Erik Cowie shared his biggest regret about Tiger King in an interview given before his tragic death.
The zookeeper claimed he was instructed to put down tigers for no good reason on Joe Exotic's orders, something that still played on his mind after the zoo closed.
His comments have resurfaced after it was announced that Erik had been found dead lying face down in his apartment in Brooklyn this week. He was 53-years-old.
After the huge success of the Netflix series, the streaming site released a spin-off called The Tiger King and I which featured cast members of the original show, including Erik.
He didn't hold back with his criticism of Exotic, who is currently serving a 22-year sentence for plotting to kill his rival Carole Baskin and wildlife violations.
Erik said he felt guilty about killing the animals without a good reason.
"It's been in the back of my head," he said. "I think about it a lot – a lot of times when we put cats down, they used me because just my appearance or my voice [meant] I could get a cat up the side of the cage where we can dart it and tranquilise it."
"Those cats trusted me up until the end. Sometimes, I swear they're like 'Dude you let me down.'"
The spin-off's host Joe McHale asked if the tigers were always put down for medical reasons, to which Erik replied: "Hmm – you would think. But no."
When he was asked if Exotic should ever be released, Erik replied: "No. Not no, but f*** no."
He added: "Twenty-two years doing federal time – that guy's gonna die in there. Good riddance.
"I am pretty sure they don't have Netflix in there so he won't get to see it."
Erik found fame after Exotic allowed cameras to film Tiger King at the G.W. Exotic Animal Memorial Park.
He had the title of head zookeeper for five years under Exotic's management.
As shown in the series, he went on to testify at Exotic's trial where he alleged older tigers were shot and killed at the zoo.
Erik was found dead on Friday in New York City in the bedroom of a property, TMZ reported.
The site's sources say there was "nothing suspicious about the death at this point and no drugs were found on the scene."
It is understood that a toxicology test will still be performed by a medical examiner.
