Carole Baskin Is Alive

ORIGIN
Carole Baskin is an American animal rights activist and animal sanctuary executive from Bexar County, Texas. She’s a founding member and current CEO of the animal sanctuary ‘Big Cat Rescue.’ The non-profit organization is headquartered in Tampa, Florida. Additionally, Baskin appeared in the Netflix documentary series Tiger King. In August 2020, she was named as a celebrity dancer on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars.

Baskin was born Carole Stairs Jones on June 6, 1961, in Bexar County, Texas. More specifically, her mom gave birth to her on the Lackland Air Force Base. Growing up, Carole showed an early interest in the veterinary medical field. However, she would later give up that career path after learning that veterinarians also euthanize (putting animals to death humanely) animals. Carole dropped out of high school before completing her HS diploma. She bounced back and forth between the states of Florida and Maine. Carole ultimately bought herself a Datsun Truck. She used the vehicle to get around and as a home for herself and her pet cat.

CAREER
Prior to her work with animals, Carole held a day job at a local department store in Tampa, Florida. She married her boss, Michael Murdock, in April 1979. She was 17 at the time. The couple welcomed their daughter, Jamie Veronica Murdock, in July 1980. They divorced in 1990. Starting in 1991, Carole worked alongside her second husband, Don Lewis, in his real estate business. In 1992, the couple founded the animal sanctuary ‘Wildlife on Easy Street’ in Tampa, Florida. Don went missing in the summer of 1997. Following his disappearance, Carole renamed ‘Wildlife on Easy Street’ to ‘Big Cat Rescue’ (BCR). Big Cat is one of the world’s largest accredited sanctuaries. It houses a wide variety of exotic cats, including cougars, lions, bobcats, and tigers.

In March 2020, Baskin was featured in the Netflix 7-part true crime documentary series ‘Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness.’ The show also stars Joe Exotic (Joe Maldonado-Passage), Bhagavan Antle, and several others. Tiger King was directed by Eric Goode and Rebecca Chaiklin. It received mostly positive reviews it is dubbed one of Netflix’s top releases of 2020. On August 18, 2020, Carole Baskin was named as a celebrity dancer for season 29 of Dancing with the Stars. Her fellow competitors include Cheer star Monica Aldama, actress Skai Jackson, Backstreet Boys singer AJ McLean, and former NFL tight end Vernon Davis. The show is scheduled for a September 2020 premiere on the ABC network.

PERSONAL
Carole Baskin is around 5ft 4in tall and she’s a Gemini. Her net worth is estimated at $10 million. Following Don Lewis’ death, Baskin inherited a real estate portfolio worth approximately $5 million. The annual revenue for Big Cat Rescue Corp. is north of $4 million. In 2013, she was paid out $1 million in damages by Joe Exotic. Joe Exotic is currently serving a 22-year prison sentence for his involvement in trying to have Carole Baskin killed.

Carole has been married 3 times. She was married to Michael Murdock from 1979 to 1990. Their union resulted in daughter Jamie. Her second husband was real estate businessman Don Lewis. The two were together from 1991 until he went missing in August 1997. Lewis was pronounced legally dead on August 19, 2002. Carole wed her third husband, Howard Baskin, in 2004.

Early in her career, Carole experimented with breeding show cats. She also ran a short-lived lawn trimming business. Carole got her feet wet in the real estate industry in 1984, buying and selling property alongside Don Lewis. Speaking of Don Lewis, Carole has been the subject of a number of internet memes and conspiracy theories with regard to his disappearance. Lewis was last seen in mid-August 1997. He was declared legally dead 5 years later.

Carole Baskin Bio, Net Worth, Height