Just three weeks ago, during a narcotics raid in Hidalgo County, authorities discovered a white Bengal tiger, a bobcat, emus, porcupines, and a kinkajou being held illegally. Most of the animals were taken to the Austin Zoo for medical evaluation and rehabilitation, but there are still privately owned exotic animals all over Texas going largely unprotected. This is the latest incident with exotic animals in the state—something similar happens about once a year—ranging from large predators being spotted wandering in heavily populated areas to children getting mauled and killed. Due to an ineffective patchwork of regulations and a barely developed system for tracking such animals, animal welfare advocates have been fighting for harsher laws on the private possession of exotics for years. But in Texas, it’s been to no avail.
While these animals were being rescued from a private residence, millions across the country were bingeing Netflix’s Tiger King: Murder, Madness and Mayhem. With the release of this new docuseries right at the outset of the COVID-19 crisis, we stumbled upon a streaming service free-for-all. The show’s success has undoubtedly been helped by the unusual conditions tethering hordes of people to their couches—34.3 million people watched the show in its first 10 days—but it’s also a spellbinding tale in its own right, with thrills and twists and salacious surprises. Eccentric Oklahoma zoo owner and tiger breeder Joe Exotic, a self-described “gay, gun-toting cowboy with a mullet,” and a polygamist to boot, puts on quite a show. And it’s hard to look away.
The problem with Tiger King is that, for a show purportedly about animal abuse, maybe it should be a little harder to watch. While the story calls attention to the mistreatment of exotic animals in the U.S., it privileges the titillating interpersonal drama as the main story. Yes, the absurdity of this issue is laid bare, as we watch with shock and awe as tigers are crowded into makeshift cages in roadside zoos. It’s reasonable to wonder: How is this allowed? But even as the creators set out to call attention to this policy, they fail, as Tiger King puts animals through the same exploitative portrayals it accuses its subjects of perpetrating: It gets swept up in the glitz and glam, the glory (and gore) of this animal-obsessed kingdom, and forgets about the animals themselves.
