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Bhagavan “Doc” Antle founded Myrtle Beach Safari, a roadside zoo in South Carolina that tears infant animals away from their moms so that humans can profit from using them in public encounters, treat them as props for publicity stunts, and exploit them for social media clout. 🤬
Antle is a convicted wildlife trafficker and one of the villains featured in Netflix’s Tiger King. He yaps about how Myrtle Beach Safari’s premium prices for a chance to take photos with infant wild animals somehow fund conservation efforts, but this is all part of a carefully scripted performance. 🙄
Antle could rival P.T. Barnum, founder of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, in his ruthlessness in exploiting the defenseless for his own financial gain. His greedy roadside zoo forces Bubbles, a female African elephant, to endure photo ops and suffer alone. Female elephants stay with their fams for their entire lives in nature, but Bubbles hasn’t had contact with another elephant in over 30 years. 😢
Myrtle Beach Safari regularly exploits baby animals who’ve been torn away from their moms—including many species who naturally stay with their fams throughout their lives, like chimpanzees, monkeys, hyenas, and wolves—in stressful public photo ops. Treating animals as though they were nothing more than objects to use for entertainment is a form of speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview.
In June 2022, the FBI arrested Antle, who was later indicted on federal charges related to money laundering and wildlife crimes. In June 2023, he was convicted on felony wildlife trafficking charges in Virginia. 😶 His license to exhibit animals under the federal Animal Welfare Act (AWA) was canceled, but one of his partners now operates his roadside zoo under her own AWA license—so we still need your help!
Please urge Antle to end Myrtle Beach Safari’s public encounters and make a plan to send the great apes and all the other animals to reputable facilities where they could live in peace and get the care they deserve.