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Jeffrey and Lauren Lowe agreed to the measures, including terminating their interests in 97 endangered or threatened animals seized from their facility and abandoning their rights to an additional 41 animals covered by the Animal Welfare Act (AWA), as part of a consent decree, the U.S. Justice Department announced Monday.
Federal authorities also obtained a judgment against Tiger King LLC and Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park LLC, prohibiting both from exhibiting animals in the future, terminating their interests in the animals seized from the Lowes’ facility, and permanently placing the AWA-covered animals in licensed facilities selected by the United States.
The government pursued the couple and their company for what was called "recurring inhumane treatment and improper handling of animals" at their Oklahoma zoo. Failing to provide "basic veterinary care, appropriate food, and safe living conditions for the animals" violated both the Animal Welfare and Endangered Species acts, federal authorities said.
The consent decree that resulted "ensures that the animals mistreated and endangered by the Lowes will be moved to a safe home in AWA-licensed facilities and prohibits the Lowes from exhibiting live animals again,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.
The imprisonment of “Joe Exotic” following convictions for murder-for-hire and animal abuse was documented in the hit Netflix documentary series "Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness."
One of the featured personalities on the show was Jeffrey Lowe, who convinced Maldonado-Passage to put the Wynnewood, Oklahoma facility in his name after his legal troubles began.
After “Joe Exotic” was sentenced to 22 years in prison, Jeff and Lauren Lowe took full ownership of the park, reopening it in the middle of 2018. They operated the attraction until August 2020, when their own troubles began mounting.
The Wynnewood facility exhibited federally protected animals, including tigers, lions, and other big cats, a grizzly bear, and ring-tailed lemurs, federal authorities said.
USDA Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service inspectors who visited in June and July of 2020 reported finding several animals in poor health while living in substandard conditions, they said.
The Lowes didn’t provide “timely and adequate veterinary care,” the federal complaint against them says, “causing the animals to suffer from easily treatable conditions, in some cases resulting in untimely death.
“Animals were not provided with sufficient quantities of appropriate food and were underweight and suffering from nutritional deficiencies, making them susceptible to fractures, unable to stand or walk, and exhibiting neurological problems,” it adds.
Because the Lowes also failed to maintain sanitary and safe conditions, the complaint alleges, animals were victimized by flies who continuously attacked, bit and penetrated their skin, laying eggs on open or irritated skin and causing infestations of maggots and painful sores.
Inspectors also reported finding “foul-smelling, partially burned and decomposing big cat carcasses” and a broken-down refrigerator truck containing rotting meat.
As an example of neglect, inspectors pointed to Nala, a 16-week-old lion cub who they said they found “lethargic, depressed [and] thin,” unable to “get up out of the mud even after prompting.”
Nala had discharges coming from her nose and eyes and sores on her ears and had trouble breathing, they said.
A federally ordered examination by a veterinarian found an upper respiratory infection, dehydration and a urinary tract infection, as well as a "chronic bone fracture," fly strikes, parasites, and fleas.
Nala eventually was transferred to a wildlife sanctuary in Colorado.
Jeff Lowe called the allegations "a litany of falsehoods" in a Facebook post.
“If we lose a lawsuit, we simply change the name and open another business someplace else,” federal authorities quoted him as also saying.
The USDA suspended Lowe's Animal Welfare Act exhibitor license and initiated an administrative action to permanently revoke it.
Days later, Lowe unilaterally terminated his license and “sought to put his operation beyond USDA inspection and investigation,” the federal complaint alleges.
The Lowes then moved several animals to a property in Thackerville, Oklahoma, located in the middle of a rural, residential area, it says.
The new site would be called “Tiger King Park,” they said, and would operate as a film set for television shows and other video content – even though the couple didn’t have a license to do so, federal prosecutors said.
The Lowes "continued to exhibit animals, both in person and for compensation via online platforms," another federal complaint says. "In addition to exhibiting without a license, the Lowes did not provide timely and adequate veterinary care or nutrition, failed to maintain safe and sanitary conditions and housed animals in enclosures which were too small and exposed to the elements."
Federal prosecutors secured a preliminary injunction a year ago requiring the Lowes to relinquish possession to the United States of all Big Cat cubs under the age of one year and their respective mothers.
After the Lowes violated other terms of the preliminary injunction by "breeding animals and failing to maintain and provide records regarding the health of the animals in their care," the government in May executed two civil seizure warrants and took possession of 68 Big Cats and one jaguar.Federal authorities this past August secured the couple's agreement to abandon their interests in all animals remaining at Tiger King Park. The government took what became permanent possession of 11 endangered lemurs and 41 other animals.
Lowe had been in trouble before. In 2018, a judge suspended a jail sentence and ordered him to pay $2,500 in restitution for doing business without a license in Las Vegas, the federal complaint says.
Lowe apparently had operated an attraction he called "The Jungle Bus," which offered baby lions, tigers, bears, lemurs, kangaroos and monkeys for private parties, casino events, photo shoots, movies and commercials – as well as for “extended private encounters,” it says.
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