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Erik Cowie , one of the stars of Netflix documentary Tiger King Joe Exotic in a brand new aftershow.
The streaming service has released The Tiger King and I
First up to speak on the special – from coronavirus lockdown – is head zookeeper Cowie, who refused to hold back when the subject of Joe Exotic arose.
After admitting he is yet to watch the series, he opened up about his regrets working with the eccentric tiger trader, claiming that he feels guilty after being instructed to put down animals for no 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’”
When McHale asks if the tiger was always put down for medical reasons, Cowie hesitates, adding: “Hmm – you would think. But no.”
He had stronger opinions on Exotic and his prison sentence, which he’s serving for hiring someone to kill animal rights activist Carole Baskin as well as for putting down tigers to make room for more animals at his Oklahoma reserve.
After being asked if he thinks Exotic should be released, Cowie said: “No. Not no, but f*** no.”
He added, with a laugh: |Twenty-two years doing federal time – that guy’s gonna die in there. Good riddance.”
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Other stars to appear on the special episode include Jeff Lowe, who shared his candid views on Exotic and Baskin , as well as former zoo manager John Reinke, who is shown making a startling allegation against Exotic .
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Try for free TV producer Rick Kirkham also came forward with a disturbing alleged story about Exotic that didn't make it into the documentary .
Find a transcript of everything that was said about Exotic in the new episode here ,
Last week, Baskin revealed she has had multiple death threats since the documentary was released.
The Tiger King and I is available to stream on Netflix now, and here are seven other bizarre Netflix documentaries you can watch if you liked Tiger King.
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