PETA Statement re Moksha Bybee’s Guilty Plea
For Immediate Release:
July 28, 2023
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
Moksha Bybee, codefendant of Tiger King villain and Myrtle Beach Safari operator Bhagavan “Doc” Antle, pleaded guilty this week to violating the federal Endangered Species Act by being involved in the sale and transportation of two juvenile cheetahs. Her sentencing has not yet been scheduled, but she faces a fine of up to $100,000 and one year in prison and was required to forfeit her interest in three young chimpanzees who are being held at Myrtle Beach Safari and have been exploited for demeaning social media videos and hands-on encounters. Below, please find a statement from PETA Foundation General Counsel for Captive Animal Law Enforcement Brittany Peet:
Another domino has fallen and more will follow for Bhagavan “Doc” Antle and his shameful animal exploitation business, as the terms of his codefendant’s plea agreement for transporting endangered young cheetahs who had been separated from their mothers require her to cooperate with the federal government in its case against Antle for money laundering and wildlife trafficking. He has already been convicted of wildlife trafficking in Virginia state court, and PETA will keep pushing the government to terminate this sleazy showman’s federal licenses and shut down his sinister operations.
More details about Antle’s exploitation of animals are available here.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment or abuse in any way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org, listen to The PETA Podcast, or follow the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
