The U.S. government has permanently banned notorious animal exhibitor Jeff Lowe, the former owner of the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park in Thackerville, Okla., featured in the controversial Netflix docuseries “Tiger King”, from ever publicly exhibiting animals again.
Image Credit: Facebook/Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park
The U.S. government has permanently banned notorious animal
exhibitor Jeff Lowe, the former owner of the Greater Wynnewood
Exotic Animal Park in Thackerville, Okla., featured in the
controversial Netflix docuseries “Tiger King,” from ever publicly
exhibiting animals again.
A federal judge in the Eastern District of Oklahoma ruled in favor
of charges brought by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) against
Lowe and his wife Lauren for allegedly violating the federal Animal
Welfare Act and the Endangered Species Act (ESA) due to alleged
mistreatment of animals in their care.
The exhibition ban is part of a comprehensive consent decree, which
also forbids the Lowes from ever again owning, delivering, or
transporting any ESA-protected animals that were unlawfully taken
and also will see the last of the park’s animals removed from the
Lowes’ care.
Lowe’s park came under investigation in late June 2020 after
documentation surfaced of young lions at the park suffering from
untreated medical conditions. Photos and videos, taken by
investigators from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
(PETA), showed the lions suffering from severe “flystrike,” a
grotesque condition in which flies lay eggs on an animal and then
the hatched maggots eat away at their skin.
Investigators from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) then
inspected the park and reported numerous examples of animal neglect,
including arthritic wolves suffering from pressure sores caused by
sleeping on concrete; malnourished grizzly bears exhibiting “captive
psychosis,” a mental condition that occurs when enclosures are too
small or animals aren’t mentally stimulated; and the corpse of a
male tigon (a tiger and lion hybrid) partially burned and rotting
near a woodpile alongside another decomposing tiger corpse covered
in flies, according to USDA inspection reports.
The USDA suspended the Lowe’s exhibitor’s license but the couple
continued to exhibit animals, both in person and for compensation,
via online platforms, the DOJ said.
In January 2021, federal authorities obtained a preliminary
injunction requiring the Lowes to surrender all animals in their
care under the age of one. Authorities have since seized 146 animals
from the park, including more than 70 big cats whom federal agents
seized during a June raid.
Wild animals aren’t meant to be bred, born, and raised in captivity.
We’re grateful that these innocent beings will no longer have to
suffer at the Lowe property.