JOE EXOTIC
The Tiger King By: Effy Bergstein
tigers, and he has interesting reasoning behind it. "Animals of the world are proving to us that our view of how the world began is a little wrong," he says. Schrelbvogel's theory is that before the Ice Age, lions and tigers were one of the same. After the ice melted, the lions were stranded in Africa and the tigers were stranded in Asia, evolving into two separate species. "They're genetically the same animal otherwise they wouldn't breed. I've worked with several universities who've studied the science and DNA behind this. They're actually releasing a big article in January to prove they're the same species." Many of the animals at GW Exotic, like the Alligators from Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch, are rescues from similar organizations that can no longer take care of them. Some are re-homed from private owners who can't keep up with little Simba once he transforms into Mufasa, king of the jungle.
W
ith a bleach-blonde mullet, a black mustache, and more tattoos and piercings than Tommy lee, out-spoken activist Joe Schrelbvogel might be my new favorite rockstar.
Schhrelbvogel is the owner of GW Exotic Animal Park, an animal sanctuary home to over a thousand exotic animals including miniature horses, wolves, camels and ligers. That's right, ligers -- Joe is breeding a mix of lions and 20 • HOLLYWOOD WEEKLY
Referred to in the press as a "literal Noah's arc in the middle of Oklahoma," Joe's forty-five acre land oasis would make for an incredible place to shoot a film. And at the center of it all is Joe himself, who appears to be a sort of modern day Mogli, (on Disney reference too many?), walking around the place and making sure the animals are happy on a daily basis. But just who is the charismatic man behind the GW Exotic Animal Park. It all started at the tender age of nineteen, when Joe was crowned the youngest police chief in Texas history, and ready to dedicate his life to being a cop. But in 1985, his life was about to change: "My career ended one
night when a drunk driver hit me on a bridge. I moved to Florida to do my physical therapy and my neighbor was the manager of Lion Country Safari at the time. He brought home all the baby tigers and monkeys to bottle-feed and take care of," he said. Joe was hooked. Just a few months later, he and his brother became owners of an exotic pet store themselves. And so began the transformation from GI Joe to Joe Exotic, all he needed now was a name change. "My last name is horrible," he laughs. "I started doing magic shows years ago and none of the kids could pronounce it." I couldn't help but think Siegfried and Roy when I heard that, the famous duo who performed a big cat magic show in Vegas years ago. "I had a magic act with a spider monkey named Little Ricky, I trained him to hold a microphone and we had a voice recording for him so it looked like him talking and he would 'talk' to the kids. We were teaching these little kids not to make fun of other kids who look different." A pioneer for anti-bullying before Lady Gaga even knew what bullying was: I love a man who's ahead of the curve. "Anyway, one of the little kids couldn't pronounce my name and started calling me Joe Exotic." Today, Joe has a large tattoo of Little Ricky, commemorating his friend on his left arm. Shortly after, Joe Exotic and his family sold the
