Carole Baskin

Carole Ann Baskin is an American animal rights activist and television personality best known for her role in the Netflix documentary series Tiger King and her lifelong advocacy for big cat conservation. Born on June 6, 1961, at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, Baskin grew up with a deep passion for animal welfare. She gained widespread public recognition as the founder and CEO of Big Cat Rescue, an accredited non-profit animal sanctuary based in Florida dedicated to housing, protecting, and rescuing exotic wild cats.

Career and Animal Advocacy

Baskin's involvement with big cat care began in the early 1990s when she co-founded Wildlife on Easy Street in Tampa, Florida, alongside her second husband, Don Lewis. Over time, the facility transitioned from an exotic feline breeding and display operation into Big Cat Rescue, a sanctuary focused strictly on rescue, rehabilitation, and ending the private trade and abuse of big cats. As CEO, Baskin became a prominent lobbyist for federal animal protection legislation, playing a key role in advocating for the Big Cat Public Safety Act, which was officially signed into law in December 2022 to restrict private ownership and cub-handling operations across the United States.

Reality TV and Media Appearances

Baskin entered mainstream global pop culture in March 2020 following the release of Netflix's true-crime documentary series Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness. The series highlighted her intense legal and public conflict with Oklahoma zoo operator Joe Exotic. Following her appearance in the documentary, Baskin participated as a contestant on season 29 of ABC's Dancing with the Stars in autumn 2020. She subsequently starred in her own 2021 docuseries, Carole Baskin's Cage Fight, on Discovery+, which focused on her ongoing efforts to investigate illegal big cat breeding and trafficking.

Personal Life and Conservation Focus

Baskin has been married to management consultant and conservation advocate Howard Baskin since November 2004, and she has one daughter, Jamie Veronica Murdock, from a previous marriage. In 2023, following the passage of federal big cat legislation, Big Cat Rescue announced a strategic pivot toward wild conservation, relocating its remaining captive cats to accredited sanctuaries and funding global big cat protection initiatives.