"It has a segment devoted to suggesting, with lies and innuendos from people who are not credible, that I had a role in the disappearance of my husband Don 21 years ago," she wrote. Carole Baskin is the founder and CEO of Big Cat Rescue in Florida. The incident in question is the mysterious disappearance of Baskin’s husband, Don Lewis, then 60. Carole Baskin ran away from home in 1977 at the age of 15. Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? The two began a love for exotic animals and big cats shortly after tying the knot. OK, people seem to think that Carole may have actually killed her husband by feeding him to their tigers. He had been seeking a domestic-violence injunction against Carole, and he accused her of threatening to shoot him. He was also found guilty of killing five tigers in October 2017 — a violation of the Endangered Species Act, NBC reports. But despite a police investigation and an inquiry by Carole's own private investigator, Don was never found, and was declared dead in 2002. In a 1998 interview with PEOPLE, the oldest of Lewis’ four children, Donna Pettis, then 42, claimed that Baskin feeding his body to big cats would be “a perfect scenario to dispose of someone. Men's Health participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites. According to the Big Cat Rescue website, Baskin is the founder and CEO of the Tampa animal sanctuary, switching from big … Though Maldonado-Passage publicly proclaimed to love the animals in his care, he killed five of his tigers, bred them unnecessarily, sold baby lemurs and more — all in hopes of turning a profit. Lewis vanished one August 1997 morning, never to be seen again, though his car was found at a nearby airport. Carole owns Big Cat Rescue, a Florida-based organization that advocates for the end of abuse towards big cats in captivity. Netflix. But one person that peaked our interest is Carole Baskin and … The reason for her contempt? Who Is Carole Baskin? Carole spoke to Vanity Fair before she saw Tiger King, and she explained that it was "painful" to revisit Don's disappearance: "We gave [authorities] all of the information that they needed to go look at the court records and to see that I always dealt fairly and honestly with Don’s daughters…He had been my best friend from the time that I was 19. Don's relatives had always questioned whether Carole was involved, and in 1998, one of Don's daughters told People that, "It [the animal sanctuary] is a perfect scenario to dispose of someone. Credit: Carole Baskin and Don Lewis got married in 1991, and they opened Big Cat Rescue in 1992. TIGER King has gripped the nation with its insane story of murder, mayhem and madness. Two months before he vanished, as PEOPLE previously reported, Lewis filed court documents seeking a restraining order against Baskin, claiming she’d threatened to shoot him. #TigerKingNetflix pic.twitter.com/OiHsuwecs7. Our product picks are editor-tested, expert-approved. Don was a self-made millionaire, and while there was a 22-year age difference between the two, things between them seemed fine until 60-year-old Don vanished without a trace in August 1997. Should Don Lewis ever return from his decades-long disappearance, Tiger King star Carole Baskin says she'd be willing to care for him for 'the rest of his life.' Shocking revelations about Don Lewis disappearance reignited as Carole Baskin danced her way back into the spotlight. Carole also added that she had her own suspicions about Don's longtime secretary, Anne McQueen. But Baskin maintains her innocence. That's what the "Dancing With the Stars" alum and her husband, Howard Baskin, revealed during an … Life Before Don Disappeared: Don Lewis married Carol Baskin's in 1991. Here is … Baskin continues to successfully run Big Cat Rescue, but says she’s haunted by some of the past traumas the Netflix series dredged up. Baskin is featured heavily in Tiger King as the series explores her rivalry with Exotic. But her newfound fame has less to do with her mission to save the lives of exploited exotic cats and more to do with Netflix’s popular docuseries Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness, which chronicles the bitter feud between Baskin and Joseph Maldonado-Passage ( “Joe Exotic”), the now-imprisoned founder of Exotic Animal Memorial Park, a private zoo in Oklahoma that relied on several illegal practices. There’s been a lot of scuttlebutt about what happened to Don Lewis. CAROLE Baskin was one of the stars of the true crime documentary series Tiger King - and the wife of a man who has been missing since 1997. During a particularly bad night, Baskin ran away from her husband. She then ended the blog with one final statement of innocence: "Don was not easy to live with and like most couples we had our moments. "Can you imagine having people think you killed your husband or wife and not being able to prove otherwise?" The unsavory lies are better for getting viewers. Coyote Ugly Turns 20: Where Is the Cast Now? Lewis was a self-made millionaire who helped Baskin transform their 40 acres of Florida land into the animal sanctuary it is today. Text us for exclusive photos and videos, royal news, and way more. Carole Baskin is competing on Dancing With the Stars season 29 starting September 14. We decided to take a look into the facts behind Carole Baskin and her husband, Don Lewis, as well as what she's up to now. Here's what you need to know about Carole and Don. The story of Carole Baskin 's life with Don Lewis, like so many Florida stories, begins like a pulp fiction novel any reputable publisher would reject. Tiger King is one of the wildest documentaries we've seen on Netflix in a while, and the series' cast of characters includes: Joe Exotic, a polygamist that owned and operated an exotic big cat park in Oklahoma; Doc Antle, another eccentric park owner; and the convicted cocaine drug lord Mario Tabraue. Picture: Netflix Source:Supplied After a while, they owned hundreds of big cats, … She married an abusive man who fathered her daughter, Jamie Murdock. What happened to Carole Baskin from Tiger King? Originally the sanctuary was known as Wildlife on Easy Street before becoming Big Cat Rescue. We were upset that the cops didn’t test the DNA on the meat grinder." But the number one question surrounding Baskin after Netflix's Tiger King docuseries remains: What happened to her husband? she said. Carole Baskin is an animal rights activist who runs the Big Cat Rescue animal sanctuary. For years, Baskin, whose mission is to save big cats from cruelty and exploitation, was an outspoken critic of Maldonado-Passage, making videos about him, blogging about him, even tracking his movements and asking businesses not to work with him when he did mall tours with his big-cat menagerie. The investigation into his disappearance has stretched from Lewis's Wildlife on Easy Street sanctuary in Tampa, co-owned with his second wife Carole Baskin, to land owned by Lewis in Costa Rica. Don was a self-made millionaire, and while there was … Baskin is as zany as every other character in this misfit melange — so much that a Baskin Robbins in Kansas has posted a sign declaring "No Relation to Carole Baskin." In the open letter, Baskin again refuted that she had anything to do with Lewis’s vanishing, writing, “In the few years preceding his disappearance Don’s behavior was gradually showing signs of mental deterioration,” noting that he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and had taken up some strange behaviors, including “refusing to use the bathroom and defecating outside.”. But viewers want to know more about Carole Baskin and the disappearance of her first husband Don Lewis. However, a judge didn't find grounds for an injunction. I lost him in 1997, so talking about that turns up a lot of painful memories." Much like Exotic, Baskin's story is one that the public seems unable to keep their eyes off of. But I never threatened him and I certainly had nothing to do with his disappearance.". Some of his relatives speculated that Baskin may have been connected to his disappearance. "Without a body, there is nothing I can do to clear my name.". Both Baskin and Lewis were married to other people at the time, and he had children as well. this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines. In her own interview segment with People, she said that the accusations against her were baseless and harmful. We may earn a commission through links on our site. This Emerging Designer Wants Men to Dress Up Again, Meet the Trainer Behind Our Newest Workout Program, The Wave Duo Is the Perfect On-the-Go Massage Tool, Why Eggs Might Be Your Weight Management MVPs. This content is imported from Twitter. However, her debut on the show still involved Don, as his family took out an ad during the episode to call for answers about his disappearance. Carole still runs Big Cat Rescue (and she was actually awarded Joe's zoo in May 2020), and she's now married to a man named Howard Baskin, who appears in Tiger King. Uncredited/AP/REX/Shutterstock, | Maldonado-Passage eventually tried to silence his nemesis by paying a hitman $3,000 to murder Baskin in November 2017. Baskin met Lewis, a multi-millionaire, in 1981 when she was 20 years old and he was 42 years old. Between his over-the-top music videos and deep love for exotic animals, Joe … He bought Carole a bobcat and then the two began collecting any abused or abandoned big cat they could find and began a sanctuary. Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness began streaming on Netflix on March 20. The Tiger King doc suggests Carole may have had something to do with it. After Tiger King, Carole became quite the meme celebrity, and she later landed on the most recent season of Dancing with the Stars. Joe first retaliated by making her the subject of his country diss track "Kitty Kitty," but the story soon turned sordid when it was revealed that he had tried to hire a hitman to kill Carole. 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