--- title: Carole Baskin Just Got Control of Joe Exotic’s Former Zoo description: Attention Tiger King fans: Carole Baskin just got control of Joe Exotic’s former zoo canonical: https://time.com/5846543/carole-baskin-lawsuit/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-06-02T15:26:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:01:28.530Z og:title: Carole Baskin Just Got Control of Joe Exotic’s Former Zoo og:description: Attention Tiger King fans og:url: https://time.com/5846543/carole-baskin-lawsuit/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Carole Baskin Just Got Control of Joe Exotic’s Former Zoo twitter:description: Attention Tiger King fans twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Attention _Tiger King_ Fans: Judge Gives Carole Baskin Control of Joe Exotic’s Former Zoo ## Video: Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness - Official Trailer - Netflix [Watch (HLS stream): Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness - Official Trailer - Netflix](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/LOnGYh7G.m3u8) (2:01)  _Published 2020-03-20. Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness - Official Trailer - Netflix_ by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jun 2, 2020 3:26 PM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Jun 2, 2020 3:26 PM UTC Hey all you cool cats and kittens, there’s a new chapter in the Joe Exotic saga—Carole Baskin is now set to take over Joe’s zoo. As fans of the Netflix docuseries [_Tiger King_](https://time.com/5810608/tiger-king-memes/) may recall, Joseph Maldonado-Passage, better known as [Joe Exotic](https://time.com/5813053/tiger-king-netflix-where-are-they-now/), was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison when he was convicted on two counts of murder-for-hire and 17 wildlife charges, including killing five tigers. Their complicated association arose as Baskin, owner of the Big Cat Rescue organization, repeatedly called out [Maldonado-Passage](https://time.com/5807284/tiger-king-netflix-true-story/) for his alleged mistreatment of tiger cubs and the abuse of the animals kept at his G.W. Exotic Animal Memorial Park in Wynnewood, Oklahoma. Exotic retaliated with a string of threatening videos targeting her with rumors, which she consistently denied. As their lawsuits continued and Maldonado-Passage’s debts mounted after losing a case over the use of Big Cat Rescue’s trademark, he gave the park to his mother, Shirley M. Schreibvogel, while Maldonado-Passage’s partner of sorts, Jeff Lowe, operated it. A legal team representing Baskin and Big Cat Rescue filed a complaint back in February 2016, alleging that the transfer of the Oklahoma zoo property was fraudulent, undertaken only as a means of keeping it out of the reach of creditors. On Monday, a federal judge determined that the property was fraudulently transferred to Maldonado-Passage’s mother, Fox 25, an Oklahoma [Fox news affiliate, reported Monday](https://okcfox.com/news/local/tiger-king-nemesis-wins-control-of-former-zoo-in-wynnewood). The determination means that as Maldonado-Passage is incarcerated, Baskin and her 28-year old animal rescue group, have been granted control of his former Oklahoma zoo, a development sure to interest [_Tiger King_ fans](https://time.com/5819996/tiger-king-and-i-joel-mchale-netflix/). Now, Lowe has 120 days to vacate the premises, and find a new home for of his animals currently residing there, according to a copy of the ruling [published](https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/big-cat-ruling.pdf) by the Courthouse News Service [via _People_](https://people.com/tv/tiger-king-carole-baskin-granted-control-joe-exotic-former-zoo-jeff-lowe-has-120-days-vacate-property/). Maldonado-Passage, is currently being held at a Dallas-Fort Worth medical center after he was exposed to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), Fox 25 reported. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5846543/carole-baskin-lawsuit/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5846543/carole-baskin-lawsuit/"},"headline":"Attention Tiger King Fans: Judge Gives Carole Baskin Control of Joe Exotic’s Former Zoo","datePublished":"2020-06-02T15:26:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:01:28.530Z","description":"Attention Tiger King fans","url":"https://time.com/5846543/carole-baskin-lawsuit/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Brief"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5846543/carole-baskin-lawsuit/","name":"Attention Tiger King Fans: Judge Gives Carole Baskin Control of Joe Exotic’s Former Zoo"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness - Official Trailer - Netflix","description":"Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness - Official Trailer - Netflix","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/LOnGYh7G/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2020-03-20T18:16:52.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/LOnGYh7G.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5846543/carole-baskin-lawsuit/","duration":"PT2M1S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5846543/carole-baskin-lawsuit/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```