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How safe is it for them to be outside? I've heard they bite your nose off. Oh, no, no, no, no. But it does happen. Yes. Hey, baby. Come here, mama. He's okay. He's just wanting to hug. Hello, how do you do? Quite strong, isn't he? Yeah, he's quite strong. He's not going to bite me, is he? No. Why do I think he's going to bite me? I don't know. He's not going for my nuts. He's okay. He's not going to bite my testicles. him. He wants you to hold him. He's going to squeeze you. Okay.
He's not going to bite. Okay. He's not going to bite. Give him a kiss. Give him kisses. Oh, yeah. Like Hey, nice. Okay. I just read so much about them ripping your face off. Don't act nervous. It's actually quite nice. I was on safari in the suburbs on the trail of wild animals and wild animal owners who have turned dangerous jungle creatures into human companions. So, you don't think animals really want to be wild? No. No, they're not stupid. Despite their risks, there is a large and growing population of exotic animals who make their homes here in America and to network of breeders and dealers who make a living out of wildlife in captivity.
If Tony decided one day he was going to be a tiger and then they couldn't say me, don't shoot my tiger. Just let him eat me. I was hoping to find out if the practice is fair on the animals, whether it's even safe, and most of all, why anyone would want a tiger. GW Exotic Animal Park is a not-for-profit zoo in Wynnewood, Oklahoma with one of the largest big cat collections in the world.
I'd arranged with park owner Joe Schreibvogel, better known as Joe Exotic, to spend a few days at the park. But my arrival had coincided with some unpleasant news. I uh we're going to go do this rescue real quick. And we've got just a limited time. Okay, by early afternoon they're forecasting a tornado outbreak. This is going to be some of your first experience. So as soon as we get back, all the animals are going in lockdown. Okay?
Putting all the cats in lockdown. The chimps will go in lockdown. All the primates will go in lockdown. And uh we can get prepared for the worst. I have never in my life seen what they put on TV as far as a warning. It's going to get that bad. You think there could be a tornado on the way here? Uh that's what they're calling for. You have how many tigers here? 176. So you could release the tigers into Oklahoma City. It could be a disaster. These are captive bred tigers, are they not? They're not wild born tigers. So in a sense they're tame.
Yeah, right. They're not going to be as dangerous as if a wild tiger was to be out there. The only hazard is uh what the people would do to approach them, you know? Uh because these tigers would think that you're wanting to play. What do I do if I if I mean can I help if there's an emergency? We'll hand you a gun. We have enough guns. sad It'd be sad if It would be a horrible thing. It would be sad if you had to shoot a bunch of tigers. It would be horrible.
Very horrible. Could you do that? I would have to. In previous lives, Joe had been a cop and a pet store owner. He was still occasionally a magic entertainer. Joe's park has more than 200 big cats, including lions, tigers, and a rare half lion, half tiger crossbreed called a liger. Many of the animals are rescued and re-homed from private owners who could no longer take care of them. Okay, let the fun begin. With the tornado still a few hours away, Joe had an appointment to rescue some more animals.
Why? Cuz at least you can fight back with a tiger. There's no fighting back with a tornado. One of the pitfalls of exotic pet ownership is that animals that are manageable when small become more of a burden as they mature. Hey Jay. Been years. You don't look a whole lot different other than you're greyer. How are you going to attempt this, Joe? Well, that's what we're sitting here discussing which one we want to do first. to tranquilize them? Well, we're going to have to tranquilize the leopard. Leopards are a little more aggressive. Yeah. Than tigers are. Why do you have them?
This is just something I always wanted to have ever since I was a little kid. Are they just pets? Yeah. I've always loved them, so. How come you're having to get rid of the animals? I've hurt my back a couple years ago and I can't really get in there and work with them or do anything with them, so. So, he's re-homing them to the best facility in the country. The cargo for this outing would be Curtis's tigers, Madonna and Big Boy, and his leopard, Jade. Come here, girl. Come here, sister.
The first job, to put them to sleep. That's all I needed. This will be painless. There you go. Good night. There you go. Yep. Now, these are amazing animals and you would think they'd have a value. Is there not a big market for fully grown tigers for private buyers? There is no market. No? No. You can sell that tiger today for $100. There's too many out there to give away. I have 176 of them. Back at Joe's Park, Jade, Madonna, and Big Boy were introduced to their new lodgings.
Hey. There you go. She's still sleepy. 1 2 3 Oh. Okay. Now, this is where Shh. Be quiet. Keep them in the shade. Mom. Finish locking down the cats. We are right here. Here's Ardmore, where we just were. Here's Pauls Valley. It's estimating in the next hour and a half, it's going to be big enough to start producing tornadoes. Are you nervous? Always nervous. We got to do lockup. It's getting darker. Before the tornado hit, all the animals would have to be locked indoors. Come on.
Well, one more TIME. [screaming] JOE, ARE THEY CHIMPANZEES? DANCE. Turn around. There we go. Would you get in there with them? No. No, why not? They're dangerous. Yeah. They would be stupid for me to get in with them because they would they would hurt me, then they would get a bad name. So, we just play through the bars. They don't look threatening. They'll they'll lure you in, okay? And they'll be really, really lovable until they can get you. And it's it's a game to them. Have you locked these down now? What They're cleaning the inside and they're feeding the inside and then they'll go in lockdown.
go in lockdown for the tornado rain. Are we okay to come in? Huh? Is this safe? Oh, they're coming in. WATCH. GET HIM. [screaming] GET HIM. ALL RIGHT, CHIMPS ARE SECURE AND IN LOCKDOWN. What is that? What? Monique's in heat. Which one is Monique? The tiger. It's actually a tigon. What's a tigon? Uh a liger mom and a white tiger dad. So, that was a mugger prank, huh? She normally wouldn't growl at you. Hey. That's your girlfriend. Tell him. Hm?
Yep. Do you like it when they do that to you? Uh we don't encourage that. If he was to get you, he would not kill you and eat you right away. He's going to torment you. So, if you were to get in there and I was out here trying to get you out, he would be on top of you covering you up because you're his. I'd just shoot you. It'd be more humane. You would shoot me Yeah. in the head? Yeah. Cuz I'm not going to get you back. So, why make you suffer? If I ever got attacked by a lion like that, shoot me, please.
Yeah, that would go on for hours. Unless you shot the lion. Yeah, that would make more sense. Shoot the lion. This man across the street from us, he has uh 200 horses. So, imagine 200 horses and 176 tigers in the same mess. What money's on the tigers? What in like National Weather Service in Norman has issued a tornado warning for extreme northwest Wood. and Winning Wood. That's us. Precautionary preparedness actions. Take cover now. Under no circumstances be around wild animals, tigers, lions especially dangerous. and chimpanzees. Take cover now. Leave mobile home now. Wow. What do you see? A tornado.
Just over the gift shop, approximately 8 miles away. You seem excited. I am. Yeah. The day before, in neighboring Missouri, a tornado had killed more than 150 people. HEY! BACK THIS WAY CUZ IT'S GOING TO BLOW OUT. YOU want to go in before it gets really bad? It's really up to you. This is going to blow No through here. Uh-oh. Wow. That's not a good sign. There we go. The angels are shining on us. Huh? Right. They are. They're keeping us from getting hurt.
Look out that away. Got to have faith. Hurry up. It's going to go away cuz you ain't got faith. But all luck was in. There would be no tigers shot tonight. The next day and with the extreme weather out of the way, it was time for a tour of the park. What's going on here? You want to sit in there and play with them? There's a bear and a There's a tiger. They're kind of cuddling. They are cuddling. They're buddies. Come here. Hey, come here. Bye. Come here. Sit down here. How old is she? Uh she's about 4 months.
Now why have you put a tiger in with a bear? Just That's just scary. These two may be able to stay together forever. And then they might not. Why would you want that? That would be awesome. Why? Because they're two species that get along. That would just go to show as a educational tool here at our park that no matter who we are, we should get along. You okay? Yeah. It was a Did that hurt? a hook. Did that hurt? No. No, no, no, no, it did not hurt. Some would say let tigers be tigers. You know, let them be true to their tiger nature, which What is a tiger nature?
Well, I guess Kind of, yeah. To kill, not to be cuddling with a bear. He's in captivity. He will never be a tiger. So, what will he be then? A tiger in captivity. Now it hurts. So, what kind of life is that for a tiger then? I mean, do you think they're happy when they Oh, [__] You all right, Joe? That one hurt. Ah. Well, the question was How happy is a tiger in an enclosure? In the wild, they roam for hundreds of miles. And it's such a restricted what it's got. Uh it's such a restricted existence, isn't it? Can you miss something you've never experienced?
This cat has never been in an area to roam 200 miles, so how can he miss that? It's kind of like if you were born in a wheelchair, are you sure you're going to be happier walking instead of riding? Because you've never walked. Though Joe rescues and re-homes unwanted animals, he also breeds them. The practice is controversial. Animal rights groups have accused Joe of creating more surplus tigers, calling Joe's park a scam-tuary. He invited me to meet some of his latest arrivals at his home. Am I right in thinking you have a fairly newborn tiger in here. Mhm.
Called? No name yet. Not even named yet. How old? Uh 8 days. Can we meet him? I need to ask Paul if he's fed him. Uh if he's hasn't been fed, we can feed him. Who's Paul? Paul? Mhm. One of my other halves. One of your? Other significant others. There's two men in your life? Yes. Is that difficult? No. What about jealousy, sexual jealousies between the three of you? There's because it never happens without all three of us. Really?
Really. And that works? Works awesome. Cuz we're all too tired to have sex. This is my youngest. How old? 8 days. Well, little buddy. Okay. So, how old was he when he was taken from his mom? I've fed him from the minute he was still wet. Really? Yeah. Why breed them? So, in 10 to 15 years when there's none left in the wild, we have some in captivity to replace the wild. You think they'll go extinct in the wild? I know they will. Would it make more sense to prioritize um conserving their habitats in the wild rather than reproducing more tigers in captivity?
Well, uh you know, there's there's people There's people that are working on that, but unfortunately, we have more powers higher than us destroying the habitat. How will you raise this one? This little be raised to know us. To know you. You'll be that tiger's mom. in effect. Yeah. For the rest of his life. In a way, you're raising the tiger to be half tiger, half human. To be tame, in other words. Well, we're going to I'm going to raise him to be a tiger and respect humans. [screaming] Why is he Is okay?
Yeah, he's just every time after they feed they do that. Okay, so we're raising him to respect me and I respect him enough that we both can stand there and teach you about his native land. His native land is America. Well, his great great grandfather's, you know, land is Siberia. Russia. So, we're going to grow up together and teach you how to respect Russia even though you've never been there. So, he is serving an ultimate purpose to do with conservation in your view. So, in a way you're making certain practical concessions for the long-term benefit of it happening. Right. [snorts] But Joe's animal ambassadors do serve another purpose.
One of the main ways the park pays for itself is through an exotic animals road show. Joe's breeding program is needed to provide cubs for interactions with the public. I'm Louis. Louis, I'm Beth. You've been here all week, is that right? Uh we started yesterday. We'll be here through Sunday. Set up every day. Who goes in these two? Uh this right here is Fergie and this right here over to your right is the older cats. Fergie is one of the bigger is it Who's Fergie?
The uh the lion. And the bear? The bear, she stays on the other side over there. You've been on the road more or less continuously since January, is that right? Uh yeah, I mean, for almost a year we've been continuously on the And the animals, they'll be on the road for maybe a couple of months? Yes. And do you How do you think they like it? Cuz some might think oh it's a bit stressful for them being uh trucked around like that. It's not stressful on them at all. They're very content, very happy, and they enjoy uh coming out and getting the attention.
What's a good day? Good day, good day on the weekends probably about $4,000. Olivia, can you look right here? Olivia. Not too tight. Not too tight, baby. All right, good job. So, that's how it works? Yes, that's how it works. That's how it people can help us out and hopefully they have some memories to share with their family. That bear seems kind of frisky. Do you think he needs to want to run around? She's frisky, yeah, she is frisky. Little bears are frisky. They have a lot of energy. Do you think they're happy in the cages?
I don't really want this to go anywhere else about this, okay? As far as they're she's I don't want to say anything else, okay? I just don't want to. Okay? What are you basically you say yes, they are being basically isn't that Well, yes. That's absolutely. I mean, this is the life they know and this is the life that they're going to be very happy with. I'd love to have that bear. You'd like to have it as a pet? Yeah. What about when it grew up? Oh, you know, I like training little animals. I train dogs, plenty of little dogs and stuff like that.
You've seen a full-size bear up close? They're large. Large bear. Rip your head right off. Maybe. I'd want a tiger, one of those little ones. Yeah. I don't know about when it got bigger. Having one like that would be cool. That'd be really cool. Cuz they're like playful. And it's different. Like everybody has a dog. Everybody has like a cat, but no one has a tiger. 700 miles away from Joe's park in Charleston, Indiana is another self-styled sanctuary, Animals in Need and Indeed, owned and run by Tim Stark. Where his animals are concerned, Tim has a hands-on philosophy.
Are you ready to tackle Tim? Huh? Ready? [groaning] Huh? [groaning] I don't know if he's enjoying that, Tim. He loves it. Oh, quit. You know, a lot of people joke around and call me Dr. Doolittle, and I take that as a I take that offensive. And I tell them I'm Dr. Do-a-Lot. I'm not Dr. Doolittle. Where are we actually going right now? Right here's the bears. These are the four bears I've got. Come here, Obadiah. Come here. You're comfortable You said you're comfortable getting in with these bears.
Well, should we see you go in there? I mean, if you're comfortable doing that. You don't feel it You really don't feel it's a risk. I don't care if I don't come back out of there. You know, I know the risk I'm taking. You don't care if you come back out again? This is what I do. If I die doing what I'd love to do, so be it. Hi, buddy. Hey, come here. Obadiah, come sit here. Come here.
This is Obadiah. And what's this one? Eli. I discipline him more because he's a troublemaker. So, I get in here so he's You know, he's leery of me. He can seem You know, look at me different. How do you discipline him? Just mainly by com- voice commands. You know, cuz even like if I want to move him, move it. Come on, move it. See? He's automatic, you know. I've taught him that from the time they were little. Do they like it in here, do you think? Yeah, they seem to like it. Does the pacing bother you? I've seen animals in the wild step up to a fence or whatever and pace back and forth. So,
you know. What about people who say these are wild animals? You are going against their intrinsic nature by penning them up. Even in a fairly big enclosure like this, it doesn't approximate anything like what a bear would range in the wild. Well, what they need to understand, the main reason that they have that larger territory out in the wild is not because that animal chooses to travel that distance. That animal has to travel that Don't you take pleasure in those things that you could call survival? The idea of finding food and uh making sure you have what you need, isn't that in a way part of what gives you a sense of satisfaction in your life?
A perfect example of that is if you see the bears around your national parks or in Alaska and stuff where they're closer to human population, where do they go? They come to the human population. Why? Free food. So, you don't think animals really want to be wild? No. Their natural instinct is to survive, but they would much rather survive by having everything handed to them, you know. You know, they're not stupid. What are you doing, boom baby? I know. This is Tatiana. This is Tatiana, my baboon daughter.
Tatiana is about 3 years old? Yeah. And she's pretty safe for us to be around? Oh, yeah. Come here, boom baby. Get up here and see daddy. Good girl. You're a good girl. I know. I know you want to play. She's my little girl. I mean, you know, me and her have a hell of a strong bond. I mean, she's, you know, she's unreal. You know, I know a lot of people that's had baboons and usually once they get about 2 years old, nobody messes with them because they are so strong and can be so dangerous. She won't hurt you.
She's just going to grab you real close. She's going to want you to hold her. Okay. That's fine. You know, she's not a bit aggressive. Okay. Now, you feel her belt right here? Yeah. Just hold on to her belt. Like that? Yep. And she'll just, you know, that's her belt. that's more or less her harness or She's screaming over the mic. She didn't understand the mic. The mic is okay. Now, listen to this. This is interesting. She's wanting to groom you. She's just checking you out. It's um It's quite a nice feeling. But there's something about her face that's a little bit off-putting.
No. What should we do with the You know what? She'll automatically scream when I go to get her back. No, wait. No, okay. Everything's fine. She's getting nervous when you get close, and that's making me nervous. Why are you making her nervous? Just for the fact she don't want to, you know, she wants to stay out. She's getting attention. She's having fun. She loves the attention. Okay. I don't really want to touch her bum that much. It's one of the things. It's not a It's not very appealing. Hold on to her belt, Louie. There's a definite kind of baboon smell coming off her. Yeah.
Do you wash her? She takes a bath with me. A real bath? Yeah. No. What do you think Tatiana's quality of life is like? Spoiled rotten brat. Tatiana, arms up. And so, um, but would you not think that a baboon needs to be a baboon? For what purpose? To live out its full function, to be who it really is? And who are we as people to say who it really is, Tatiana? You know, here she's going to start getting a little Come here, brat. Come here. Get over here. Give me a kiss. Give me kisses.
It was almost a kiss. Do you think the fact that she's female and I'm male helps, actually? There's a sort of very faint kind of, uh, primate low-level erotic dimension. I don't know. Tim's Park is only occasionally open to the public. It is somewhere between a zoo and a private menagerie. And though he calls it a sanctuary, he also breeds and many of the animals were bought, not rescued. Though he was once a handyman, Tim no longer does paying work. His animal habit is supported by his wife, Melissa. When you met Tim, was this part of Tim's life back then? I knew deep down the passion that he had inside, but he at that time he didn't have any animals at that time. No. We
got married in '94 and then in '97 is when I acquired my first bobcat. Now look where I'm at. I'll put myself in a vulnerable state when it comes to walking in a bear cage. It's just that, you know, I fear people. I have no respect for people. I tell her all the time, you know, I guess marriage is supposed to be based on trust and respect. I refuse to trust or respect any single human being on this planet. I don't trust myself. Why would I want to trust anybody else? You don't trust and respect your wife? No. Back outside, Tim had one last surprise in store.
Leave it. Come here. Come on. I thought you said this was against the law. You wanted interaction with animals, how's that? What is our contingency plan at this point? We go in here and we just wait. Are you okay, Tim? Is that safe? You didn't hear it starting to rain a little too hard. Is everyone okay? You're comfortable? Which tiger is that? This is Glacier. We should have just probably have talked this through before you did it, Tim. If that tiger decides he doesn't want to be on that leash anymore, there's not much you can do about it.
Leave it. Is it safe for me to come out there? For as you come over here, yeah. I've got him under control as best as I can. Right now he's not going to be able to lunge. I've got him short leashed. Right now. He's probably quite a bit stronger than you are. Quite a bit. So in a way he's got you by the leash more than you've got him by the leash. Somewhat. You know, he's the one to go see all the other animals and this and that. Damn. Leave it. Do you need help, Jim? Not a bit. I think I can handle it.
No, you're going to get in the chair. You're going to break the chair. You know what? Oh. Get out of that. Is it a way Do you enjoy my nervousness a little bit? No. Is it a bit like having a Harley or a big gun or something where there's a thrill in the sheer power of it? There's a There's There is somewhat of a thrill of having them, you know, as far as, you know, you have them. Hey. Chill. Leave it. Come on. Go right here. Get up. Hey. Just leave it. Don't worry about them. Worry about me.
Good boy. People say all the time, you know, are you mixing blood lines this or that? You know, you never know. I don't know where these tigers come from. You know, I have no clue. I don't care. When I have a baby tiger born here, you know what it is to me? It's a damn baby tiger. You know, I don't give a damn what they, you know, Siberian Sumatran, Bengal. It's a damn tiger, you know, 100% tiger, you know. I can guarantee you that. Back at Joe's, there was a new face at the park.
Ricky, can we say hello? I haven't met you properly. John Reinke. Nice to meet you. Park manager. How's it going, park man? You're back. I'm back. I still got a few more doctor visits to go, but I'm back. You got a health situation. Yeah. I'm missing a couple feet. Yeah. How did it happen? Um I was actually uh helping some friends of mine test an amusement ride they built. And I was actually the last live test, and it failed.
We still have to run off the chain link. We don't have enough of this. You didn't Among the chores of the day was attending to the two tigers I'd seen rescued. So, the issue is Madonna and Big Boy won't come into the cage together. Right. Together. So, you can't clean the cage. Right. Why won't they go in together? You know, I don't know. Because of they were together when we picked them up, you know. Plus, it would help too if Curtis would come visit them. Hasn't he been? Yes, I'm going. Are they depressed? They're going through it, yeah. Are they? Do you ever have to euthanize an animal for depression or for not settling in? Not yet.
He just doesn't want to know, does he? Could you feed him a popsicle? No, he wouldn't eat a popsicle. Joe was getting ready for his annual exotic animal expo. What you doing, Nick? You putting food in? Yeah. You can't. He hasn't washed yet. Okay? Set the food on top so he doesn't get it all wet. Yeah, it's a little bit tense, but you know, like anything you're preparing for last minute trying to get all the finishing touches on it. So you have not washed your cage yet, right? So why are you putting your dry food in
to spray your cage with water? Owners from around the country were converging at Joe's park, many with animals in tow, for a weekend of classes and training in taking better care of their pets. What time does it start, Joe? 9:00. How many people have you got? Uh last night we had probably 85 or 90 here last night already. And then the rest of them will be checking in this morning. And you'll be teaching, that's the big idea. That's the idea. What do you teach? How to do this. How to handle, how to shift, how to stay up. That's Mango. This is Louie. Louie's from London. Hi. Nice to meet you. Oh, yeah. I'm doing good. You having fun? Who's your friend? This is Emily.
Emily would be a capuchin? Yes, she is. Is she full grown? Yes, she's full grown. That's fine. What kind of a relationship do you have? We've got a great relationship. She goes everywhere I go, though. Hello. My name's Louie. Hi. How are you? What's your name? Darla. Darla and She doesn't like touch somebody else. Actually, she doesn't like you to touch me. Yours has pierced ears? Yes, she does.
I mean, they're in there. I've had people tell me to take them out. She's a big girl. If she wants them out, she'll take them out. They're still in there. They think they're beautiful, whether man. They really when you tell them they're beautiful, they understand what you're saying. Now, those ones that don't have ears big enough to get pierced. No, I think it would I don't think that I would do it. They're just so thin. You got little necklaces around them, though. If you have a you have Emily's picture in a frame around your neck?
Yeah. They're like our family members. We love them. We take care of them and when we got them we expected to do that. That's what we, you know, planned on to make the commitment. That's what you HAVE TO DO. YOU GOT TO BE VERY CAREFUL WHAT YOU ASK THEM OUT there cuz they're very protective of their monkeys. It's all right to say what's your monkey's name? Oh, yeah. Is he your pet? Is he How hard is it to take care of? Any kind of educational questions, you bet. But uh the minute you start, you know, "Oh, what do you think about these people not liking you to have a monkey?"
Would he rather be in the wild? Exactly. That's a no-no. That is a big no-no. With all exotic pets, primates are considered the most challenging. So, we're talking about 7 oz of monkey chow. Their intelligence makes them hard to keep stimulated. They're also liable to become unpredictable and dangerous as they reach sexual maturity and can live 50 and even 60 years. You have to have a shift pin and what a shift pin is you have a slide door of some kind where you can lock the animal into another cage so you can safely clean without ever being inside with the primate to protect you, the monkey, and the reputation of
private owner. You get a lot of baby blankets that have that little silky strip right here on the top or down the side. They'll unravel that and get it caught somewhere and we've lost two monkeys that have just hung themselves in the middle of the cages in the first years of our part being here. He look and smile. That was my part. And who's this? This is Maddie. You have a special relationship with Maddie? Feel like I do. Yeah. Why? She's a big daddy's girl. Give me a kiss. Thank you. Yeah. Give me a kiss. Would you give me a kiss? Give me a kiss, hey.
Thank you. The most controversial of all exotic pets is the chimpanzee. In 2009, a chimp called Travis in suburban Connecticut attacked and nearly killed a human neighbor ripping off her face. Hello. Hi, I'm Louis. Jill James. Jill, nice to meet you. Can we come in? Sure, come on in. How are you doing? Good. Thanks for having us.
Jill and Brad James are among the very few private chimp owners in North America with 5-year-old Tukon Kairi and 7-year-old Cooper. Stop it. Is he spitting? Is he spitting at me? No. What is the spitting? Is it's not friendly, is it? I don't think so, no. Okay. Whoa, whoa, whoa. It was time for another close encounter with a fellow primate. First out of the cage, Tukon Kairi.
You're already helping me out. Do you consider them your pets? How do you view them? They're too human like to be considered like a dog or whatever. I have small children and to me it seems very like having a hairy very energetic little child. It is. Yes. And what do your friends make of it? Do they worry about the safety? Yeah, they do. You know, there's been like two chimp attacks I know of in 10 years probably. And I'm I'm not making light of that. It's bad. But do you know how many Rottweilers and dogs tear people up every day? There's relatively few chimpanzees in captivity in America. So proportionally chimpanzees would represent quite a serious threat in the home. Yeah. But do you understand what I'm saying
about dogs too? That they do it daily. Want another one? Do this. What do you want? Eat, please. That's okay. Good boy. What do they eat? They eat Mexican, Chinese, uh They eat Chinese? Yeah, they love Rotel dip, hot dip, spicy things. They like uh like pork rinds, hot pork rinds. Uh Doritos, love Doritos. As he gets older, will you not have to reduce the amount of one-on-one contact as he gets really strong? I imagine I will. I mean, I'm going to use common sense about it. I'm not going to get I'm not going to put myself in the position to get hurt and I'll have the equipment in case it gets that way and then I won't go back in if it happens, you know. At the point where he basically has to
be confined to his enclosure, will you feel bad about that? He can still see he'll still be able to see me. He We may not be able to hug and love and all that, but it won't be like just totally abandoning him, you know. You feel you're in it for the long haul? Well, I don't know, you know. Don't know what it'll hit you when you hit 60 or 70 or whatever. At 120 lb, Jill and Brad's older chimp, Cooper, was not yet fully grown, but he was on the cusp of sexual maturity and an age that is considered dangerous for a chimp. If we let him out and we're around him, what could happen? Do you think it'll be all right or what do you think?
It usually is, but I would rather be safe than sorry, so let's just do it the safe way. Which is us in the house? Yeah, let's just see. You're not nervous or anything? Me? Yeah. No. Well, cuz if he bites my nose off, then you could be in trouble. It does happen. Cut it out. Show the bang. Show him the bang. You better behave. I'm not putting up with no [__] out of you. You understand? Come on. I don't care. Oh, he wants to eat. He's going to eat.
No. HERE HE COMES. HEY. OH, [__] COME HERE. Bait him, Brad. [snorts] Jill, Yeah? can you come here? Okay. So, we're just thinking this through and I think we know we may have what we need, so You're afraid of Marjorie. It's okay. What are they doing? Playing? Yeah. It's the element of the unpredictable that is one of the big downsides of having a chimpanzee as a pet. And as he gets stronger, Right. the stakes go up, don't they? Because the accident, if it happens, could become more serious. see out there with us how gentle he is. He's not That's just normal. That's their playing thing. They do it together. They'll get in the house and do that together.
You just got a letter back from someone in a donation envelope that you sent? Yeah, tomorrow my husband and I were going to visit your animal park and spend the day. I decided to research your park on the internet tonight and saw all the abuse of the animals documented by PETA. Did you say all of the abuse? the abuse. Um I was shocked and disgusted. I told my husband we would not be visiting your park tomorrow or anytime in the future. [__] a newsletter came back in the mail today with that wrote all over it. That's from PETA. They've seen something from the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals. Right. So what do you take from that letter?
What do I take from that letter? Ignorant people believe anything they [__] read on the internet. So your point about the letter was that's what you're up against? Yes. And that's hurting you? Financially. We were expecting a check in my envelope. Joe was on the brink of a financial crisis. Are you watering trees? What? Soak them good. They're dying. I can't win for losing. What's going on in this one? In this cage we have one male lion, a female lion, two female tigers. So out of one cage we'll get purebred lions
and we'll have two litters of ligers. Now isn't that fascinating that in one cage you can get purebreds and crossbreeds? But closing down was not an option. To explain why, he took me to a special spot in the park. See now this right here, my brother is buried clear in Texas. So, this is where I respect my brother. What does it say? Can't do that one. Says to the best friend that I ever had, our brother. And I'm going to be buried right here. And my mom and dad are actually in the process of seeing if they can get his body moved from there to here because he's so far away that we never get to go see him.
But, that's why we're here. Me and Gerald owned the pet store in Arlington, Texas when he got killed. And I sold it for $70,000. And mom and dad got $140,000 from his death. I took my 70,000 and mom and dad took their 140,000 and we put it together and we paid for the property and we built this first row of cages. You think if T W saw this place he'd be proud? I think he's proud. I know he's proud. It's been a hard week. Yeah. Now, with being sick and stressed out over money and everything else is I normally don't sit here and bawl.
Despite all his breeding of tiger cubs, more and more malls were refusing to book Joe's road show under pressure from animal rights groups. I wondered how much longer he could go on. So, you worry, Joe? I worry all the time. Nonstop, but we'll figure it out somehow. We'll make it. It feels quite precarious. It feels like you're on a knife edge. Yeah, we've been on the edge [clears throat] since the day we opened this place, 11 years ago. In a way, you're in the position now of stockpiling tigers.
They're not so much on display because most people you know, you they've seen one tiger, they don't need to see another 149. Right. I mean, is there any scenario in which you could get [snorts] run out of money or cease to be able to operate this place and many of the big cats would have to be euthanized? You know, I've kicked that idea around. If I ever went broke, I think I would euthanize everything rather than put them in another facility with the same financial stress. Do you really mean that?
Yeah. 1,400 animals? Yeah. I don't think you're being serious. I don't think you know me very well. With my time among America's exotic animals nearing its end, I had one last appointment outside the park. Hi. I'm Louis. Hi, Louis. How are you doing? Nice to meet you. Yeah. We got a nice rainy day, don't we? Yes, we do. Connie Casey is a chimpanzee breeder and dealer. She bred Jill and Brad's two chimps. She also bred the infamous Travis. She is landlady to a multitude of primates, including a colony of 20 chimpanzees. Who's up there?
Colby and Raven and Daisy and Tony and um Eric. [screaming] I'm thinking Tony. Could any of these breed? They're all intact. They could. If you're lucky enough to have a good a breeding male, then it's very fortunate for you. In the past, they've baby chimps are brought in $40,000. You know. She really seems to enjoy human contact. Yeah. Many of Connie's chimps were once pets who grew unmanageable. Some were entertainers. Now they live out their days here. Once you get in here, you'll want to stay to that wall. Okay. If you fall, don't reach out to the cage to keep yourself from falling.
Why? Well, I don't want your fingers to go in the cage and you be missing a finger. Hey. Hey Eric. Silly boy. If you stand there too long, he's going to go suck up some water. Suck up some water and spit it. Yeah. Hey Colby, you want some? Goodbye. Goodbye Colby. Hey. Goodbye. Sheena, stop it. That's my sprinkler system. Hey. What are you doing? Who's your rowdiest? Uh right now it's probably Connor. Yeah. And then yeah, that's Tonka. Why have you got screens up? Because she the little girl, she throws this bedding.
She's she's the worst thrower as far as throwing the bedding. So it's like if that wasn't there, she'd be throwing stuff at them all the time and then eventually they throw it back and so it's like, you know, a bedding fight. What did you think about the whole Travis thing? Uh Travis situation was a very uh unusual and horrible thing that happened, you know. He shouldn't have been out of the cage. You knew him a little bit? I knew his mom. Yeah. Is she here? Oh, I mean his human mom. Oh.
It's okay. THAT'S NOT NECESSARY, IS IT? I WANT YOU TO JUST COME OUT. He's got an intelligent face. I want you to come out now. That didn't hurt or anything. He wasn't throwing it very hard. It could go worse than that? Oh yeah, he can throw it. How do you feel being among the chimps? I mean you enjoy it? Yeah. Do you think they love you? The chimps? Oh yeah. I know they love me. Oh. So hard to read what they're thinking. It's different when you live with them. But you wouldn't go in there with Connor.
Not anymore I wouldn't. Maybe because you don't trust him a little bit. Yeah. I was heading back to Joe's park for one last visit. All right guys, my name is Bonnie. And I am Tim. And we're going to be your tour guides tonight. On arrival, I discovered a radical new plan for pulling in visitors. Our park director, Joe Exotic, has been working with animal ambassadors for over 23 years. For over 12 years, Joe has had a belief that the world only started with one tiger, and that was the saber-tooth tiger some 360 million years
ago. So for his own wonder, Joe created this large habitat where a baby tiger and a baby lion could grow up together knowing each other as adults. The question grew. Could he take it one step further and try to create a saber-tooth tiger without any human interference? Can you imagine how exciting it will be to see and talk to an animal ambassador that evolved from 360 million years ago just because of one man's belief? So you're actually breeding a saber-tooth tiger? If the male tigons aren't sterile and they breed with the lionesses, it's the closest thing you can get to a saber-tooth tiger. Who's idea was that? Um it's just uh you know, scientists are trying to do it in test tubes all day long.
Uh Joe's actually done this naturally. This is Joe's idea? What's the idea behind that? Uh you know, it's kind of like uh the zoos and stuff want it. It's kind of like the woolly mammoth, you know, they're they're trying to remake the woolly mammoth in test tubes and uh recreate all the past. Kind of like Jurassic Park? Yeah, pretty much. Don't you need like research scientists and PhDs supervising that kind of thing?
You know, you PhD is just a document that goes on the wall, you know? Uh it's all been done naturally here, so. Everybody says the movie's actually come to real life. Like a dinosaur could come out of something and devour everyone at the park. Yeah. Could be dangerous. It could be. Like it's not already dangerous. So you got This is pretty good turnout. Yeah, this is pretty good. Not bad. I mean, we've had better. We've We've done tours with 54, 55 people. This is just 24, so. Is this the future? Is it the future? Yeah, probably. This is the first stop of our interactive tour, and what we're going to do is we're actually going to let you come up one group at a time. We're going to get your picture with this little miniature horse.
And as soon as we can get him to calm down a little bit, he is only 2 years old, so he does like to throw his little temper tantrums. That's the kids, right on the lips. Oh, there we go. Just make sure you're going around him. And smile, you're with a tiger. And he's not chewing on your leg. That was a little chuff he was doing for you. Joe also had a new crop of tiger cubs, which he was using for hands-on play with customers. My stay at the park was up. For this great ape, it was time to leave the zoo.
I'd come to see America's exotic animals as something between pets and inmates. Some of the unwanted ones end up at Joe's, but even he was breeding to make ends meet. You know, by breeding and by creating these lives, you have a responsibility to them for life. Yes. How can you really track that? Well, because most of them are still here. Most of the tigers that are in the back were my very first photo babies. And for a tiger that's born as a photo baby and then stays here for life in one of the cages here, you think
that's a pretty good life for a tiger? they're spoiled, taken care of. And chimps, too? Uh yeah. You know, if I could pull my photo show off the road tomorrow, I'd do it. But I can't. Cuz somebody has to keep stepping up to the plate and rescuing animals. I'm called a roadside zoo. Yeah, I'm I'm next to a road and I'm a zoo. Big deal. Call me a roadside zoo. You know? But don't call me a scam-tuary because I put my own money into keeping this place open.
It's all [__] When you said you would euthanize these animals before giving the place up, you weren't really serious. I'm dead serious. They If that's what they want before they run me out of business, I'll euthanize every damn animal on this place. But if you think it's wrong for them to do it, why would you do it? going to let them do it. Are you always like this, or are you under a lot of stress? always like this. For the last 10 years? Yeah. I was like this before. When you were a cop? Yep.
You must have been a pretty weird cop. a weird cop. In the end, the question may be what kind of life is worth living for a tiger. If not for here, there would be no homes for many of these animals. And so for them, the choice is between a small cage and an even smaller box. I don't think he doesn't like me. Maybe it was someone with glasses who was mean to him once. You know, something about Ray, he didn't know anything about Ray. He just decided that Ray was okay. He wanted to be friends with Ray. You know, same with me.
And then there's there's other people, you know, that he sees that he just doesn't like. He's not being aggressive, but he's not being friendly, either. Just kind of a Kind of like you.
