Animal Handler Linked To Joe Exotic Killed By Tiger At Oklahoma Preserve - Beritaja
By: Albert Michael - Thursday, 25 September 2025 03:33:31
Animal handler Ryan Easley, 37, was fatally mauled by a tiger arsenic onlookers watched during the extremity of a large feline show astatine a sphere successful southeastern Oklahoma, Choctaw Police Department confirmed.
The incident happened astatine the Growler Pines Tiger Preserve successful Hugo, Okla., connected Sept. 20. While wrong a ample enclosure pinch the animal, the tiger abruptly attacked, biting and shaking Easley, according to Choctaw County Sheriff Terry Park.
“It was a large tiger,” Park told The Associated Press. “This peculiar one, he’d had for rather immoderate time.”
Park said that Easley’s woman and young girl were coming erstwhile the onslaught occurred.
Deputies and emergency aesculapian workers responded to the segment and pronounced Easley dead, Park said.
In a connection posted to Facebook, The Growler Pines Tiger Preserve called the incident “a achy reminder of some the beauty and unpredictability of the earthy world.”
“Ryan understood those risks — not retired of recklessness but retired of love. The animals nether his attraction were not conscionable animals to him, but beings he formed a relationship pinch — 1 rooted successful respect, regular attraction and love,” the station added.
The sphere noted that each tours and encounters will beryllium cancelled until further notice.
Easley’s family started a GoFundMe campaign to thief successful “honoring Ryan’s bequest of devotion, compassion, and love.”
“Ryan’s effect cannot beryllium overstated. His dedication, his sacrifice, and his emotion for his activity were unmatched. Anyone who met him could consciousness his passion—not only for the animals and his work—but moreover much truthful for his family,” the page read.
The GoFundMe run has raised much than US$37,000 of its extremity of $40,000 from much than 260 donations arsenic of Wednesday afternoon.
Easley had acquired immoderate of the tigers astatine the sphere from Tiger King star Joe Exotic, Park told The New York Times.
In a connection posted to X, Joe Exotic, whose existent sanction is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, said that he had known Easley for galore years and said he erstwhile built a compound astatine his zoo successful Wynnewood much than a decade agone to location Easley’s tigers during the winter.
“No 1 could blasted the tiger for what happened. We each return consequence successful what we do and we don’t request further laws to prohibition tigers because of this because you could get killed doing conscionable about anything,” Maldonado-Passage wrote.
“So pinch each my respect arsenic a quality R.I.P. Ryan Easley. You died doing what you loved,” he added.
Maldonado-Passage is presently serving a 21-year situation sentence aft he was convicted connected 17 national charges of animal maltreatment and 2 counts of attempted murder-for-hire for the crippled to termination animal use activistic Carole Baskin, who appeared successful the Netflix docuseries.
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Animal authorities group PETA said that Easley was “an subordinate of Joseph Maldonado.”
“Easley had acquired tigers from Joe Exotic and chap Tiger King villain Bhagavan “Doc” Antle for his business, ShowMe Tigers, and for years had hauled them about the country, forced them to execute successful sadistic circuses—including Shrine and Carden Circuses—and kept them trapped successful cages for hours erstwhile they weren’t performing,” the group said successful a statement.
Debbie Metzler, PETA Foundation elder head of captive wildlife, said that it’s “never safe for humans to interact straight pinch apex predators.
Earlier this month, a longtime zookeeper successful Thailand was mauled to decease by a battalion of lions successful beforehand of visitors astatine Safari World Bangkok.
The fatal onslaught took spot connected Sept. 10 astatine about 11 a.m. section clip erstwhile an worker stepped retired of his vehicle. He was mauled for about 15 minutes, according to Thai News Agency.
Sadudee Punpugdee, wildlife protection head of the Department of National Parks, told AFP that the employee, identified arsenic Jian Rangkarassamee, 58, was “a zoo unit personnel who usually fed the lions.”
The unit personnel was “mauled by six aliases 7 of the large cats erstwhile he stepped retired of his car,” Punpugdee added.
— with a record from The Associated Press
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