‘Tiger King’ star ‘Doc’ Antle convicted of wildlife trafficking

WINCHESTER, Va. –

A wildlife trainer featured in the hit Netflix series “Tiger King” has been convicted of wildlife trafficking in Virginia, the attorney general’s office announced Tuesday.

Bhagavan “Doc” Antle was charged with illegally purchasing endangered lion cubs in Frederick County, Virginia, to display and earn at his South Carolina zoo, Attorney General Jason Miyares said in a press release. A jury convicted Antle on Friday of two felonies, each of wildlife trafficking and conspiracy to commit wildlife trafficking.

Antle, owner of the Myrtle Beach Safari, appeared in “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness,” a Netflix documentary miniseries about tiger ranchers.

The jury acquitted Antle of five counts of animal cruelty, and Judge Alexander Iden dismissed four other animal cruelty charges against Antle and all charges against his two adult daughters, The Winchester Star reported.

District Attorney Michelle Welch said the lucrative Myrtle Beach Safari petting zoo motivated Antle to maintain a steady supply of immature lion cubs he bought from Wilson’s Wild Animal Park near Winchester, calling the scheme a “cub pipeline” from Virginia to South Carolina.

When Antle and Keith Wilson, the park’s former owner, began doing business in 2015, it was still legal to buy and sell lions, Welch said. But after lions were listed as an endangered species in December 2015, lions could only be traded between zoos and wildlife sanctuaries that were part of an established captive breeding program and had permits. There were three illegal cub exchanges in 2017, 2018 and 2019, Welch said.

Antle was charged in 2020 with several felonies, including felonies of wildlife trafficking and conspiracy. In August 2019, 119 animals – including lions, tigers, bears, camels, goats and water buffalo – were seized from Wilson’s roadside zoo after a judge found that Wilson had “cruelly treated, neglected or deprived” the animals of adequate care .

Wilson testified that Antle paid him in advance under the guise of a donation. He said Antle paid $2,500 to $3,000 per cub, excluding the 2017 transaction when Antle traded three lynx kittens for three lion cubs.

Wilson is charged with nine counts of animal cruelty and 10 counts of selling an endangered species and a hearing in his case is scheduled for Friday.

Defense attorney Erin Harrigan called Antle’s prosecution politically motivated in response to a growing public outcry against wild animals being exploited for entertainment purposes.

“This has been an agenda in crime hunting since the beginning of the investigation,” Harrigan said.

Harrigan insisted the cubs were gifts, and Antle sent Wilson donations for extensive tiger habitat.

“These were not sales,” Harrigan said.

Iden allowed Antle, who faces up to 20 years in prison, to remain free on bail pending sentencing on Sept. 14.