Bhagavan “Doc” Antle has been arrested and currently remains in a South Carolina jail.
Doc, who owns South Carolina’s Myrtle Beach Safari and was featured in Netflix’s Tiger King docuseries, was arrested by the FBI and booked into a Horry County facility just after 3:30 p.m. local time Friday, according to the county’s online booking records.
At this time, it is unclear why Doc, 62, was taken into custody and if he has retained legal representation. As of Friday evening, he was still in jail but his charges were not listed.
News of Doc’s arrest comes after he was indicted on wildlife trafficking charges in Virginia in October 2020.
The state’s attorney general announced the charges in a press release, stating that Doc was charged with one felony count of wildlife trafficking, one felony count of conspiracy to wildlife traffic and 13 additional misdemeanor charges relating to animal cruelty and the Endangered Species Act.
According to the release, the attorney general’s animal law unit conducted a months-long investigation of the zoo, as well as Wilson’s Wild Animal Park in Winchester, Virginia. The office discovered that Doc and the owner of Wilson’s Wild Animal Park, Keith Wilson, had allegedly trafficked lion cubs between Virginia and South Carolina.
Wilson similarly faced one felony count of wildlife trafficking, one felony count of conspiracy to wildlife traffic, and 17 misdemeanor charges.
The attorney general said Doc’s daughters were also charged with misdemeanors. Tawny Antle faced one misdemeanor count of cruelty to animals, while Tilakum Watterson was charged with two misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals and two misdemeanor counts of violating the Endangered Species Act.
Fans got a closer look at Doc’s life in Tiger King: The Doc Antle Story, which debuted on Netflix in December.
“We have a fabulous facility, with quality environments for the animals. There’s nothing to see here except success, understanding and a team of people who make it their life,” Doc said in a trailer that dropped a week before the show’s premiere.
However, others featured in the series did not hold back their very different thoughts about Doc, with one interviewee accusing him of running a cult and brainwashing his followers. “Doc Antle, he was attracted to power,” someone else said, while another added, “He had complete control.”
“He’s gotten away with this for so long, he thinks he’s bulletproof,” one woman said, alleging that there are others who have the same story as hers.
“After Tiger King, all these people contacted me with their own stories. I knew that if I came forward, other people would too,” she continued. “Doc won’t survive in sunlight.”
In the original Tiger King, which premiered in March 2020, Doc was portrayed as a polygamist with a cult of female employee followers at his zoo. At the time of its release, he slammed the popular show and his portrayal in it as “outrageous.”
“Remember, this is not a documentary. This is a salacious, outrageous ride through a television show produced to create drama,” he said in an interview.
