PETA Statement on the Conviction of ‘Joe Exotic’

For Immediate Release:
April 2, 2019

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA President Ingrid Newkirk in response to the jury’s conviction of Joseph Maldonado-Passage (aka “Joe Exotic”), the former operator of the notorious Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park, on two counts of attempted murder for hire and 17 counts of wildlife-related federal crimes, including killing five endangered tigers and trafficking in endangered animals:

“Joe Exotic” has been on PETA’s radar for years as a notorious animal abuser and as the primary supplier of big-cat cubs for the cruel cub-petting industry, and PETA already succeeded in getting 39 tigers, three bears, two baboons, and two chimpanzees out of his hands and into reputable sanctuaries. The world will be a safer place for all living beings with this man behind bars, where he can no longer harm animals or the animal advocates he hanged in effigy.

PETA’s motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment,” and the group opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. More information about Maldonado-Passage is available here.