An exotic animal collector and private zoo owner featured in the “Tiger King” documentary series has been convicted in Virginia for buying endangered lion cubs.
Bhagavan "Doc" Antle was accused of purchasing the cubs in Frederick County, Virginia, to help drive traffic to his zoo in South Carolina, according to Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares.
Antle was convicted on two felony counts of wildlife trafficking and conspiring to wildlife traffic after a jury found him guilty.
The exotic animal collector was one of several featured in the Tiger King Netflix documentary.
Antle was acquitted on five counts of animal cruelty, and four others were dismissed by a judge. The collector's two adult daughters were also charged, but those charges were dropped, according to the Winchester Star.
The business run by Antle — called Myrtle Beach Safari — sold itself on its petting zoo, which required the collector to source and purchase new lion cubs to keep customers interested.
Court documents show Antle purchased the cubs from Wilson's Wild Animal Park near Winchester.
The two men met and began doing business in 2015, when it was still legal to buy and sell lions. However, after lions were added to the endangered species list, their sale was prohibited and only permitted sanctuaries and zoos could breed or trade the animals.
Keith Wilson, who owned the park where Antle bought his lions, had nearly 120 of his animals seized in 2019 after a judge ruled that they had been "cruelly treated, neglected, or deprived" 0f appropriate care.
Mr Wilson, who has been charged with nine misdemeanour counts of animal cruelty and 10 felony counts of selling an endangered species, will return to court on Friday.
He has also flipped on Antle, telling investigators that the private collector paid him for the illegal animals in advance by making the transaction appear to be a donation. Mr Wilson told investigators that Antle would typically pay between $2,500 to $3,000 for a cub. They also traded cats once, with Mr Wilson trading his cubs to Antle for three lynx kittens.
Antle's defence attorney, Erin Harrigan, called the prosecution motivated by politics and animal rights activists and maintained that the payments made to Mr Wilson were honest donations.
“This has been an agenda in search of a crime from the beginning of the investigation,” Ms Harrigan said. “These were not sales."
Antle faces up to 20 years in prison.
