Doc Antle

Doc Antle
Antle at Myrtle Beach Safari in 2005
Born	Kevin Antle (1960-03-25) March 25, 1960 (age 61) Salinas, California, United States
Other names	Mahamayavi Bhagavan Antle
Occupation	Businessman
Known for	Involvement in Tiger King
Children	Kody Antle
Website	tigerfriends.com/docbio.html

Mahamayavi Bhagavan Antle (born Kevin Antle, March 25, 1960),^[1] better known as Doc Antle, is an American animal trainer, behaviorist, animal rights activist and private zoo operator.^[2][3] He is best known as the founder and director of The Institute for Greatly Endangered and Rare Species (T.I.G.E.R.S.) in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and Myrtle Beach Safari, a tour that runs through the facility.^[4]

Antle began raising and caring for whatever animal he could get his hands on at an early age. Antle started T.I.G.E.R.S., a wildlife preservation organisation dedicated to global conservation education through entertaining and participatory activities, in 1983. Antle has worked on over 500 films, documentaries, television shows, and commercials. Ace Ventura, Dr. Doolittle, Mighty Joe Young, Disney's Jungle Book, and a slew of others are among his credits. Antle is frequently contacted and has appeared on networks such as the National Geographic Channel, BBC, Discovery Channel, and CNN.

Antle is a self-described conservationist and is the executive director of a Rare Species Fund.,^[2][3][5] and has raised more than $1 million for select wildlife conservation projects around the world. He was featured in the 2020 Netflix true crime documentary series Tiger King, which follows both Carole Baskin and Joe Exotic's escalating feuds over exotic animals in private zoos. The series also speculates that Antle's facility is a personality cult. Following the release of the series, Antle denied the rumours.

Early life[]

Doc Antle was born Kevin Antle in Phoenix, Arizona in 1960, but went by Mahamayavi Bhagavan Antle later in life. He developed a love of animals on his parents’ cattle ranch in Southern California.^[6]

Career[]

Antle with a liger

Animals[]

Exxon Corporation executives approached Antle in 1982 and asked him to deliver a presentation with a tiger at the Exxon Annual Convention. Antle was training tigers for Exxon's "Put A Tiger In Your Tank" commercial campaign by 1983. For more than 6 years, Antle's tigers were involved in the Exxon campaign. Doc's reputation as an elite animal trainer increased over the next few decades.

After more than 30 years as an animal trainer, Antle shifted his focus to conservation of the animals in their natural areas. Antle, the Rare Species Fund, and his Animal Ambassadors have helped to produce educational programmes.^[7]

Music industry[]

In 2001, Antle was on stage with Britney Spears during her performance of "I'm a Slave 4 U" at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards, which featured a caged tiger and a large albino python draped over Spears' shoulders.^[8] Doc's reputation as an elite animal trainer increased over the next few decades. Antle worked on music videos for P. Diddy and Ashanti, as well as multiple videos for Janet Jackson.

Film and documentaries[]

Antle has ties to the film industry, having worked as an animal handler on films such as Dr. Dolittle and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. He has appeared on late-night talk shows and also provided animals for movies including The War, Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, Mighty Joe Young, and The Jungle Book 2.^[8]

Antle was also involved in the production of three documentaries: Nat Geo Wild’s Super Cat,^[9] Nature’s Jaguar: Year of the Cat,^[10] and PBS’s Big Cats.^[11]

In 2008, Suryia and Roscoe, an orangutan and an orphaned blue tick hound appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show in Chicago.^[12]

Antle was one of the private breeders featured in the 2020 Netflix television documentary Tiger King. He was disappointed with his portrayal in the series, calling it a 'train wreck of entertainment' and "salacious."^[13] Antle said in an interview that he was not told that the series would be about the bitter feud between Baskin and Exotic, and said that he would've preferred to be "left out of it".

Controversies[]

Personality cult conspiracy theory[]

In Tiger King, Antle's facility was described as a personality cult. Former T.I.G.E.R.S. employee Barbara Fisher claimed that she and Antle's other apprentices (mostly young women) felt compelled to sleep with Antle in order to advance in his programme. According to Fisher, she was also pressured to get breast implants because the park desired "sexy" ladies to be featured. Joe Exotic accused Antle of killing tigers in gas chambers to make space for further breeding.^[14]

Antle heavily criticised the accusations against him and his facility, calling Fisher's claims "the ramblings of a crazy child who has a lot of, in my opinion, issues and somehow those have boiled up."^[15] Antle also strongly denied that he ever euthanized tiger cubs, stating "They know that that's not true and that euthanizing cubs is illegal, immoral, and absolutely never happens here and never has.”^[16]

Animal cruelty and wildlife trafficking allegations[]

Antle was fined by the USDA for abandoning deer and peacocks at his zoo in Buckingham, Virginia in 1989. In total, Antle has more than 35 USDA violations for mistreating animals.^[17]

In late December 2019, South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources and Horry County Police Department raided Doc Antle's Myrtle Beach Safari.^[18] Antle said the agencies came to collect DNA samples from three young lions that descended from Wilson's Wild Animal Park in Virginia which was closed down due to animal welfare issues.^[19]

In 2020, TMZ's founder Harvey Levin broke the news that Antle was being investigated by the United States Department of Agriculture and the United States Department of Justice for the illegal sale of big cats including tigers.^[20] On October 9, 2020, after a months-long investigation by Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring’s Animal Law Unit, Antle was indicted on multiple felony and misdemeanor charges. The charges include one felony count of wildlife trafficking, one felony count of conspiracy to wildlife traffic, four misdemeanor counts of conspiracy to violate the Endangered Species Act, and nine misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty. Antle; his daughters; and Kevin A. Wilson, owner of Wilson’s Wild Animal Park in Frederick County, Virginia; were charged by the grand jury of Frederick County.^[3][21][22]

Personal life[]

Antle's wife died nearly 20 years ago in a car accident, and he has remained single ever since. Antle has two children: a son named Kody Antle and a daughter named Tawny Antle. Both of his children work with him at the Myrtle Beach Safari.^[23]

References[]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Doc Antle

External links[]

• Doc Antle's Myrtle Beach Safari website
• Doc Antle at IMDb 
• Rare Species Fund website
• Doc Antle's Tiger Tales blog

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