Joe Exotic Fan Page, Garden City, KS (2025)

09/25/2025

Something good has got to happen.

09/23/2025

❤️

09/22/2025

Official statement from the Tiger King

First of all I would like to send my prayers to Ryan Easley's family for their loss. I have known Ryan for many years. He built a large compound on the back side of my zoo to house his Tigers during the winter one year about 15 or so years ago.

According to PeTA they were kept in small cramp cages which is total bu****it.

No one can blame the tiger for what happened. We all take risk in what we do and we don't need further laws to ban tigers because of this because you can get killed doing just about anything. Driving down the road, going to School or church or speaking at a University.

We all assume the risk of what we do everyday.

Working with adult Tigers takes guts and skill, so many people do things different when working with Tigers, I choose never to make my Tigers perform or even my camel to Kush because it takes loosing that love bond between you and that animal.

I sold tigers to Ringling Brothers and worked with just about everyone in the business and you don't get a Tiger to jump through a hoop of fire because they love you.

In fact Ringling and other acts that use tigers to perform didn't even want them until they were a year old because they didn't want that bond between the tiger and the trainer because they didn't want the tiger coming in the cage and loving on the trainer, they needed to be there to work only.

You could ask Roy Horne if he was still alive just what goes into making an animal such as that to perform.

When I knew Ryan in the early years, he wanted to be the one with the most tigers in the ring at one time.

Myself and John Reinke both said when he was at our place with his tigers that he was going to get killed because some of his cats were crazy in the head but it was about having the most performing at one time at all cost.

PeTA and the animal rights groups will use this for their agendas which is nothing more than taking more of peoples animals away and putting them in their funded roadside zoos. (Stealing your property for free by passing more laws that affect you and not them).

The lawsuit I have filed against a GFAS facility called Black Pines will set the stage to make everyone play by the same rules including PeTA and the AZA along with the GFAS or it will end the fight of American tigers being on the endangered species act.

No matter if you agree with the way another operates his business, a loss is always something no one wants to see happen.

So with all my respect as a human R.I.P. Ryan Easley. You died doing what you loved.
-Joe Exotic