G.W. Exotic Animal Park in Wynnewood, Okla., which gained fame from Netflix’s Tiger King series, was closed over the past several weeks due to the coronavirus pandemic but has now reopened.
Oklahoma lifted its stay-at-home restrictions over the past weekend, and hundreds of people reportedly went to visit the zoo, which was formerly owned by Joe Exotic.
The zoo, now called Tiger King Park, was given clearance to reopen as long as workers and visitors followed the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s sanitation and social-distancing protocols.
Photos from the Daily Mail show almost all of the visitors not wearing masks and crowding together to look at the park’s animals.
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The outlet reports that the zoo owners, Jeff and Lauren Lowe, greeted guests during the park’s reopening.
Head zookeeper Erik Cowie and Allen Glover, who Exotic allegedly hired to kill rival Carole Baskin, were also reportedly at the park’s reopening.
The zoo reopening comes after Baskin was duped into her first interview since the Netflix series was released in March.
YouTubers Josh Pieters and Archie Manners tricked Baskin into believing that she was being interviewed by late-night host Jimmy Fallon for The Tonight Show.
The interview began with The Tonight Show intro and Fallon asking Baskin how she was doing.
“I’m doing great,” Baskin said. “My daughter, Jamie, suggested that I do this interview with you, so she says ‘Hi,’ and we are working every day with the cats at the sanctuary.”
The duo used more clips of Fallon asking her what she was doing during physical distancing and who she’s been isolating with. They also asked her about the animals at the sanctuary.
“Unfortunately, due to the loss of tourism revenue, we had to let go about half of our staff, and thankfully, all of our animal care is done by volunteers,” Baskin said. “So, the animals are still getting their daily care, but it means all of us are having to work double-time to make sure that all that happens.”
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