10 Unanswered Questions From Netflix’s Tiger King

Netflix’s Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness had a lot to live up to with a name like that, but fans agree that it delivered on all counts. Whether you found the colorful cast entertaining or loathsome, it cannot be denied that Tiger King has captured the attention of viewers everywhere inspiring fanart, cosplay, and heated discourse across the internet.

With as many twists as the story took, it is no wonder that the docuseries left the audience with several unanswered questions. Here are the 10 most shocking questions that remain unresolved.

10 Did Carole Baskin Feed Her Husband To Tigers?

On August 18, 1997, Florida millionaire Don Lewis disappeared from his home in Tampa. Although the body was never found, Lewis was declared legally dead in 2002 enabling Baskin to inherit a fortune.

Many theories were floated out there by investigators, family members, and other big cat owners, but none as shocking and salacious as the one suggesting that Carole Baskin had killed her husband and fed him to her tigers. It’s almost too wild to be believed, but then again, there is the matter of Lewis’s two conflicting wills, his extramarital affairs, and a series of questionable choices by law enforcement during the initial investigation, which left viewers wondering whether or not there was some truth to it. Will Tiger King fans ever know what happened to Don Lewis? Who can say? But Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Department has officially reopened the case hoping that the popularity of Tiger King might result in new leads, so maybe?

9 How Many More Of These “Sanctuaries” Are There?

“There are more tigers in captivity than there are in the wild,” a news anchor says in the opening minutes of Tiger King, but it’s never made clear how many other unaccredited wildlife sanctuaries exist in the United States or exactly how many tigers are being held in captivity under questionable care.

At one point, Carole Baskin states that there are 28 names she considers part of the “Bad Guys Club,” but viewers are introduced to only a handful on the show. Who are the others? And are they brazen enough to appear in a possible Tiger King sequel?

8 Yogaville?

According to Tiger King, traveling magician “Doc” Antle began to build the persona he wears to today after moving to Yogaville, an ashram community in Buckingham, Virginia. The commune is mentioned only once in the show, which seems like a missed opportunity because the history of the compound is pretty extraordinary.

The Yogaville ashram was founded in the 1970s by Swami Satchidananda, the guru who opened Woodstock, and built on land that was gifted to him by pop-singer Carole King. On the day of the dedication ceremony, Bubbles, the elephant seen on Tiger King, and Antle lead the parade while Satchidanada blessed the grounds with holy water dispersed via helicopter.

7 Who Burned Down The Crocodile House?

Was it PETA? Was it producer Rick Kirkham? Was it Carole Baskin? The most popular theory is that it was Joe himself who set fire to the building to collect the insurance money. Joe, unsurprisingly, believes Carole Baskin had paid Kirkman to burn down the building and claims to have proof of that in the form of Facebook messages exchanged between Baskin and Kirkman.

The official investigation never came to a definitive conclusion, and since no further investigations are planned, it is unlikely viewers will ever know the answer to this mystery without a confession from the person responsible.

6 If There Were No Backups Of Rick Kirkham’s Original Tiger King Reality Show, Where Did All The Footage Come From?

Rick Kirkham claims that the fire, which burned down the crocodile house and attached recording studio, destroyed all the footage he had of Joe’s operations and with it any hope of producing their original reality show. And yet here we all are with over five hours of Tiger King insanity to delight and horrify us. How?

It seems fortunate for filmmakers Eric Goode and Rebecca Chaiklin, that paranoid narcissists like Joe Exotic always have backups. And as viewers saw on the show, even after his falling out with Kirkham following the fire, Joe would continue documenting his every “triumph” in life and on the campaign trail.

5 What Happened To The Tigers After Joe’s Arrest?

Tiger King glosses over what became of G.W. Exotic Sanctuary after Joe Exotic’s incarceration; however, the company is still operational and under the management of Jeff Lowe.

In an attempt to distance itself from the bad press that Tiger King was sure to attract concerning the conditions at the zoo, Lowe has twice renamed the enterprise. Its newest incarnation, the Oklahoma Zoo, is presently under construction and was expected to open later this summer. It’s not known whether cub petting will be on offer or if the quality of living has improved for the cats.

4 Where Is Dillon Passage Now?

According to the recent interview Joe Exotic gave from prison, he and his most recent husband Dillon are still together. This fact may surprise some Tiger King fans since the last we heard from a tearful Dillon were the words “I can’t keep doing this.”

Whatever money Dillon Passage may have made from his and Joe’s involvement in Tiger King doesn’t seem to have gone very far according to Joe. The Tiger King star reports that Dillon is living day-to-day crashing on different couches and that he is standing by his man.

3 Someone Has Got To Investigate Doc Antle And The Others. Right?

There doesn’t seem to be much love or loyalty between the big cat owners that were interviewed on Tiger King. It’s a veritable Mean Girls club of trucker caps and untucked polo shirts with each man leaping at the chance to gossip about the others with the producers. But there is a chance that Tiger King has given investigators the leads they need to shut down some of these zoos, rehome the captive cats at unaccredited sanctuaries, and rescue the women from what might be a cult led by Doc Antle.

At the moment however Doc Antle, James Garreston and others remain free to keep captive tigers and other endangered wildlife.

2 How Do Carole Baskin, Doc Antle, and Joe Exotic Feel About Their Portrayal On Tiger King?

Carole Baskin is not thrilled by the success of Tiger King or her portrayal in it. In a lengthy blog post on the Big Cat Rescue home page, Baskin addresses the criticism she has received since the show’s launch and attempts to refute those accusations including questions surrounding the now infamous meat grinder allegedly used to dispose of her husband’s body.

Doc Antle is also unhappy with the way he and Mytrle Beach Safari were portrayed on the docuseries, but released only a short statement following the successful launch of the show. Unsurprisingly, Joe Exotic is thrilled by his new national popularity.

1 What’s Next For Joe Exotic And Tiger King Fans?

By the end of Tiger King, it’s unclear whether the former tiger king is on a mission of reform or revenge after he extends an olive branch to PETA and offers them the names of other big cat owners, breeders, and resellers in the US.

Meanwhile, Netflix has already aired a follow-up episode of Tiger King, there is a comic book adaptation on the way, and a spiritual sequel to Tiger King focusing on Carole Baskin is in development through Investigation Discovery.

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