Bhagavan “Doc” Antle, the Myrtle Beach zoo owner and star of the third season of Netflix’s Tiger King, has been sentenced for federal wildlife trafficking and money laundering.
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As reported by WBTW, Antle was sentenced to 12 months and one day by Judge Joseph Lawson III at the U.S. District Court’s Charleston division on Tuesday, July 8. His sentencing comes close to two years after he pleaded guilty to the charges back in November 2023.
“Antle will finally learn how it feels to be stripped of freedom, locked in a cage, and have every moment of every day controlled,” Brittany Peet, PETA Foundation’s general counsel for Captive Animal Law Enforcement, said, as per the outlet. “But unlike Antle, the animals he sentenced to life at his sleazy roadside zoo have committed no crimes.”
Antlee was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $55,000 in fines.
Antle Charges
According to a November 2023 release issued by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs, Bhagavan “Doc” Antle, who owns The Institute for Greatly Endangered and Rare Species (T.I.G.E.R.S.), also known as Myrtle Beach Safari, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act and conspiracy to launder money.
As per the release, the Lacey Act prohibits the trafficking of illegally taken wildlife. Antle, from 2019 to 2020, violated the Lacey Act by directing the purchase of several specimens. These included two cheetah cubs, two lion cubs, two tigers, and one chimpanzee. All these animals were protected by the Endangered Species Act.
Moreover, Antle also hid the transaction through a series of practices. These include using bulk cash payments, falsifying paperwork, and requesting that the animal payments be made to his nonprofit. That way, the payments could appear as “donations.”
In addition to the Lacey Act violations, Antle and a coconspirator laundered money from February to April 2022.
As per ABC News, a Virginia jury found Antle guilty of four counts of wildlife trafficking in 2023. He was sentenced to two years of prison, suspended “upon five years of good behavior.” Two of his convictions were overturned later by an appeals court.
Antle’s sentencing is considered the final chapter of the Tiger King saga of legal issues. Currently, Joe Exotic, real name Joseph Maldonado-Passage, is serving a 21-year federal sentence for attempting to hire hitmen to murder rival Carole Baskin. He was also convicted of animal abuse charges.