If you haven’t seen the Tiger King documentary on Netflix, you should, because it isn’t just crazy, it’s also a window into what Donald Trump might be like if he hadn’t been born to a rich daddy. It’s about a white-trash network of big cat “private zoos,” a rivalry with an animal-rights-themed rescue operation in Florida, a sordid cast of characters (not kidding with the Donald Trump analogy), polygamists, a murder for hire (maybe), another murder (maybe), and more plot twists than we’d ever tolerate from a scripted show. You know, like real life in the era of Trump.
The documentary is a national sensation, as it should be. It’s amazing TV. But, its popularity is driving crowds to Oklahoma, and rather than shut them down given the global pandemic ravaging our country, Oklahoma’s governor is totally okay with keeping them open for business. There are some show spoilers below, but worth it, given the importance of this information.
The show’s main stage is the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, population 2,212. And despite the whirlwind of drama surrounding it, it remains open for business today. And I mean, TODAY. From the park’s Facebook page (which I won’t link to, because they are horrible and f’ them), posted Sunday, March 29, in the evening:
After two of the busiest days this park has ever seen, we are going to step back tomorrow and confirm with the Governor that we are operating within the guidelines of the Covid19 requirements. We will not open at 9:00 tomorrow morning.
We are a licensed agricultural entity, but the crowds have been huge since the Netflix show and we have difficulty in controlling that much traffic at one time. At one point today we had cars lined up 1/2 mile down the road. We want to accommodate everyone, it just might not be possible to do safely.
We are conferencing with Gov Stitt tomorrow to seek advice on remaining open yet somehow controlling crowds.
Please check in with us before you travel all this way. We have been assured of our exemptions, now we just need to figure out the logistics of managing crowd sizes. We will post tomorrows hours after our State Capital conference call.
Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt is the same governor that, as the pandemic exploded around the country two weeks ago, posted (and then deleted) this tweet:
He really likes things that are “packed” in Oklahoma, and clearly, he’s happy as can be to ride off the Netflix documentary’s fame for his state, no matter how backward and disgusting it makes them look. (For example, a big source of revenue is playing with tiger cubs, $50 for two people, for six minutes. However, they grow up in 12 weeks. So they have to keep churning out cubs for this scheme. What happens to them when they grow up? The documentary suggests that they may be killed.)
It wasn’t until last Wednesday that the governor instituted some restrictions around the state (in 19 of the state’s 77 counties, because the coronavirus respects county lines), but there is still no “shelter in place” outside certain cities, where mayors have taken that initiative. Instead, there’s a “safer at home” order for seniors and the immunocompromised, but that’s not slowing the spread of the disease.
However, the governor’s emergency order does close “non-essential” businesses in counties that have confirmed COVID-19 cases (because, again, the virus respects county lines), and Garvin County, home of the tiger park, has four confirmed cases. It doesn’t matter, however, because somehow, the park can keep operating under an “agricultural” exception—clearly designed for working farms, not private zoos drawing record crowds. Apparently, nothing is more essential, in the governor’s eyes, than a tourist attraction. (We already know the park owners don’t care, because they are the worst people.)
Of course, the order does do the following: “Prohibits gatherings of 10 or more individuals.” So … is the state going to limit attendance at the park to 10 people? In fact, why haven’t they already been enforcing this restriction? Those four cases in the country are likely just the tip of the iceberg, and now you have crowds of tourists arriving and leaving from what may very well be a new hotspot?
According to the CovidActNow.org model, Oklahoma could see around 80,000 dead if it doesn’t get its shit together literally in the next couple of days.
Yet, instead of moving in that direction, the governor is working with a tourist attraction to figure out how to keep it in business. No matter how morally bankrupt the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park might be, allowing it to become a new vector for the spread of the disease just takes it to another whole level of disgusting.