SANDSTONE, Minn. — The Wildcat Sanctuary in Sandstone, Minnesota is the new forever home for four big cats that formerly resided at the now-infamous Tiger King Park in rural Oklahoma.
According to the sanctuary, Alyssa the liliger, lions Alana and Aurora and white tiger Thor Jr. were all part of their animal Witness Protection Program over the past year while their legal cases moved through court.
Leaders from the sanctuary said in a Facebook post that they're happy the case is finally over so they can share the stories of all four animals. On their website, the Wildcat Sanctuary explains they they can't share photos, details or information about animals in their Witness Protection program until legal or court proceedings around cruelty, neglect and seizures are complete. Throughout the case, the animals are considered evidence, and are subject to protection.
Back in May 2021, the Wildlife Sanctuary confirmed it had accepted several cats from the Tiger King Park following a seizure by the U.S. Justice Department, but did not specify how many animals or their species.
The sanctuary says they plan to highlight the uniqueness of each animal's personality and illustrate how support from their contributors helped make this relocation possible.
The previous owner of Tiger King Park, Joe Exotic, was resentenced to 21-years in prison back in January, 2022 despite pleas of a lesser sentence due to a pro-longed medical condition. Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, played a starring role in Netflix's reality documentary “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness.”
Exotic was originally convicted in July, 2021 of conspiring a murder-to-hire "hit" of his Netflix co-star, Carole Baskin.
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