![Head ‘Tiger King’ Zookeeper Found Dead at 53](http://townsquare.media/site/175/files/2021/09/attachment-1_JS210442207.jpg?w=980&q=75)
Head ‘Tiger King’ Zookeeper Found Dead at 53
'Tiger King' had many memorable characters and sadly one of them is no longer with us.
Some sad news to pass along. It looks like former head zookeeper for the G.W. Zoo in Oklahoma Erik Cowie was found dead in his apartment over the weekend. Erik no longer lived in Oklahoma, he was apparently living in New York at an apartment in Brooklyn.
No cause of death has been revealed at this time, but an autopsy is currently being conducted. Joe Exotic or Joseph Maldonado-Passage was the boss to Erik. Joe is currently sentenced to 22 years in prison for the murder to hire plot for Carol Baskins. Erik did testify against Joe during his sentencing.
Erik in my opinion was probably the most underrated person in that Netflix series. He has these quick little one liners throughout the documentary. You may remember when they were talking about another tiger owner, Doc Antle. He was the guy that had a cult of women at his zoo.
The interviewer asked Erik, how many wives do you think Doc Antle has? Erik with the quick response of, "I don't f***ing care," always cracked me up. Erik definitely wasn't as attention grabbing as Joe or Carol, but he had some great moments in the show.
Friendly reminder, Joe Exotic's YouTube page is still up from the reality show they were attempting to film back in the day. Some footage not shown in the Netflix documentary is up there if you're interested.
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