Joe Exotic's Once Beloved Tiger Park Dismantled

<p>Former gubernatorial candidate and zookeeper Joe Exotic entered a not guilty plea in the murder-for-hire case against him. </p>

Thursday, September 27th 2018, 10:32 pm

By: News 9

Joe Exotic's Once Beloved Tiger Park Dismantled

Former gubernatorial candidate and zookeeper Joe Exotic entered a not guilty plea in the murder-for-hire case against him.

He'll face trial come November.

This comes on the heels of an announcement confirming the closure of the G.W Exotic Animal Park in Wynnewood.

In a post to Facebook, Jeff Lowe, the current owner of The Greater Wynnewood Animal Park announced its doors would soon be closing, with the intention of packing up only to head south.

The post read in part, "This post will make some people sad, but Lauren and I have decided to close the zoo in Wynnewood soon. A group of us are opening another Zoo near the Winstar Casino in Thackerville, before Spring Break 2019."

The post continued to say, "About 70% of the zoo's current clientele originate in Fort Worth and Dallas. Moving an hour closer to our demographic will do nothing but improve our animal's lives. We have been dismantling much of the park already, and will leave very little standing..."

Joe's house has been partially destroyed.

"We think it's best to let this zoo, die with Joe's conviction and not make the next generation of animals to live here, forever suffer his outrageous behavior and reputation," the Facebook post said.

Several photographs that followed showed dismantled cages along with a living memorial that was erected in honor of Joe's late husband Travis Maldonado.

According to additional Facebook posts, the memorial will be given to Travis's family. All the animals are expected to be moved to their new location in Thackerville.

Lowe's Facebook post:

Jeff Negan Lowe

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Former gubernatorial candidate and zookeeper Joe Exotic entered a not guilty plea in the murder-for-hire case against him.

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