The organization is very slick. 118 00:07:51,137 --> 00:07:53,723 In fact, some of these folks made their money in drug trafficking 119 00:07:54,057 --> 00:07:55,725 and moved over into wildlife trafficking. 120 00:07:59,312 --> 00:08:02,732 MARIANA: Tigers illegally sold in this part of the world are often trafficked 121 00:08:02,732 --> 00:08:05,652 through one place, the Golden Triangle. 122 00:08:07,445 --> 00:08:10,865 STEVE: The power of the people who own these tigers and these tiger farms is enormous. 123 00:08:12,992 --> 00:08:16,413 MARIANA: The Golden Triangle is a border region between Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar. 124 00:08:24,504 --> 00:08:28,091 ANNA: You know, I've been working on tiger investigation for a long time. 125 00:08:28,591 --> 00:08:32,220 Golden Triangle, it's known as being a lawless playground for criminals. 126 00:08:36,891 --> 00:08:40,437 MARIANA: Anna, not her real name, is a freelance journalist who has 127 00:08:40,437 --> 00:08:42,981 investigated the black markets of this region for years. 128 00:08:46,693 --> 00:08:49,404 For her safety, we're disguising her identity. 129 00:08:50,071 --> 00:08:51,531 Why here? 130 00:08:51,531 --> 00:08:53,491 Of all the places, why do you think that all this 131 00:08:53,491 --> 00:08:55,535 wildlife trafficking is happening through here? 132 00:08:55,535 --> 00:08:57,829 ANNA: Most wild tigers go to China or Vietnam. 133 00:08:58,371 --> 00:08:59,748 MARIANA: Right. Right. 134 00:08:59,748 --> 00:09:01,624 ANNA: So Laos is like the perfect transit place. 135 00:09:02,709 --> 00:09:06,337 MARIANA: Just across the Mekong River from Thailand lies the Kings Roman Casino. 136 00:09:07,297 --> 00:09:09,466 Run by Zhao Wei, a Chinese businessman. 137 00:09:11,051 --> 00:09:14,554 The casino advertises itself as the place for legal gambling in the region, 138 00:09:15,847 --> 00:09:19,684 but the U. S. Treasury Department has said that Zhao Wei is involved in drug smuggling, 139 00:09:20,435 --> 00:09:23,646 child prostitution, and wildlife trafficking. 140 00:09:24,147 --> 00:09:27,067 ANNA: Drugs, weapons, and wildlife trafficking. 141 00:09:27,484 --> 00:09:29,527 Everything bad, you name it. 142 00:09:29,527 --> 00:09:31,988 MARIANA: So it's sort of like a little criminal enclave inside Laos? 143 00:09:34,866 --> 00:09:38,828 So, in that respect, it's super dangerous because they're trying to protect their income. 144 00:09:39,496 --> 00:09:40,914 ANNA: Yeah. 145 00:09:40,914 --> 00:09:43,666 MARIANA: Zhao Wei has denied the charges against him. 146 00:09:43,666 --> 00:09:47,921 In the past, his casino openly advertised tiger bone wine in promotional brochures. 147 00:09:49,339 --> 00:09:51,883 And recent reports say they are still breeding tigers. 148 00:09:54,010 --> 00:09:58,681 Anna visited the casino grounds herself five days ago and witnessed a zoo with dozens 149 00:09:58,681 --> 00:10:02,227 of tigers, which she believes could be destined for tiger wine. 150 00:10:03,645 --> 00:10:06,523 ANNA: They actually locate it before the casino. 151 00:10:06,981 --> 00:10:09,192 MARIANA: Just tigers in cages? ANNA: Yeah. 152 00:10:10,568 --> 00:10:13,029 MARIANA: Tomorrow I'll be visiting the Kings Roman Casino myself. 153 00:10:22,831 --> 00:10:25,667 ♪ ♪ 154 00:10:26,751 --> 00:10:28,711 (speaking in native language). 155 00:10:35,051 --> 00:10:36,928 MARIANA: It's the front and back. 156 00:10:38,346 --> 00:10:40,640 I normally do everything I can to avoid looking like a tourist. 157 00:10:42,016 --> 00:10:44,853 Definitely having a bag that says National Geographic, 158 00:10:45,145 --> 00:10:47,355 it's the first thing to ditch. 159 00:10:47,355 --> 00:10:49,983 But Anna tells me Zhao Wei's informants are everywhere in the Golden Triangle. 160 00:10:51,109 --> 00:10:53,194 Perfect, with the little elephants. 161 00:10:53,194 --> 00:10:55,363 So we have to blend in. 162 00:10:55,363 --> 00:10:59,409 So this is Jeff, our director, who's fully embracing the blending in like a tourist. 163 00:11:00,201 --> 00:11:01,369 JEFFREY: That's right. Yeah. 164 00:11:01,369 --> 00:11:02,370 MARIANA: That hat looks great on you. 165 00:11:02,370 --> 00:11:03,580 JEFFREY: Thank you. Yeah. 166 00:11:03,580 --> 00:11:05,415 Tommy gave it to me, our driver, and said, 167 00:11:05,415 --> 00:11:07,500 "You need to look like tourists." 168 00:11:07,500 --> 00:11:09,002 Golden Triangle. 169 00:11:09,002 --> 00:11:11,212 MARIANA: Yay. Cheese. Golden Triangle. 170 00:11:13,715 --> 00:11:16,634 We have a camera. Looks like a tourist camera. 171 00:11:16,634 --> 00:11:20,054 We also have a little selfie stick, which I don't actually know how to operate. 172 00:11:23,850 --> 00:11:26,060 There's gonna be a lot of selfies today. 173 00:11:26,060 --> 00:11:27,645 Lot of smiling. 174 00:11:27,645 --> 00:11:30,315 One thing really important actually is to smile a lot, 175 00:11:30,315 --> 00:11:31,816 make sure we really look like tourists. 176 00:11:31,816 --> 00:11:33,985 We're having a great time. 177 00:11:36,696 --> 00:11:39,240 Everybody has their passports? 178 00:11:40,241 --> 00:11:41,492 JEFFREY: There's our boat. 179 00:11:41,492 --> 00:11:43,745 MARIANA: Okay. Here. 180 00:11:43,745 --> 00:11:46,664 Posing as tourists, my team and I are leaving the relative safety of Thailand 181 00:11:46,664 --> 00:11:49,125 and crossing over into Laos. 182 00:12:08,561 --> 00:12:11,189 This is it, the casino. 183 00:12:16,194 --> 00:12:21,157 Okay. Tourist mode. Let's do this. 184 00:12:30,541 --> 00:12:35,088 It's the Blue Shield Casino, owned by the Kings Roman group. 185 00:12:35,088 --> 00:12:39,884 Here in the Golden Triangle, I'm trying to blend in. 186 00:12:39,884 --> 00:12:44,138 I don't want to catch the attention of alleged criminal boss, Zhao Wei. 187 00:12:45,848 --> 00:12:47,058 So that's the casino. 188 00:12:47,058 --> 00:12:48,601 And behind that big golden building, 189 00:12:48,601 --> 00:12:50,186 that's the hotel, the massive hotel, 190 00:12:50,186 --> 00:12:52,188 they'll build, they're building right behind it. 191 00:12:52,188 --> 00:12:54,107 I'm well aware that journalists looking into the 192 00:12:54,107 --> 00:12:56,526 tiger trade are not welcome. 193 00:12:56,526 --> 00:12:58,194 We should continue going 'cause the security guards at 194 00:12:58,194 --> 00:13:00,697 the casino were looking at us of course. 195 00:13:00,697 --> 00:13:03,116 Let's walk. Let's walk. 196 00:13:03,700 --> 00:13:05,743 Five years ago, conservationists reported 197 00:13:05,743 --> 00:13:07,996 finding tiger wine, tiger meat, 198 00:13:07,996 --> 00:13:11,332 and other endangered animal parts openly for sale at the 199 00:13:11,332 --> 00:13:15,295 casino's Chinatown‐themed shopping center. 200 00:13:16,504 --> 00:13:19,048 There are people looking at us so just pretending. 201 00:13:19,799 --> 00:13:21,217 (speaking native language). 202 00:13:21,217 --> 00:13:22,969 MARIANA: After international outrage, 203 00:13:22,969 --> 00:13:25,221 the Laotian government made a show of raiding some of the 204 00:13:25,221 --> 00:13:28,641 shops and burning tiger skins on TV. 205 00:13:32,562 --> 00:13:36,441 But reports afterward said tiger products were still for sale. 206 00:13:36,441 --> 00:13:39,193 Ooh, look at all the flies on this meat. 207 00:13:39,193 --> 00:13:41,195 Just not openly advertised. 208 00:13:41,195 --> 00:13:42,530 Tasty. 209 00:13:51,039 --> 00:13:55,001 MARIANA: When I asked for tiger meat, I'm laughed at. 210 00:13:55,752 --> 00:13:57,420 No? 211 00:13:57,420 --> 00:13:58,963 I try various shops. 212 00:13:58,963 --> 00:13:59,964 Nobody know? 213 00:13:59,964 --> 00:14:01,466 MAN: Yeah. Nobody know. 214 00:14:01,466 --> 00:14:03,593 MARIANA: But if any of them have black market tiger products, 215 00:14:03,593 --> 00:14:06,888 they're not about to sell them to a Westerner. 216 00:14:13,144 --> 00:14:15,021 Our guide was saying that he doesn't feel like it's very 217 00:14:15,021 --> 00:14:17,148 safe for us to be here anymore. 218 00:14:17,148 --> 00:14:18,733 So we should go, guys. 219 00:14:18,733 --> 00:14:21,027 Let's go. 220 00:14:21,944 --> 00:14:25,823 I suspected this might happen, which is why I'm not the only 221 00:14:25,823 --> 00:14:28,659 one doing an investigation at the casino today. 222 00:14:31,704 --> 00:14:33,915 I'm gonna need your help. 223 00:14:36,793 --> 00:14:40,296 MARIANA: Anna has assembled her own undercover team to try to find out 224 00:14:40,296 --> 00:14:44,092 just how prevalent the black market for tiger really is. 225 00:14:54,102 --> 00:14:58,106 MARIANA: Like me, Anna is rebuffed at first. 226 00:14:59,482 --> 00:15:01,651 ANNA: We walked down this alley, right? 227 00:15:01,651 --> 00:15:05,113 Just like a bunch of old‐style Chinese restaurants. 228 00:15:06,239 --> 00:15:07,907 When you do something like this, 229 00:15:07,907 --> 00:15:11,577 they're not gonna come offer it to you right away, right? 230 00:15:11,577 --> 00:15:14,997 MARIANA: As Anna and her team stake out the restaurants, 231 00:15:14,997 --> 00:15:18,376 I head to look for the tigers themselves. 232 00:15:18,876 --> 00:15:21,879 So looking for the cages which are somewhere over there. 233 00:15:22,797 --> 00:15:26,634 Anna has given me the GPS coordinates of the casino's tiger zoo. 234 00:15:28,511 --> 00:15:30,471 We passed it already basically, it says? 235 00:15:30,471 --> 00:15:33,349 JEFFREY: No. It says we're coming up on it now. 236 00:15:33,933 --> 00:15:35,143 ANNA (over phone): Hi, Mariana. 237 00:15:35,143 --> 00:15:37,061 MARIANA: How are you, Anna? We're here. 238 00:15:37,061 --> 00:15:39,522 ANNA (over phone): What do you see? 239 00:15:39,522 --> 00:15:42,275 MARIANA: Nothing. There's nothing here. 240 00:15:42,275 --> 00:15:44,527 I mean, it's all brand‐new construction site. 241 00:15:44,527 --> 00:15:47,989 There is like a hole. It was all bulldozed. 242 00:15:47,989 --> 00:15:51,367 All turned down. (bleep). 243 00:15:51,367 --> 00:15:53,202 So you were just here five days ago? 244 00:15:53,202 --> 00:15:54,370 And it was all here? 245 00:15:54,370 --> 00:15:55,705 They were all here, tigers in the cages? 246 00:15:55,705 --> 00:15:57,498 ANNA (over phone): It was all here. 247 00:15:57,498 --> 00:15:59,584 MARIANA: It's not here anymore. 248 00:15:59,584 --> 00:16:03,296 It's really frustrating. I strike out again. 249 00:16:06,215 --> 00:16:10,178 But for Anna, things are looking up. 250 00:16:10,595 --> 00:16:12,722 ANNA: It took us one and a half hour. 251 00:16:12,722 --> 00:16:13,973 MARIANA: Just sitting and drinking? 252 00:16:13,973 --> 00:16:15,975 ANNA: Yeah. And talking, and eat some more, 253 00:16:15,975 --> 00:16:19,645 and drink some more until we get really loud, really drunk. 254 00:16:20,229 --> 00:16:22,481 (speaking native language). 255 00:16:22,481 --> 00:16:25,484 And the lady showed up. 256 00:16:25,484 --> 00:16:28,487 (speaking native language). 257 00:16:28,487 --> 00:16:30,781 ANNA: And she, you know, take out this thing. 258 00:16:30,781 --> 00:16:34,535 And I'm like, "Whoa. Whoa. What?" 259 00:16:35,828 --> 00:16:38,956 Such an amazing presentation. 260 00:16:38,956 --> 00:16:41,125 MARIANA: It's incredible. So it's an actual glass. 261 00:16:41,125 --> 00:16:42,293 You see an actual glass. 262 00:16:42,293 --> 00:16:43,419 ANNA: Yeah. Yeah. I have it here too. 263 00:16:43,419 --> 00:16:44,503 You wanna take. 264 00:16:44,503 --> 00:16:46,505 MARIANA: Yes. I'd love to see it. 265 00:16:46,505 --> 00:16:49,842 Anna can't confirm that this is actually tiger wine, 266 00:16:49,842 --> 00:16:54,472 but in a dark twist, the box is labeled tiger king wine. 267 00:16:55,848 --> 00:16:59,644 That it is insane. 268 00:16:59,644 --> 00:17:02,939 ANNA: A couple years ago, almost at every Chinese restaurant 269 00:17:02,939 --> 00:17:07,235 sell tiger bone wine out in the open and tiger meat. 270 00:17:07,235 --> 00:17:10,279 But because the US has sanctioned them, 271 00:17:10,279 --> 00:17:14,116 they really try hard to change the image. 272 00:17:14,116 --> 00:17:17,536 So everything has gone underground. 273 00:17:18,287 --> 00:17:21,165 MARIANA: Investigators in the Golden Triangle say that tiger 274 00:17:21,165 --> 00:17:24,210 products here are increasingly sold under the counter. 275 00:17:25,503 --> 00:17:28,089 Much of the trade has moved to social media, 276 00:17:28,089 --> 00:17:30,550 like the Chinese app, WeChat. 277 00:17:31,634 --> 00:17:34,220 And in Laos and other Asian countries, 278 00:17:34,220 --> 00:17:36,847 criminal groups have been known to utilize zoos as 279 00:17:36,847 --> 00:17:39,976 fronts for commercial breeding. 280 00:17:39,976 --> 00:17:42,019 ANNA: They open a zoo, you know, as front. 281 00:17:42,019 --> 00:17:45,064 And then they breed and, to produce more tiger for 282 00:17:45,064 --> 00:17:48,276 something like this. 283 00:17:48,276 --> 00:17:50,695 MARIANA: So what happened to all of the tigers that Anna 284 00:17:50,695 --> 00:17:53,197 saw in the casino zoo? 285 00:17:55,825 --> 00:17:59,954 (speaking native language). 286 00:17:59,954 --> 00:18:01,789 TOMMY: About three kilometer. 287 00:18:01,789 --> 00:18:02,915 About. 288 00:18:02,915 --> 00:18:04,250 MARIANA: Three kilometers? TOMMY: Yes. 289 00:18:04,250 --> 00:18:05,459 MARIANA: Are they in cages? The tigers in cages? 290 00:18:05,459 --> 00:18:06,919 TOMMY: Yeah. Yeah. 291 00:18:06,919 --> 00:18:08,462 MARIANA: Just when I'm about to get on the boat back to 292 00:18:08,462 --> 00:18:11,591 Thailand, we catch a lucky break. 293 00:18:11,591 --> 00:18:14,260 Tommy here has been inquiring for us all around. 294 00:18:14,260 --> 00:18:16,637 And as we're about to leave, Tommy made some contacts with 295 00:18:16,637 --> 00:18:19,724 this guy behind us who drives a tuk‐tuk, 296 00:18:19,724 --> 00:18:22,643 and he knows where the tigers are located. 297 00:18:22,643 --> 00:18:26,063 The driver says the casino's tigers were moved just a few 298 00:18:26,063 --> 00:18:29,400 days ago to a new zoo high on the mountain. 299 00:18:40,286 --> 00:18:41,954 The driver here says he knows where these, 300 00:18:41,954 --> 00:18:45,207 the tigers have been moved to. 301 00:18:45,750 --> 00:18:47,960 We hope that he actually does know. 302 00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:51,672 And also that he's not taking us to a police station, 303 00:18:51,672 --> 00:18:54,759 or the casino owners, or... 304 00:18:59,513 --> 00:19:02,141 (speaking native language). 305 00:19:02,141 --> 00:19:03,934 MARIANA: Is this, is this, is it here? 306 00:19:03,934 --> 00:19:05,394 (speaking native language). 307 00:19:05,394 --> 00:19:08,064 MARIANA: I think he's turning off into this dirt road. 308 00:19:09,273 --> 00:19:13,527 I think we're getting close, so we don't wanna be seen going in. 309 00:19:18,866 --> 00:19:22,495 The compound appears to be surrounded by a tall perimeter wall. 310 00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:30,336 Okay. So we're at the location. 311 00:19:30,336 --> 00:19:32,963 We're going around the fences to try to see if we can find 312 00:19:32,963 --> 00:19:35,549 an opening in. 313 00:19:36,467 --> 00:19:40,304 As we walk up, we can see black bears in the distance. 314 00:19:41,180 --> 00:19:43,557 Though we can't be sure of the fate of these bears, 315 00:19:43,557 --> 00:19:48,437 in the past, bear paw soup has been offered on menus at Kings Roman Casino. 316 00:19:49,939 --> 00:19:52,274 We've seen bears. We've seen deer. 317 00:19:52,274 --> 00:19:53,693 MAN (over phone): Okay. 318 00:19:53,693 --> 00:19:56,362 MARIANA: We're still trying to find the tiger cages. 319 00:19:57,947 --> 00:20:00,991 And then we hear the roars. 320 00:20:00,991 --> 00:20:02,952 (roaring). 321 00:20:02,952 --> 00:20:04,120 Okay. 322 00:20:04,120 --> 00:20:05,413 He's saying we can see them from here. 323 00:20:05,413 --> 00:20:07,707 Far away but unmistakable. 324 00:20:07,707 --> 00:20:10,584 (roaring). 325 00:20:10,584 --> 00:20:11,836 You see them? 326 00:20:14,088 --> 00:20:16,966 MARIANA: Chinese what? Police? TOMMY: Police. 327 00:20:16,966 --> 00:20:19,093 MARIANA: Okay, guys. Let's walk. Let's walk. 328 00:20:19,093 --> 00:20:20,553 TOMMY: Walk, walk, walk. 329 00:20:24,724 --> 00:20:26,684 MARIANA: Oh, stop. Sorry. 330 00:20:31,480 --> 00:20:32,898 Can you tell him? Just me. 331 00:20:32,898 --> 00:20:35,985 I just wanna get a selfie, a selfie with a tiger. 332 00:20:35,985 --> 00:20:40,656 (speaking native language). 333 00:20:40,656 --> 00:20:41,824 MARIANA: Just me. 334 00:20:41,824 --> 00:20:47,955 (speaking native language). 335 00:20:47,955 --> 00:20:49,790 MARIANA: I won't, I will stay away. 336 00:20:49,790 --> 00:20:50,958 Far away. 337 00:20:50,958 --> 00:20:52,293 TOMMY: She cannot. MARIANA: Just like this. 338 00:20:52,293 --> 00:20:55,129 TOMMY: No. She, he, he says you cannot. 339 00:20:55,129 --> 00:20:57,631 MARIANA: Ah. Okay. Then I will go. 340 00:20:57,631 --> 00:21:00,801 The guards are adamant that we can't get in to see the tigers. 341 00:21:00,801 --> 00:21:03,179 (speaking native language). 342 00:21:03,179 --> 00:21:06,515 MARIANA: It's incredibly frustrating to be so close. 343 00:21:07,391 --> 00:21:11,103 But what they do next is better than the alternative, 344 00:21:11,103 --> 00:21:13,606 they let us go. 345 00:21:16,484 --> 00:21:17,526 Can I smell it? 346 00:21:17,526 --> 00:21:19,153 ANNA: Of course. 347 00:21:19,153 --> 00:21:21,822 MARIANA: Oh. ANNA: (bleep). 348 00:21:21,822 --> 00:21:23,657 Oh, that's (bleep). 349 00:21:23,657 --> 00:21:27,495 MARIANA: So it's a little like vinegary and strong liquor, basically. 350 00:21:27,495 --> 00:21:29,747 ANNA: I can smell it from here. Ugh. 351 00:21:29,747 --> 00:21:31,957 MARIANA: Anna has her suspicions on why they didn't 352 00:21:31,957 --> 00:21:34,084 want us filming the tigers. 353 00:21:34,084 --> 00:21:36,295 ANNA: There's a possibility that those tigers you were 354 00:21:36,295 --> 00:21:40,049 looking for could, might as well end up in this bottle. 355 00:21:47,807 --> 00:21:49,600 The killing hasn't stopped. 356 00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:54,271 Wild tigers has come to a point of almost extinct. 357 00:22:08,327 --> 00:22:09,912 TIM: When you drive along, quite often there's a good 358 00:22:09,912 --> 00:22:12,122 chance of seeing some animals. 359 00:22:12,122 --> 00:22:16,418 Things like deer and gaur, wild boar, maybe jackals. 360 00:22:17,002 --> 00:22:19,463 MARIANA: Tigers? TIM: Yup. 361 00:22:29,932 --> 00:22:32,810 MARIANA: Raising tigers is expensive and time consuming, 362 00:22:32,810 --> 00:22:36,897 so criminal networks often rely on another way to satisfy 363 00:22:36,897 --> 00:22:41,569 the demand for tiger parts, poaching them from the wild. 364 00:22:46,407 --> 00:22:49,493 Before leaving Southeast Asia, I spend two days with an elite 365 00:22:49,493 --> 00:22:54,164 unit of Thai Forest Rangers on the hunt for tiger poachers. 366 00:22:54,999 --> 00:22:56,542 Didn't sleep very well. 367 00:22:56,542 --> 00:22:58,627 I woke up around 2:00 AM, and I was absolutely sure there 368 00:22:58,627 --> 00:23:00,713 was a tiger right next to me. 369 00:23:00,713 --> 00:23:04,300 Of course, none of this was actually happening. 370 00:23:04,300 --> 00:23:05,801 RANGER: Coffee. MAN: Okay. 371 00:23:05,801 --> 00:23:07,219 RANGER: Coffee. MARIANA: Coffee. 372 00:23:07,219 --> 00:23:08,846 MAN: Coffee. RANGER: Coffee. 373 00:23:08,846 --> 00:23:12,099 MARIANA: Mmm. Very good coffee. 374 00:23:12,099 --> 00:23:14,852 RANGER: Uh‐hmm. 375 00:23:23,152 --> 00:23:25,863 MARIANA: So what are you looking for here, Gao? 376 00:23:25,863 --> 00:23:29,033 Footsteps or any sort of evidence that there were poachers here? 377 00:23:40,878 --> 00:23:42,588 TIM: So this is just the wildlife trail that we've 378 00:23:42,588 --> 00:23:44,798 been using to put the camera on. 379 00:23:44,798 --> 00:23:46,884 MARIANA: Oh, this is the camera. 380 00:23:46,884 --> 00:23:48,135 Why is it protected? 381 00:23:48,135 --> 00:23:50,179 TIM: Well, there's a couple of reasons, 382 00:23:50,179 --> 00:23:51,889 but the main reason is from the elephants. 383 00:23:51,889 --> 00:23:53,641 You see how all, this is all bent? 384 00:23:53,641 --> 00:23:54,975 MARIANA: Yeah. 385 00:23:54,975 --> 00:23:57,686 Supporting the rangers' work is Tim Redford, 386 00:23:57,686 --> 00:24:01,106 an anti‐trafficking expert from the Freeland Foundation. 387 00:24:01,106 --> 00:24:03,067 Who's poaching these tigers? 388 00:24:03,067 --> 00:24:05,361 TIM: Fairly poorly paid people, you know? 389 00:24:05,361 --> 00:24:07,196 And they're struggling to make a living. 390 00:24:07,196 --> 00:24:09,531 And these guys are being exploited by middlemen and 391 00:24:09,531 --> 00:24:13,077 kingpins at the top who are making an awful lot of money. 392 00:24:13,077 --> 00:24:15,996 MARIANA: How do you think the tiger farms around this region 393 00:24:15,996 --> 00:24:18,248 affect what's happening here in the park? 394 00:24:18,248 --> 00:24:20,042 TIM: Poachers are seeing tiger. 395 00:24:20,042 --> 00:24:21,335 Farmers are making money. 396 00:24:21,335 --> 00:24:22,836 I want some of that as well. 397 00:24:22,836 --> 00:24:25,339 It's very easy money to go into the forest and shoot a 398 00:24:25,339 --> 00:24:29,301 tiger or snare a tiger, and so the demand is creating more 399 00:24:29,301 --> 00:24:30,678 poaching in the forest. 400 00:24:30,678 --> 00:24:32,096 MARIANA: Oh. 401 00:24:32,096 --> 00:24:34,765 Still worse, wild tiger products are considered more 402 00:24:34,765 --> 00:24:38,811 potent, so buyers will pay more for a poached tiger. 403 00:24:42,564 --> 00:24:45,234 Even as tigers' numbers decline in the wild, 404 00:24:45,234 --> 00:24:49,822 they're rising in captivity in both Asia and the United States. 405 00:24:51,198 --> 00:24:54,660 Conservationists say that undermines our ability to push 406 00:24:54,660 --> 00:24:57,162 for swifter actions in Asia. 407 00:24:57,162 --> 00:24:59,289 CARNEY ANNE: When we want to tell countries like China that 408 00:24:59,289 --> 00:25:02,042 they need to shut down tiger farms, 409 00:25:02,042 --> 00:25:05,212 we have very little credibility when we can't even 410 00:25:05,212 --> 00:25:08,549 figure out how many big cats we have here. 411 00:25:09,216 --> 00:25:12,428 JOHN: You know, we're talking to China and other Asian countries 412 00:25:12,428 --> 00:25:14,430 (roaring). 413 00:25:14,430 --> 00:25:16,640 to try to get them to stop this captive breeding 414 00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:19,143 and tiger farming for the traditional medicine, 415 00:25:19,143 --> 00:25:20,936 but their answer to us is, 416 00:25:20,936 --> 00:25:23,647 "Well, you've got 10,000 tigers in captivity in the United States. 417 00:25:23,647 --> 00:25:25,441 You're breeding them for petting zoos. 418 00:25:25,441 --> 00:25:27,151 How is that more acceptable than breeding them for 419 00:25:27,151 --> 00:25:29,111 medicinal purposes?" 420 00:25:29,111 --> 00:25:32,072 MARIANA: So why has the U. S. allowed its captive tiger population 421 00:25:32,072 --> 00:25:34,783 to grow to such extremes? 422 00:25:34,783 --> 00:25:37,578 That's what I want to find out next, 423 00:25:37,578 --> 00:25:42,166 which is why I'm returning to the land of the Tiger King. 424 00:25:48,589 --> 00:25:49,882 WOMAN: Look. Look, a tiger. Look. 425 00:25:51,675 --> 00:25:57,639 ♪ ♪ 426 00:26:08,817 --> 00:26:12,488 MARIANA: So it looks like it's a super residential neighborhood over here. 427 00:26:15,532 --> 00:26:18,994 JOE (over phone): As far as breeders, I, I was definitely the biggest breeder. 428 00:26:19,912 --> 00:26:24,500 MARIANA: Joe Exotic won't be eligible for parole until 2034, 429 00:26:24,500 --> 00:26:28,462 but other private tiger owners are breeding cubs in his place. 430 00:26:28,462 --> 00:26:31,381 JOE (over phone): My facility is still doing it. 431 00:26:31,381 --> 00:26:34,051 So Jeff Lowe is, is one of the biggest breeders. 432 00:26:34,051 --> 00:26:36,637 Doc Antle is a big breeder. 433 00:26:37,304 --> 00:26:38,806 MARIANA: If you watched Tiger King, 434 00:26:38,806 --> 00:26:40,641 these names should be familiar, 435 00:26:40,641 --> 00:26:44,686 especially Doc Antle, who Joe Exotic has described as a mentor. 436 00:26:45,896 --> 00:26:48,982 I think this is it, this is the entrance. 437 00:26:48,982 --> 00:26:50,901 There are so many cars here already. 438 00:26:56,949 --> 00:26:59,952 GUIDE: How many guys have been here before? Fresh meat, everyone? 439 00:27:04,248 --> 00:27:06,375 WOMAN: Oh, my God. 440 00:27:15,050 --> 00:27:17,511 MARIANA: Since opening the park in 1983, 441 00:27:17,511 --> 00:27:21,223 Bhagavan "Doc" Antle has raised hundreds of creatures, 442 00:27:21,223 --> 00:27:23,058 big and small. 443 00:27:23,058 --> 00:27:26,436 DOC: This is my little girl, Bubbles. 444 00:27:26,436 --> 00:27:30,274 MARIANA: A bewildering menagerie of exotic animals, 445 00:27:31,567 --> 00:27:34,820 including hybrids that don't exist in nature. 446 00:27:36,572 --> 00:27:43,120 ♪ ♪ 447 00:27:51,753 --> 00:27:56,842 We should note, National Geographic previously worked with Antle, 448 00:27:56,842 --> 00:27:59,595 though they haven't done so for years. 449 00:28:00,262 --> 00:28:02,347 DOC: Step right up. You can pet that big face. 450 00:28:02,347 --> 00:28:03,974 Look at those incredible eyelashes. 451 00:28:03,974 --> 00:28:05,142 MARIANA: Oh, wow. 452 00:28:05,142 --> 00:28:06,435 DOC: See how she feels right there. 453 00:28:06,435 --> 00:28:08,604 Look right there in the camera. 454 00:28:10,272 --> 00:28:14,026 MARIANA: Doc Antle is best known for his tigers. 455 00:28:18,906 --> 00:28:22,993 If these majestic animals one day disappear from the wild, 456 00:28:24,870 --> 00:28:29,041 this could be their future. 457 00:28:32,085 --> 00:28:34,755 DOC: A kiss. Little kiss. 458 00:28:37,215 --> 00:28:39,885 Myrtle Beach Safari is an interactive wildlife facility 459 00:28:39,885 --> 00:28:42,596 where people can come and visit and get an up‐close, 460 00:28:42,596 --> 00:28:46,642 uncaged experience that allows them to make a connection with 461 00:28:46,642 --> 00:28:50,062 wildlife that isn't available anywhere else. 462 00:28:51,647 --> 00:28:53,148 WOMAN: Look at the camera. MAN: Look at the camera. 463 00:28:53,148 --> 00:28:54,483 WOMAN: Oh, now. 464 00:28:54,483 --> 00:28:57,110 WOMAN: Oh, look, look, look, look, look. 465 00:28:57,110 --> 00:28:59,947 MARIANA: Operations like Doc Antle's can generate revenues 466 00:28:59,947 --> 00:29:02,491 of more than $1 million a year. 467 00:29:02,491 --> 00:29:05,410 WOMAN: I love you. I love you. 468 00:29:05,410 --> 00:29:08,121 DOC: People pay a premium price to visit the facility. 469 00:29:08,121 --> 00:29:12,042 That price goes back towards operating the facility, 470 00:29:12,042 --> 00:29:15,337 and then goes directly into the wild to support 471 00:29:15,337 --> 00:29:17,130 conservation programs. 472 00:29:17,130 --> 00:29:19,174 MARIANA: Specifically, he mentions their support for the 473 00:29:19,174 --> 00:29:23,220 Soraya Forest Research Station in Sumatra, Indonesia. 474 00:29:23,220 --> 00:29:26,348 DOC: We solely have built ranger stations deep in the jungles. 475 00:29:26,348 --> 00:29:30,185 We pay the rangers salaries every day to walk the jungles, 476 00:29:30,185 --> 00:29:33,313 to pick up deadly snares, to chase down poachers. 477 00:29:33,313 --> 00:29:35,774 MARIANA: Cub petting is legal in the United States 478 00:29:35,774 --> 00:29:39,194 if the facility is licensed by the USDA. 479 00:29:39,194 --> 00:29:40,904 WOMAN: Oh, my gosh. 480 00:29:40,904 --> 00:29:44,157 WOMAN: Oh. 481 00:29:44,157 --> 00:29:47,411 MARIANA: But it is not allowed by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, 482 00:29:47,411 --> 00:29:52,165 which oversees highly regarded zoos, aquariums, and animal parks. 483 00:29:52,666 --> 00:29:58,588 CARNEY ANNE: No reputable facility allows any human contact with big cats. 484 00:29:59,297 --> 00:30:04,011 This is something that is only done by roadside zoos... 485 00:30:04,011 --> 00:30:06,471 WOMAN: Oh, my God. So beautiful. 486 00:30:06,471 --> 00:30:10,017 CARNEY ANNE: Magicians, circuses, and the industries 487 00:30:10,017 --> 00:30:14,146 that profit off of the exploitation of big cats. 488 00:30:15,105 --> 00:30:17,733 JOHN: I think that cub petting is an appalling way to get 489 00:30:17,733 --> 00:30:20,027 people to care about tiger conservation, 490 00:30:20,027 --> 00:30:23,697 because to do it, you have to keep breeding all of these cubs. 491 00:30:23,697 --> 00:30:26,366 CARNEY ANNE: These cats are taken away from their mothers. 492 00:30:26,366 --> 00:30:29,453 They're being handled and passed around. 493 00:30:29,453 --> 00:30:32,414 WOMAN: Oh, he's not very happy. 494 00:30:32,414 --> 00:30:36,668 CARNEY ANNE: All just to make a buck. 495 00:30:37,002 --> 00:30:39,504 (howling). 496 00:30:41,506 --> 00:30:48,180 ♪ ♪ 497 00:30:50,766 --> 00:30:54,686 ♪ La la la la la la la la la ♪ 498 00:30:55,645 --> 00:30:59,399 La la la la la la la la la ♪ 499 00:31:02,110 --> 00:31:05,238 DOC: They are ready for a snack. 500 00:31:09,826 --> 00:31:12,245 MARIANA: A lot of animal experts would say that it's... 501 00:31:12,245 --> 00:31:15,123 DOC: They're not experts. Okay. Go ahead. 502 00:31:15,123 --> 00:31:19,252 MARIANA: A lot of people would say that petting cubs is an 503 00:31:19,252 --> 00:31:21,213 abuse to animals. 504 00:31:21,213 --> 00:31:22,923 How is that okay? 505 00:31:22,923 --> 00:31:26,176 DOC: By hand‐raising the cubs, you create for those animals a 506 00:31:26,176 --> 00:31:30,347 lifestyle where they're very peaceful about the world that they're in. 507 00:31:30,347 --> 00:31:33,725 The cubs are out there for 20 minutes, 508 00:31:33,725 --> 00:31:35,727 three times a week. 509 00:31:35,727 --> 00:31:38,438 So they have one hour a week of interaction. 510 00:31:38,438 --> 00:31:40,273 That's it, right? 511 00:31:40,273 --> 00:31:44,653 Interaction with those cubs from an early life creates for 512 00:31:44,653 --> 00:31:48,448 the animal an ability to have a bond with people. 513 00:31:48,448 --> 00:31:50,826 His life is lifelong captive. 514 00:31:50,826 --> 00:31:52,577 He will never be in the wild. 515 00:31:52,577 --> 00:31:56,498 There's a deep confusion going on that is being pushed by 516 00:31:56,498 --> 00:31:58,125 fake experts. 517 00:31:58,125 --> 00:32:02,254 I am the only one qualified in this activity of raising cubs. 518 00:32:02,254 --> 00:32:06,007 The people you're speaking about are fanatics, extremist fanatics. 519 00:32:06,007 --> 00:32:09,136 You're speaking about someone who's wishes to push an agenda 520 00:32:09,136 --> 00:32:12,347 as hard as Sharia law saying that Al Qaeda is an 521 00:32:12,347 --> 00:32:14,099 expert on how to live. 522 00:32:14,099 --> 00:32:16,601 Sharia law is correct, and we should all fall in. 523 00:32:16,601 --> 00:32:18,770 Kind of like. 524 00:32:18,770 --> 00:32:21,148 MARIANA: I think it's a huge stretch to compare animal rights activists to Al Qaeda. 525 00:32:21,148 --> 00:32:22,732 DOC: It's not. Why do you think that? 526 00:32:22,732 --> 00:32:24,860 You're fortifying the arguments of the enemy. 527 00:32:24,860 --> 00:32:28,905 You're helping Al Qaeda sound like they maybe have merit. 528 00:32:28,905 --> 00:32:32,159 CARNEY ANNE: I think that it doesn't pass the smell test to 529 00:32:32,159 --> 00:32:37,080 suggest that people who are advocating for a more 530 00:32:37,080 --> 00:32:40,959 humane world are, are Al‐Qaeda. 531 00:32:48,800 --> 00:32:52,012 MARIANA: The bizarre story behind tiger keeper, Joe Exotic, 532 00:32:52,012 --> 00:32:55,974 and his feud with animal rights activist, Carole Baskin. 533 00:32:56,725 --> 00:33:00,228 GRACE: But I would like to know what happened to that husband? 534 00:33:01,021 --> 00:33:03,273 MARIANA: Lost in the Tiger King‐ fueled melodrama 535 00:33:03,273 --> 00:33:06,610 surrounding the disappearance of Carole's ex‐husband. 536 00:33:06,610 --> 00:33:09,529 ♪ Oh, here, kitty, kitty. ♪ 537 00:33:09,529 --> 00:33:12,449 MARIANA: Was an explanation of why tiger sanctuaries like 538 00:33:12,449 --> 00:33:15,035 Big Cat Rescue actually exist. 539 00:33:15,035 --> 00:33:16,494 CAROLE: People started calling and saying, 540 00:33:16,494 --> 00:33:18,288 "Would you take my lion? Would you take my tiger?" 541 00:33:18,288 --> 00:33:20,957 And so what I thought was going to be a very easy thing 542 00:33:20,957 --> 00:33:23,668 to fix turned into a much bigger project. 543 00:33:23,668 --> 00:33:26,129 MARIANA: Tiger owners in the U. S. have few places to turn 544 00:33:26,129 --> 00:33:31,468 when their cute little cub grows into a 450‐pound alpha predator, 545 00:33:31,468 --> 00:33:35,847 especially when it costs $10,000 a year to feed it. 546 00:33:35,847 --> 00:33:39,643 So Doc Antle, when he was referring to Big Cat Rescue, 547 00:33:39,643 --> 00:33:42,270 he called this place a scamtuary. 548 00:33:42,270 --> 00:33:44,814 DOC: The sanctuary scamtuaries in the United States, 549 00:33:44,814 --> 00:33:48,026 I feel, are an enormous drain to saving tigers. 550 00:33:48,026 --> 00:33:50,237 MARIANA: What would you say to that? 551 00:33:50,237 --> 00:33:53,531 CAROLE: I think people like him project their own failings 552 00:33:53,531 --> 00:33:55,533 on those around them. 553 00:33:55,533 --> 00:33:57,285 We saw that with Joe Exotic. 554 00:33:57,285 --> 00:33:59,955 You know, he would constantly accuse me of things that 555 00:33:59,955 --> 00:34:02,457 turned out he was doing. 556 00:34:02,457 --> 00:34:04,459 MARIANA: When I started researching this story, 557 00:34:04,459 --> 00:34:06,711 I was shocked to learn it's easier in the U. S. 558 00:34:06,711 --> 00:34:10,298 to buy a tiger than to adopt a rescue dog. 559 00:34:11,049 --> 00:34:13,593 That's because there's no overarching federal law 560 00:34:13,593 --> 00:34:16,304 regulating tiger ownership. 561 00:34:16,304 --> 00:34:19,015 But the Baskins would like to change that. 562 00:34:19,015 --> 00:34:21,685 CAROLE: Our primary mission is to put ourselves out of business. 563 00:34:21,685 --> 00:34:24,896 And the way we plan to do that is by changing the laws and 564 00:34:24,896 --> 00:34:28,483 changing people's minds so that they don't want to see 565 00:34:28,483 --> 00:34:30,819 these animals in cages. 566 00:34:30,819 --> 00:34:33,488 MARIANA: In 2003, they helped pass a bill that made it 567 00:34:33,488 --> 00:34:38,118 illegal for private owners to sell tigers across state lines. 568 00:34:38,118 --> 00:34:40,161 HUFFMAN: It's important to remember that they're wild animals, 569 00:34:40,161 --> 00:34:42,205 and they shouldn't be kept as pets or treated 570 00:34:42,205 --> 00:34:44,165 like petting zoo animals. 571 00:34:44,165 --> 00:34:47,627 MARIANA: And their latest lobbying effort is the Big Cat Public Safety Act. 572 00:34:47,627 --> 00:34:50,046 CAROLE: The Big Cat Public Safety Act would ban the 573 00:34:50,046 --> 00:34:53,717 private possession of big cats and it would stop the cub handling. 574 00:34:53,717 --> 00:34:55,927 MARIANA: Doc Antle, on the other hand, 575 00:34:55,927 --> 00:34:59,764 argues that new regulations are unnecessary. 576 00:34:59,764 --> 00:35:02,309 DOC: This is the animal extremists' false narrative 577 00:35:02,309 --> 00:35:05,186 that there are big cats being kept in apartment buildings 578 00:35:05,186 --> 00:35:07,022 and hidden in backyards. 579 00:35:07,022 --> 00:35:09,107 This just does not exist. 580 00:35:09,107 --> 00:35:11,568 MARIANA: In the past decade, Antle's businesses have spent 581 00:35:11,568 --> 00:35:14,988 over $1 million lobbying on proposed regulations on 582 00:35:14,988 --> 00:35:17,991 captive wildlife and big cat issues, 583 00:35:17,991 --> 00:35:24,372 including $390,000 to lobby against the Big Cat Public Safety Act. 584 00:35:25,290 --> 00:35:28,209 CARNEY ANNE: Cubs can yield up to $1 million for roadside zoo 585 00:35:28,209 --> 00:35:30,253 during their lifetime. 586 00:35:30,253 --> 00:35:32,047 This is big money. 587 00:35:32,047 --> 00:35:35,634 And this is why all the roadside zoos are so opposed 588 00:35:35,634 --> 00:35:37,761 to the Big Cat Public Safety Act, 589 00:35:37,761 --> 00:35:40,472 'cause it would virtually put a nail in the coffin for this 590 00:35:40,472 --> 00:35:43,224 highly‐lucrative industry. 591 00:35:45,310 --> 00:35:48,229 MARIANA: To shed more light on big cats in America, 592 00:35:48,229 --> 00:35:52,817 I'm about to meet with someone who was once a part of Doc Antle's inner circle. 593 00:35:53,485 --> 00:35:54,694 And that's you? 594 00:35:54,694 --> 00:35:56,154 BARBARA: Uh‐hmm. MARIANA: Wow. 595 00:35:56,154 --> 00:35:57,739 BARBARA: Uh‐hmm. 596 00:36:06,414 --> 00:36:07,624 BARBARA: This was. 597 00:36:07,624 --> 00:36:09,000 MARIANA: Oh, my God. This is you? 598 00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:11,378 BARBARA: Yeah. My name when I was there was Bala. 599 00:36:11,378 --> 00:36:12,879 MARIANA: Oh, you changed your name when you were there? 600 00:36:12,879 --> 00:36:14,297 BARBARA: Uh‐hmm. 601 00:36:14,297 --> 00:36:15,674 MARIANA: Did he make you change your name or what... 602 00:36:15,674 --> 00:36:17,008 BARBARA: He didn't make me change, but if you were 603 00:36:17,008 --> 00:36:19,511 in the inner circles, you had changed your name. 604 00:36:19,511 --> 00:36:20,929 MARIANA: Hmm. 605 00:36:20,929 --> 00:36:23,682 Barbara Fischer worked for Doc Antle for eight years 606 00:36:23,682 --> 00:36:26,393 until leaving in 2007. 607 00:36:26,393 --> 00:36:30,230 BARBARA: I was 19 years old, and I was just looking to run 608 00:36:30,230 --> 00:36:32,816 away with the circus, if that makes any sense. 609 00:36:32,816 --> 00:36:36,111 MARIANA: One of her primary jobs was raising tiger cubs. 610 00:36:36,111 --> 00:36:39,989 Knowing what you know now, do you think that there should be 611 00:36:39,989 --> 00:36:44,285 tiger cub petting happening in places where humans interact 612 00:36:44,285 --> 00:36:46,871 with wild animals like tigers? 613 00:36:46,871 --> 00:36:48,331 BARBARA: No. I'd say no. 614 00:36:48,331 --> 00:36:49,958 Do we really need to domesticate tigers? 615 00:36:49,958 --> 00:36:51,584 'Cause that's what's happening. 616 00:36:51,584 --> 00:36:55,463 They're, they're, they're breeding them to domestication standards. 617 00:36:55,463 --> 00:36:57,507 I mean, they're like dogs. 618 00:36:57,507 --> 00:37:00,677 Bhagavan used to like say, "We need 1,000 arks to float 619 00:37:00,677 --> 00:37:03,513 tigers into the next generation once their habitat 620 00:37:03,513 --> 00:37:06,391 has been destroyed to try to rebuild it or whatever." 621 00:37:06,391 --> 00:37:07,976 MARIANA: Uh‐hmm. 622 00:37:07,976 --> 00:37:10,395 BARBARA: But those tigers that were bred for training are not 623 00:37:10,395 --> 00:37:12,105 the same as wild tigers. 624 00:37:12,105 --> 00:37:13,857 And he would say that himself. 625 00:37:13,857 --> 00:37:16,192 MARIANA: Why is he breeding all these different kind of tigers? 626 00:37:16,192 --> 00:37:19,529 BARBARA: For profit, because people like to see them. 627 00:37:22,031 --> 00:37:23,992 MARIANA: One of the big things that your critics say is that 628 00:37:23,992 --> 00:37:27,704 what you're doing here is breeding tigers for profit. 629 00:37:27,704 --> 00:37:31,583 DOC: Breeding a tiger for profit is an idea of the uneducated. 630 00:37:31,583 --> 00:37:33,460 Tigers can't be sold. 631 00:37:33,460 --> 00:37:35,587 MARIANA: But you are making money with it as well. 632 00:37:35,587 --> 00:37:37,005 DOC: What do you call make money? 633 00:37:37,005 --> 00:37:38,465 You're, see, you're going back into this thing. 634 00:37:38,465 --> 00:37:39,632 MARIANA: I mean, people coming here and, 635 00:37:39,632 --> 00:37:41,509 and are paying $150 just to take photos. 636 00:37:41,509 --> 00:37:43,970 DOC: Is there, is there, $500. But is there money left over? 637 00:37:43,970 --> 00:37:45,054 No. 638 00:37:45,054 --> 00:37:47,098 So am I making money? No. 639 00:37:47,098 --> 00:37:49,142 MARIANA: Antle tells me that he contributes an undisclosed 640 00:37:49,142 --> 00:37:53,062 amount to wildlife conservation programs every year, 641 00:37:53,062 --> 00:37:56,983 but he claims that's only one of the benefits of his operation. 642 00:37:56,983 --> 00:37:59,027 DOC: We're getting this incredible, 643 00:37:59,027 --> 00:38:01,988 diversified genetics, and we're working towards the 644 00:38:01,988 --> 00:38:05,700 healthiest, best tigers that can exist in the modern world. 645 00:38:05,700 --> 00:38:09,078 Those tigers have babies to make that continue to happen. 646 00:38:09,078 --> 00:38:10,330 MARIANA: I thought you were going to say, 647 00:38:10,330 --> 00:38:12,332 "Look. Yes, we're, this is a business. 648 00:38:12,332 --> 00:38:14,501 We're making money, and, but I don't think there's 649 00:38:14,501 --> 00:38:16,586 anything wrong with breeding tigers," 650 00:38:16,586 --> 00:38:18,129 but instead you're telling me that 651 00:38:18,129 --> 00:38:19,547 the reason you're doing it is for the... 652 00:38:19,547 --> 00:38:21,007 DOC: Is to run the genetic programs. 653 00:38:21,007 --> 00:38:23,092 If you don't do something like what we're working on, 654 00:38:23,092 --> 00:38:24,803 there's no hope. 655 00:38:24,803 --> 00:38:28,890 There must be a bank of tigers that can go towards the future. 656 00:38:28,890 --> 00:38:31,559 MARIANA: Conservationists I spoke with disagree with 657 00:38:31,559 --> 00:38:33,770 Antle's argument. 658 00:38:33,770 --> 00:38:36,523 They say Antle's hybrid domesticated tigers could 659 00:38:36,523 --> 00:38:39,317 never replace a wild tiger. 660 00:38:39,317 --> 00:38:41,486 JOHN: A lot of these petting zoos claim that they are 661 00:38:41,486 --> 00:38:45,198 preventing the extinction of tigers by maintaining these 662 00:38:45,198 --> 00:38:48,284 captive populations, but those captive tigers will never go 663 00:38:48,284 --> 00:38:50,620 back into the wild, so what's the point? 664 00:38:50,620 --> 00:38:52,997 CARNEY ANNE: Breeders like Joe Exotic and Doc Antle are 665 00:38:52,997 --> 00:38:56,084 creating animals who don't exist in the wild. 666 00:38:56,084 --> 00:38:59,003 White tigers are not a separate subspecies. 667 00:38:59,003 --> 00:39:02,590 They're actually inbred, yet exhibitors like Doc have 668 00:39:02,590 --> 00:39:04,801 acknowledged that they like to breed them because 669 00:39:04,801 --> 00:39:06,386 they're more interesting. 670 00:39:06,386 --> 00:39:08,388 They're crowd‐pleasers. 671 00:39:08,388 --> 00:39:11,558 BARBARA: People think they're seeing some rare thing, you know? 672 00:39:11,558 --> 00:39:15,103 A royal white Bengal tiger, snow white tiger. 673 00:39:15,103 --> 00:39:17,730 These are so rare, there's only 10 in captivity. 674 00:39:17,730 --> 00:39:19,732 I mean, we remember saying stuff like that. 675 00:39:19,732 --> 00:39:22,861 People definitely would rather have contact with that tiger 676 00:39:22,861 --> 00:39:26,489 than just a plain old tiger that's just orange and black. 677 00:39:26,489 --> 00:39:29,951 MARIANA: Antle argues that wild tigers and captive tigers 678 00:39:29,951 --> 00:39:32,829 are virtually the same thing. 679 00:39:33,329 --> 00:39:35,415 DOC: The, the few large tiger parks that exist are 680 00:39:35,415 --> 00:39:37,834 completely inundated with people. 681 00:39:37,834 --> 00:39:40,753 So, there is no real wild that tigers are living in. 682 00:39:40,753 --> 00:39:42,839 All tigers are essentially captive, 683 00:39:42,839 --> 00:39:45,967 and it is probably all we have left. 684 00:39:47,093 --> 00:39:49,262 MARIANA: One of the big questions that people have is 685 00:39:49,262 --> 00:39:51,973 what happens when the tigers are no longer cubs? 686 00:39:51,973 --> 00:39:53,725 They can't be petted anymore. 687 00:39:53,725 --> 00:39:56,102 DOC: They only go to accredited facilities or to 688 00:39:56,102 --> 00:39:59,147 facilities that we have a direct relationship with. 689 00:39:59,147 --> 00:40:01,316 MARIANA: Can you tell me some of those facilities, 690 00:40:01,316 --> 00:40:04,527 the names of those facilities that you've sent tigers to before? 691 00:40:04,527 --> 00:40:06,487 DOC: You understand that if I tell you their names, 692 00:40:06,487 --> 00:40:09,073 the animal extremists will use that as a mailing campaign to 693 00:40:09,073 --> 00:40:10,325 attack that place. 694 00:40:10,325 --> 00:40:11,659 MARIANA: Okay. 695 00:40:11,659 --> 00:40:14,454 So one place that has been reported about is a, 696 00:40:14,454 --> 00:40:17,165 a facility in Thailand called Samut Prakan. 697 00:40:17,165 --> 00:40:18,458 DOC: Yes. 698 00:40:18,458 --> 00:40:20,668 I took seven of my tigers. I put them together. 699 00:40:20,668 --> 00:40:22,545 And we flew to Thailand. 700 00:40:22,545 --> 00:40:24,422 We hand‐delivered them to the facility. 701 00:40:24,422 --> 00:40:26,132 It's beautiful. 702 00:40:26,132 --> 00:40:30,386 Great big open habitats, far exceeding American zoological standards. 703 00:40:30,386 --> 00:40:34,182 MARIANA: In 2019, National Geographic Magazine wrote an article 704 00:40:34,182 --> 00:40:38,686 that described animal abuse at wildlife parks around the world, 705 00:40:38,686 --> 00:40:41,522 including Samut Prakan. 706 00:40:41,522 --> 00:40:43,441 And you concerned at all that the, the tigers 707 00:40:43,441 --> 00:40:45,401 that you are breeding here are ending up at 708 00:40:45,401 --> 00:40:50,365 facilities with terrible conditions for animals? 709 00:40:50,365 --> 00:40:52,659 DOC: Your colleague's lying. 710 00:40:52,659 --> 00:40:55,119 I've been to the facility a half a dozen times. 711 00:40:55,119 --> 00:40:59,415 The facility is not state‐of‐the‐art American facility, 712 00:40:59,415 --> 00:41:02,460 but far worse conditions exist in Florida today. 713 00:41:02,460 --> 00:41:04,379 You've got, you've got an animal extremist right there 714 00:41:04,379 --> 00:41:06,422 who probably holds a chicken sandwich in one hand and makes 715 00:41:06,422 --> 00:41:08,091 his decisions in the other. 716 00:41:08,091 --> 00:41:12,053 That person is Al Qaeda to the max that put that article together. 717 00:41:12,053 --> 00:41:14,138 MARIANA: I had a hunch he'd say that, 718 00:41:14,138 --> 00:41:18,434 which is why I want to see Samut Prakan for myself. 719 00:41:40,873 --> 00:41:45,003 ♪ ♪ 720 00:41:46,504 --> 00:41:49,966 MARIANA: In 2005, Doc Antle transferred seven tigers from 721 00:41:49,966 --> 00:41:55,096 Myrtle Beach Safari in South Carolina to Samut Prakan. 722 00:41:55,096 --> 00:41:56,514 MAN: Yes. MARIANA: There you go. 723 00:42:17,535 --> 00:42:20,705 (applause). 724 00:42:20,705 --> 00:42:22,331 MAN: Okay. 725 00:42:22,331 --> 00:42:25,209 MARIANA: We walk around the zoo pretending we're tourists 726 00:42:25,209 --> 00:42:28,546 so we can get a true sense of what it's like. 727 00:42:32,925 --> 00:42:36,763 Samut Prakan does not appear to be what Doc describes at all. 728 00:42:37,346 --> 00:42:39,766 There's a little cub right here in a cage. 729 00:42:39,766 --> 00:42:42,560 Five, six‐weeks‐old, more or less. 730 00:42:42,560 --> 00:42:46,606 I have to smile 'cause the guy is looking at me all the time, 731 00:42:46,606 --> 00:42:48,733 but it's a tiny cage. 732 00:42:48,733 --> 00:42:50,109 And he's just walking back and forth. 733 00:42:50,109 --> 00:42:52,653 Look at that. 734 00:42:53,613 --> 00:42:57,200 Soon after I enter, I'm greeted by a tiger, 735 00:42:59,202 --> 00:43:02,205 chained to the ground so that tourists can take photos. 736 00:43:12,840 --> 00:43:14,842 I pose for a photo so that we can film the tiger without 737 00:43:14,842 --> 00:43:17,595 raising suspicion. 738 00:43:21,682 --> 00:43:24,519 ZOOKEEPER: Camera! One, two, three. 739 00:43:24,519 --> 00:43:27,814 MARIANA: Okay. ZOOKEEPER: Okay. 740 00:43:27,814 --> 00:43:29,816 (snarling). 741 00:43:29,816 --> 00:43:31,317 MARIANA: Oh. Oh, my God. 742 00:43:31,317 --> 00:43:33,820 That was really disturbing. 743 00:43:33,820 --> 00:43:37,031 All so that you can have a photo with a tiger, you know? 744 00:43:39,492 --> 00:43:41,244 As I walk further into the zoo, 745 00:43:41,244 --> 00:43:44,205 I see tigers pacing in small cages. 746 00:43:52,380 --> 00:43:56,592 To my untrained eye, the conditions at the zoo look deplorable. 747 00:43:57,760 --> 00:44:00,429 CARNEY ANNE: Tigers are complex, apex predators. 748 00:44:00,429 --> 00:44:03,266 And in the wild, they have home ranges of up to 749 00:44:03,266 --> 00:44:05,893 hundreds of square miles. 750 00:44:05,893 --> 00:44:09,772 Any reputable sanctuaries provide naturalistic habitats. 751 00:44:09,772 --> 00:44:12,150 They would never chain an animal. 752 00:44:12,150 --> 00:44:16,362 They would never use negative reinforcement or physical abuse. 753 00:44:16,362 --> 00:44:18,489 They would never allow public contact. 754 00:44:18,489 --> 00:44:21,909 And they provide a refuge to these animals for life. 755 00:44:21,909 --> 00:44:23,953 MARIANA: One, two, three, four, five, six. 756 00:44:23,953 --> 00:44:27,832 I see six tigers in a really small enclosure. 757 00:44:27,832 --> 00:44:31,210 This is about the size of a basketball court. 758 00:44:31,210 --> 00:44:34,130 The sun is right on them, and it's really hot. 759 00:44:34,130 --> 00:44:36,382 It's 90 something degrees. 760 00:44:36,382 --> 00:44:38,843 It's really, really sad. 761 00:44:38,843 --> 00:44:42,013 We don't know exactly how big this tiger enclosure is, 762 00:44:42,013 --> 00:44:45,391 and Samut Prakan did not respond to our request for comments. 763 00:44:50,396 --> 00:44:53,357 DOC: It's beautiful great big open habitats far exceeding 764 00:44:53,357 --> 00:44:56,360 American zoological standards. 765 00:44:56,360 --> 00:44:59,071 MARIANA: Doc Antle also did not respond to follow‐up 766 00:44:59,071 --> 00:45:02,074 questions after my visit to Samut Prakan. 767 00:45:02,950 --> 00:45:06,871 Back in America, he's facing serious allegations. 768 00:45:06,871 --> 00:45:10,750 On October 8, 2020, the State of Virginia indicted Doc Antle 769 00:45:10,750 --> 00:45:16,088 on 15 charges including Wildlife Trafficking and Animal Cruelty. 770 00:45:17,298 --> 00:45:19,842 The felony charges alleged that Antle trafficked lion 771 00:45:19,842 --> 00:45:22,887 cubs between South Carolina and Virginia. 772 00:45:22,887 --> 00:45:26,724 DOC: I categorically deny any animal cruelty ever. 773 00:45:26,724 --> 00:45:29,393 I spend my entire life promoting the welfare and 774 00:45:29,393 --> 00:45:32,063 conservation of big cats and other species. 775 00:45:32,063 --> 00:45:34,857 MARIANA: His trial is pending. 776 00:45:35,650 --> 00:45:40,238 As for the "Tiger King" himself, his final thoughts surprised me. 777 00:45:43,991 --> 00:45:48,037 JOE (over phone): But my whole outlook on animals being in captivity 778 00:45:48,037 --> 00:45:51,207 since I've been in jail has changed. 779 00:45:51,207 --> 00:45:57,463 If I would have known 20 years ago what life inside a cage is like, 780 00:45:57,463 --> 00:46:00,091 I would never have had a zoo. 781 00:46:00,091 --> 00:46:03,386 It doesn't matter if it's a tiger or a gerbil, 782 00:46:03,386 --> 00:46:06,305 no animal belongs in a cage. 783 00:46:08,849 --> 00:46:12,520 MARIANA: However, it will take a lot more than Joe Exotic's 784 00:46:12,520 --> 00:46:16,691 change of heart to save the world's wild tigers. 785 00:46:17,108 --> 00:46:20,403 JOHN: The situation for tigers on this planet absolutely is not hopeless. 786 00:46:20,403 --> 00:46:22,947 We know how to protect tigers in the wild. 787 00:46:22,947 --> 00:46:24,949 All you need to do is lock down protected areas, 788 00:46:24,949 --> 00:46:26,575 protect the tigers from poaching, 789 00:46:26,575 --> 00:46:28,661 protect them from habitat loss, 790 00:46:28,661 --> 00:46:31,414 and tigers in those protected areas will thrive. 791 00:46:31,414 --> 00:46:33,916 MARIANA: Consumers on both sides of the globe will have 792 00:46:33,916 --> 00:46:38,045 to ask themselves some hard questions. 793 00:46:38,045 --> 00:46:41,299 But what other choice do we have? 794 00:46:41,299 --> 00:46:43,426 TIM: You know, you, you talk to kids and, 795 00:46:43,426 --> 00:46:45,428 and you ask them, "What's your favorite animal," 796 00:46:45,428 --> 00:46:47,221 and most say tigers. 797 00:46:47,221 --> 00:46:51,475 And if we can't preserve such a charismatic species as a tiger, 798 00:46:51,475 --> 00:46:54,520 we can't preserve anything. 799 00:47:04,280 --> 00:47:05,573 Captioned by Cotter Captioning Services.