Trigger Warning: The article has details of animal abuse that some readers may find disturbing
The world got to know about 'Tiger King' Joe Exotic from the much-talked-about Netflix docuseries. The Oklahoma native was the subject of the streaming service original series and is now in jail serving a sentence of 22 years for various charges from animal abuse and cruelty to conspiring to murder his arch-nemesis, Carole Baskin. While a lot about his life and crimes have been shown in the show, Exotic's niece has reportedly revealed the most disturbing ones which were not even explored in the series. These allegedly included videos of his friends performing sexual acts with animals and Exotic freezing animals such as tiger cubs so that they could be sold to taxidermists for huge profits. Chealsi Putman, Exotic's 31-year-old niece worked at his Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park on and off from 1999 to 2017 doing all kinds of odd jobs from cleaning animal cages to working as a book-keeper.
She said while Exotic loved animals and genuinely wanted to help animals at first, he became greedy and would use them to make a quick buck whenever he had the chance. Speaking to the Daily Mail, she said, "Our relationship was up and down, mainly because I wouldn't put up with his bulls**t'. I've personally witnessed Joe spray a tiger with a fire extinguisher, not out of a safety or for a life-saving reason, but because the tiger didn't react the way Joe had wanted it to." On more serious charges of Exotic filming his friends having sex with animals at the zoo, Putman said while she had not seen these videos herself, she did, however, hear about them. "I didn't want to see them, I just heard about them," she said while also adding that her uncle liked to film these acts and also participated on some occasions. She also said he liked filming his partners having sex with other people.
He would also often have 'piercing parties' at his zoo, she said. Putman said she was asked to make a delivery of dead tiger cub to Oklahoma City for a taxidermist. She said she refused. "Over the years there must have been at least 10 tiger cubs that he froze. I have no idea what happened to them, they would just disappear," she said. When confronted about this, Exotic would say he was involved in research with Texas A&M University but there was never any evidence to back this claim. Putman is of the opinion that he sold animals to private individuals. The docuseries ‘Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness’ exposed a number of evils and illegal activities that Exotic engaged in like the fact he used only a small amount of the aid given for his animals.
He had convinced a local Dollar General store to make dog and cat food donations to feed his circus bears for life. Most of these were resold to various people for profit. He also donated expired meat in the pizzeria that he owned. These were given by local stores and meant to feed the animals in his zoo. "There wasn't much Joe wouldn't do for a dollar," said Putman. She also said he did not care much for his mom and dad and only used them to get his paycheques. Exotic's mother, Shirley had a family that was rich and owned lands and business in Kansas. Putman said, "Shirley would receive monthly rental checks and that was the only time Joe would stop by their house was to pick up the checks. He would deposit some of them in their bank accounts and others he would tell his parents that he cashed them and would pay them back later which he never did."
She added, "I don't think he ever really cared for them he saw them as pawns in his game, most of the bills, policies and loans for the zoo were in his parent's name." Shirley died in 2019, while Exotic's father suffers from dementia and long-term PTSD and is at a hospital. It was Putman's tip that finally led to the arrest of Exotic by the FBI in September 2018. "I'd do it again, he needed to be caught," she said.