Tiger King on Netflix

I'm not a fan of keeping wild animals in captivity, but at least public zoos tend to be accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and have staff veterinarians and behaviorists, and attempt to provide adequate nutrition, space, and appropriate enrichment and social groupings, among other things sorely lacking at unaccredited roadside zoos.

 

For sure. I think the whole idea of putting a big cat in a cage is abuse. The cats to land/cage ratio was sad. I'm not sure how you could ever properly care for 2 big cats at one time let alone 227?!?! Unless maybe if you had a fenced in ranch the size of a small US state. The logistics to properly try to care for these animals is mind-boggling.

It was an insight into a fascinating subculture. It reminded me of a live action "Simpsons" episode. Except the people were even more over the top than any Simpsons characters I've ever seen.

For all of Joe Exotic's faults, and there are many, he seemed like a hard worker.

 

I've been hearing about this for a week, just watched the first episode. I know what I'll be binging this weekend!

 

this must be a blast on good weed

 

Refuting Netflix Tiger King | Big Cat Rescue

 

This show looks like a case of where the humans are more inbred than the tigers.

Joking aside the big issue with those domestic tigers is that most of them are genetically broken. They all need to be genetically tested and the ones that are too inbred sterilised at least.

 

I learned to not do meth.

 

Literally my entire social media feed is watching this mess, so now we’re doing it. This is our life now. Nothing matters. Death is inevitable.

 

My thought was this is why cousins shouldn't have sex.

 

I've only watched the first half an hour so far but I am struggling with the animals in cages though to be honest Depends how you define 'abuse' I guess. For me if they're in a cage it's abuse

 

Joe Exotic has more than 200 violations of the Animal Welfare Act to his name.

 

Right there with you...it’s horrible.

 

The reason there are so many of them is because they can make big profits from pimping out the cubs for petting and whatnot, after a couple of months though they are too dangerous and are effectively useless, costing around 10 grand a year to keep (depending on who you believe).

There were hints about some of them being euthanised after they’d outgrown their usefulness, I’m not sure which were the lucky ones, them or the ones doomed to a life in this crappy cages.

 

This whole subculture seems disturbing to me. These people are not Sigfried & Roy with the financial means to care for the animals humanely. And we know what happened with them.

 

Oh my god... what a documentary. We're only two hours into it, and I'm partly in shock. Every one of these people is horrific... there is no good side. And they're all completely insane. This is a jaw-droppingly weird show, very slickly-produced and well-edited. The amazing thing for me is that all of the cat people assumed the show was going to present them in a complimentary way... but that's not exactly what happened. Riveting show. I totally get why it's pretty much the #1 show in America right now.

Promo here, for anybody who's curious...



This is a trainwreck from which you can't look away.

 

By the final episode you’ve seen so much crazy sh.. you barley notice the guy that keeps a monkey in his shirt.

 

All the main characters are crazy. It feels like a Coen Brothers movie, except it's real. Truly: You couldn't make this stuff up.

One takeaway: If you are going to raise lions and tigers, live near a Walmart.
Another takeaway: Teeth are so overrated.

 

This show definitely raises the bar for crazy.

 

I'd have to watch it again to be certain, but the documentary seems to suggest/insinuate that Joe Exotic finished 3rd in the OK governor's race with 18% of the vote. He finished third in the primary for the Libertarian Party, and got less than 700 total votes. This open-ended type of potential distortion makes me call other things into question.

 

I was prepared to give this a hard pass, but I relented and watched episode one last night. Holy smokes, no one could make this stuff up! Yes, I too am deeply disturbed by the animals in cages, but the train wreck of human characters is fascinating. Couldn't Joe's former husband at least have put on a shirt for the interview?

 

Seems like he was quite proud of his tattoos.

 

Tiger King: Is Joe Exotic Really Singing in Those Music Videos? LOL, No

 

Milli Vanilli?

 

In season two Dentists Without Borders attempt an intervention.

 

Yes, one problem with documentaries in general is you can edit them with any kind of preconceived notion and then assemble enough footage to justify your case. For example, the guy with no teeth actually got his teeth replaced while the documentary was being done, but they chose not to show him that way:



Documentaries are kind of like propaganda in a way, since they're presenting you with a version of the facts, but the facts are often subjectively chosen in such a way so as to create a specific reaction. It's rare you find a documentary that's truly objective.