Netflix’s ‘Tiger King’: Where Is Jeff Lowe Now?
Netflix’s new documentary series, Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness follows the life of zookeeper and big cat breeder Joe Exotic. The show also documents how another animal enthusiast, Jeff Lowe, helped save his zoo. Joe Exotic has since gone to jail, but where is his ex-partner Jeff Lowe now?
Who is ‘Tiger King’ star Jeff Lowe?
On Tiger King, Jeff Lowe reveals that his grandfather founded the Robin’s Brothers Circus in 1928. He says that he grew up with animals in life, and some of his first birthday gifts were big cats. According to the Wynnewood Zoo website, where Lowe is listed as CEO, he has worked with celebrities like Evel Knievel and Prince, but the capacity or nature of his work is not described.
Lowe appears on the Netflix series with his wife, Lauren Lowe. On the show, he explains that he first met Joe Exotic when he tried to buy a cub from him in 2015. When he realized how bad Joe’s financial situation was, he decided to invest in the zoo and keep some of his own animals there.
In 2018, Lowe was charged with keeping exotic animals like a lemur, liger, and tiger in his Las Vegas home without a proper license. After he entered a plea agreement, his animals were seized and he was required to pay a $10,000 fine.
After Exotic filed for bankruptcy because of litigation brought on by his rival Carole Baskin, Lowe and his wife bought Exotic’s zoo and became its new owners. Just a few months later, when Lowe learned that Exotic was being investigated by the federal government for a murder-for-hire scheme to kill Baskin, he became an informant. He helped the government build its case, which eventually led to Exotic’s arrest, conviction, and imprisonment.
Where is Jeff Lowe now?
As shown on Tiger King, Exotic had named his zoo The Garold Wayne Exotic Animal Memorial Park or the G.W. Zoo in memory of his late brother. Lowe now owns the zoo and has renamed it the Greater Wynnewood Zoo, keeping the old initials intact.
As reported by Oklahoma 4, Lowe posted a statement on Facebook that explained why he’s distancing the wildlife park from Exotic’s legacy and illegal activities. “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,” he wrote in the Facebook post. “There is so much more to be revealed about Joe and his crimes against animals and we don’t want to be associated with him any longer.”
But it doesn’t look like the G.W. Zoo is doing very well these days. In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Tiger King producer Eric Goode revealed that the park is barely functioning.
“I got a very long text today from Jeff Lowes, who is running Joe’s old zoo,” Goode told the outlet. “All I can tell you is that he is basically operating on fumes. No one is going now and there’s no source of income, and that’s been going on for a long time.”
As revealed toward the end of Tiger King, Lowe has also opened up another wildlife park called the Oklahoma Zoo. On the park’s Instagram page, Lowe posts pictures of various animals, as well as photos of himself and his wife.
