Joe Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, got his sentenced reduced to 21 years in a case related to his alleged attempts to murder animal welfare activist and rival, Big Cat Rescue founder Carole Baskin

Exotic sentence was reduced only by a year, despite the ‘Tiger King’ star’s pleas for leniency in light of the commencement of his cancer treatment.  

Maldonado-Passage was sentenced in January 2020 to 22 years in prison. But the appeals court said the court should have calculated his advisory sentencing range between 17 1/2 years and just under 22 years in prison, rather than between just under 22 years and 27 years in prison.

He said in November that he has “aggressive” prostate cancer. While he has been receiving medical care in prison, ‘The Tiger King’ postponed starting eight weeks of radiation treatments until after sentencing as he was not able to travel during the treatments.

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He was also sentenced for killing five tigers, selling tiger cubs and falsifying wildlife records. He maintains his innocence. 

In a separate action, a couple who succeeded Maldonado-Passage in operating the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park and Tiger King Park agreed to surrender their rights to 97 animals of endangered or threatened species and 47 other animals covered by the Animal Welfare Act.

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Jeffrey and Lauren Lowe, who are former friends of Maldonado-Passage, also agreed in a Dec. 23 consent decree filed in federal court in Muskogee, Oklahoma, to never again exhibit animals.

Federal agents seized the 97 endangered animals, including 68 big cats and a jaguar, from Tiger King Park in Thackerville, Oklahoma, in two seizures last May and August. Federal officials accused the Lowes of harming and harassing the animals.

With inputs from the Associated Press