It is alleged that Joe Exotic tried to have Carole Baskin murdered because she has been critical of him and his private zoo’s exploitation of big cats.
Backstory
Joe Exotic is a well-known private zoo owner in America. As I recall he had or has the largest private zoo in the country. It would seem that Carole Baskin who owns and runs the famous Big Cat Rescue in Florida, USA was a thorn in his flesh because for a long time she has been critical of Joe Exotic.
This is because Carole Baskin does not like private zoo owners of which there are far too many in America. This is because they’re not good for the welfare of wild cat species and not infrequently these zoos fail which means that the cats have to be rescued. And some of these cats end up at her sanctuary.
Big Cat Rescue’s mission is to stop the exploitation and mistreatment of big cats at roadside zoos, particularly the cubs of these cats. She says that this man is one of the most notorious operators of roadside petting zoos in the country.
Indictment
Mr Exotic’s real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage. He has been indicted by a Federal Grand Jury on two counts of hiring a person to commit murder. Apparently he had allegedly tried on two occasions to hire two different people to murder Carole Baskin.
Mr Exotic allegedly paid an unnamed person $3000 to travel from Oklahoma to Florida to carry out the murder. He promised a man thousands more once he had committed the crime. When he asked the second person to commit murder he unknowingly was speaking to an undercover FBI agent who met him in December 2017.
Carole Baskin took to Facebook to express her relief that this man was behind bars pending trial. Apparently, Mr Exotic had made threats online over “a period of years” and such threats had included a video of him shooting the head of a blowup doll dressed to look like Carole Baskin.
On conviction, should that occur, he could face a fine of up to $250,000 for each count and up to 10 years in prison.
Source: abcactionnews.com
The scary thing about animal rescue is coming up against people like this.😦