{"id":36395,"date":"2025-09-22T12:52:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T12:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/36395\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T12:52:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T12:52:09","slug":"animal-handler-linked-to-tiger-king-joe-exotic-mauled-to-death-by-big-cat-at-oklahoma-preserve-us-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/36395\/","title":{"rendered":"Animal handler linked to ‘Tiger King’ Joe Exotic mauled to death by big cat at Oklahoma preserve | US News"},"content":{"rendered":"

A tiger handler linked to “Tiger King” Joe Exotic has been killed by one of the big cats at the Oklahoma preserve where he worked.<\/p>\n

Ryan Easley “lost his life in an accident involving a tiger under his care” on Saturday, the Growler Pines Tiger Preserve in Hugo said in a statement on its Facebook page.<\/p>\n

It said: “Ryan was a passionate advocate for wildlife conservation. His love for animals, especially Big Cats, was evident in every aspect of his life.<\/p>\n

“He dedicated his life to the protection and care of these magnificent animals, and he believed deeply in the mission of Growler Pines – to provide a safe and forever enriching home for the animals under his care.<\/p>\n

“Growler Pines was more than just a place of work for Ryan, it was his calling, his passion and his life’s purpose. His courage, compassion and unwavering commitment to wildlife will never be forgotten.<\/p>\n

“This tragedy is a painful reminder of both the beauty and unpredictability of the natural world. Ryan understood those risks – not out of recklessness but out of love.”<\/p>\n

It said: “His legacy will live on in the lives he touched, the animals he protected and the example he set for others who dedicate their lives to working with wildlife.”<\/p>\n

\"Pic:<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Pic: Facebook\/ShowMe Tigers<\/p>\n

The preserve – which according to its website was established as Easley’s travelling big cats show ShowMe Tigers – added all tours and encounters had been cancelled until further notice.<\/p>\n

It is a private facility where people can book guided tours to meet tigers and see demonstrations on how they are trained and cared for.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Animal rights group PETA said in a statement on Sunday “it’s never safe for humans to interact directly with apex predators”.<\/p>\n

It called for wild animal exhibitors “to get out of the business now and send animals to accredited sanctuaries where they can finally live in peace”.<\/p>\n

PETA said Easley had acquired tigers from “associate” Joe Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado, and Bhagavan “Doc” Antle, also a star of the Netflix series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A tiger handler linked to “Tiger King” Joe Exotic has been killed by one of the big cats…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36396,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-36395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36395\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}