*I have not watched the entire series yet and as a journalist need to know all the facts*

MY THOUGHTS: I have not watched the entire series as of yet. In the letter Baskin wrote to me several weeks ago, it appears that I am an advocate of her cause. As a journalist, our jobs are to report the story fairly and accurately. I pride myself on being one of those journalist. I still need to get information from all sides.

But, because this series has taken a life of it’s own, and Baskin just recently reached out on her website, I decided to publish the letter.

I would also like to add, as news anchors, we are often asked to emcee events. I am always willing to offer my time for not for profit causes.

Everyone is talking about the Netflix true crime docuseries Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness, but Carole Baskin, one of the show’s main characters, is talking to Sarina Fazan. Tiger King delves into the world of big cats, following zoo owner Joe Exotic and the murder-for-hire scheme for which he was imprisoned.

The target of that scheme – and the target of many rumors in the docuseries – is Carole Baskin.

*I was asked to emcee Carol Baskin’s Fur Ball years ago*

Baskin is an animal rights activist and the owner of Big Cat Rescue, a nonprofit animal sanctuary in Tampa. Sarina served as the emcee of the nonprofit’s 2010 Fur Ball, a fundraiser that supports their mission of saving big cats.

Sarina recently reached out to Carole about her portrayal in Tiger King. In an email response, Baskin says that “Netflix grossly misrepresented us and our mission” in the docuseries. She refutes the allegations made about her ex-husband’s disappearance and the work of the sanctuary on the Big Cat Rescue’s website at https://bigcatrescue.org/refuting-netflix-tiger-king/.

However, Baskin says that her involvement in the docuseries was still worth it – if only for the awareness raised for the issues of breeding, cub handling, and the private possession of wild cats. She writes, “There was no amount of preaching to the choir that I could do to reach people of all walks of life with the message that cub handling is causing the extinction of the tiger and other big cats.”

Nielsen data shows that 34 million people viewed the program in the United States, just during its first ten days of release.

You can read the full email to Sarina here.

LETTER FROM CAROLE BASKIN TO SARINA FAZAN

Sarina,

Thank you for your caring and feel free to post from this page and from BigCatRescue.org/netflix. I am overwhelmed with the COVID-19 impact on the sanctuary right now and don't have time for interviews. "What doesn't kill me, makes me stronger" has been my mantra for my whole life, so please don't worry about me.

I think there could be much good to come from the Netflix docuseries because it is the kind of thing people love to see. There is a fascination with crazy people doing crazy things and many people love to see someone like me criticized for challenging the status quo.

That means people will watch and share the show. Based on it being in Netflix' top 10 line up, during a time when people around the world are confined to their homes looking for entertainment, I suspect it could easily reach 20 million people or more. There was no amount of preaching to the choir that I could do to reach people of all walks of life with the message that cub handling is causing the extinction of the tiger and other big cats.

The hard part for me and my tribe, which of course includes you, is that there are people who really hate having someone tell them it's not OK for them to gawk at cute baby wildcats who were born in captivity. Most of the death threats and really crude, violent comments I am seeing right now are from that segment of society.

There is just a ton of hate mail from people who saw the clip of the Wildcat Walkabout and think we have 600 people at the sanctuary every day just like a zoo. They hate that we are keeping cats in cages and letting people visit. That requires a lot of conversations between all of us to let them know that we absolutely agree that big cats shouldn't be in cages and why we can't just go turn them loose.

My greatest source of gratification, from this outlandish depiction of me and the sanctuary, is seeing there already is a change in attitudes for most people. They believe wild cats should live free. All we have to do is harness and educate this significant segment of society in order to end cub handling and phase out private possession, by motivating them to make the Call of the Wild at BigCatAct.com.

In case you need these links to help people understand that Netflix grossly misrepresented us and our mission, I'll include them here.

A concise summary: https://bigcatrescue.org/refuting-netflix-tiger-king/

All of the case numbers, dockets, links: https://bigcatrescue.org/netflix/

Slate did a great article about how Netflix chose the wrong villain: https://slate.com/culture/2020/03/tiger-king-netflix-carole-baskin-villain.html

I think the most compelling thing is to send people to CubTruth.com where they can see the three most potent videos to educate them about why they should make the call to Congress. Thank you for all you are doing to protect big cats, their cubs and their right to live free.

For the cats,

Carole Baskin, CEO of Big Cat Rescue

Caring for cats ♥ Ending the trade

P.S. Remember to choose BigCatRescue.org/smile and Big Cat Rescue as your charity so that Amazon will donate .5 percent of your shopping dollars to the cats AT NO COST TO YOU!!!

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SPEAKING OUT: Despite Negative Portrayal Carole Baskin says appearance on Tiger King was worth it to save the cats