A pal of Joe Exotic breeding pumas at a secret Scottish location says the Netflix star should be released from prison.
Big cat breeder Kayleigh McIntosh-Lowrie is a long-time friend of the global superstar and the pair have communicated extensively about the breeding and keeping of big cats.
She believes Joe’s arch-rival, Big Cat Rescue CEO Carole Baskin, was the real villain in the saga which emerged after Tiger King became a global TV sensation, attracting 65million viewers.
Joe, 57, is currently serving a 22-year prison sentence over a plot to kill Carole.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Record, Kayleigh revealed she is trying to breed her own litter of mountain lions – and gave her views on the Joe v Carole feud.
Kayleigh, 32, watched them clash on Facebook and believes he was framed for attempting to have her killed.
She said: “I honestly think he got set up. I don’t think he was plotting to kill Carole at all. Not many cat owners would believe he really wanted to kill her.
“Joe was all talk and that’s quite different to actually killing someone.”
Kayleigh said online chat groups such as Exotic Animal Owners and Friends, and Big Cats turned into a “war zone” after Joe and Carole clashed.
She added: “It all got really personal and nasty but I’d have to say just about everyone I know supported Joe and pretty much couldn’t stand Carole. But Joe did get a bit obsessed with her, which caused a lot of problems.
“All the talk was about her getting $3.5million (£2.8million) last year to rescue 14 cats. There has been a lot of speculation about her motives.”
Kayleigh also watched the emerging feud between Joe and Jeff Lowe, who went from friend to villain as he took ownership of Joe’s zoo then became involved in a furious ding-dong on social media.
Kayleigh, who runs her Stylisticat International operation with husband Gordon, was stunned at the huge success of Tiger King.
She said: “I haven’t spoken to Joe for a while so I was pretty intrigued when he popped up on TV. The programme probably captured a lot of the mad stuff in his life.
“We had a lot of talk on social media about our cats and he was always keen to engage about how the breeding was going, what enclosures people were using, feeding and stuff like that.
“He was doing the tigers and I was doing what we refer to in the exotic animal world as ‘small cats’. We have lots of common friends and I know a few people who were buying from him.”
She added:“He was always friendly but went a bit crazy when he started running for president. I don’t know what was going on in his head. Viewers would be able to see there are good and bad sides to Joe.”
She added: “I can see why people would draw comparisons between Joe and I as there are not many people who do what we do.
“Unlike Joe, I’ve only got one husband and am probably a lot more normal than him in most people’s eyes but we have the same passion for cats.”
After spending many years breeding smaller big cats such as servals, bobcats and caracals, as well as domestic Savannah cats, Kayleigh is now trying to breed pumas, otherwise known as cougars or mountain lions.
She said: “These are proper big cats and a different proposition to Savannah cats.
“I’m moving out of hybridisation as I prefer wild cats. I think I can make a difference to guaranteeing their future as habitats disappear.”
Kayleigh lives in Denny, Stirlingshire, where she has bred bobcats and Savannah cats for sale to wealthy buyers for up to £7500 each.
However, her puma-breeding programme takes place at an undisclosed location in Perthshire.
She aims to create a genetic database of breeding big cats for the private sphere, in the same way they currently have for zoos.
Kayleigh said: “We will never be popular with some animal rights groups but we have the welfare of cats at heart. We’ve never had any dangerous incidents or had a worker at hospital and many of the animals have gone to good homes.”
Her home is a world away from Joe’s huge tiger production line in Oklahoma but both have faced criticism and controversy over breeding big cats in captivity.
Kayleigh is the only breeder in Scotland selling cats that require a dangerous wild animals (DWA) licence.
She employs a team of cat carers on site to look after the animals.
She says she wants to move away from the commercial market and focus on conservation of endangered breeds.
Although animal welfare groups have called for a ban on the breeding of wild cats in captivity, Kayleigh defends her occupation.
She has sold cats to clients in the US, Canada, Japan and Europe, flying animals over and dealing with red tape at customs.
She has passed stringent controls to operate her quarantine centre for animals coming to Scotland.
Kayleigh said: “We don’t sell our bigger animals to people who don’t have a DWA licence. We vet them to make sure they will care for the animal.
If they are treated correctly, they make fantastic pets – more like dogs than cats in the way they bond.”
