Image: The self proclaimed Tiger King Joe Exotic poses with a tiger. Credit: Netflix
The Tiger King documentary may have divided the world, but what about the underlying issues behind Joe Exotic’s occupation? Conservationist and model Rose Ellis discusses whether the popular Netflix series is all sensationalised storytelling, or whether it can help spread a message about the issues of holding big cats in captivity.
Netflix’s Tiger King has been taking over the memes on my social media lately, and I can see why. There is no doubt that the sensationalised characters in the show sure make entertaining television and it’s an insight into a world that not many of us have ever seen. But there is a dark message about decimated wild tiger populations that is overshadowed for most of the series by ‘murder, mayhem and madness’. According to the WWF, there are just 3,890 tigers left in the wild. There are estimated to be between 5,000 and 10,000 captive tigers in the US alone. There are more tigers in captivity in the US than there are in the wild.
Of all the big cats, tigers, originally from Asia, are sadly nearest to extinction. The hybrids, which you see on screen, of lions and tigers create ligers (male lion and female tiger), which grow to up to ten feet tall when standing on their back legs, and tigons (female lion and male tiger). Ligers and Tigons do not exist in the wild. These crossbreeds are more likely to suffer with genetic disorders and problems such as blindness or organ failure. Despite this, their cute factor combined with the fact ligers grow so large, attracts a lot of attention – giant walking goldmines.