Pets

"Tiger King" star Carole Baskin claims Netflix made her out to be a monster and an alleged spouse killer -- and while she still denies that, she is revealing new info about her late husband.

Carole bashed the Netflix producers Wednesday for what she characterizes as "lies and innuendos" from people she says are not credible whatsoever. She's especially miffed they suggested she's mixed up in her husband, Don Lewis' mysterious death.

In a post on her Big Cat Rescue website, she drops some alleged tea about Don's final months before he disappeared, and what she describes as erratic behavior.

Carole heavily implies Don had Alzheimer's disease, and even claims he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She says he was an avid dumpster diver in his final days, and would even bring random homeless people over to sleep at their home. She also claims he began defecating on their property grounds, adding he was a sex addict.

Yeah, she kinda went all scorched earth on him. She also claims Don was no millionaire when they met -- as suggested in "Tiger King." Sounds like he did have a vast portfolio when he disappeared though.

In her post, Carole also attempts to discredit almost everyone who spoke about her in the documentary -- and addresses concerns viewers had with how she and her current husband, Howard, run their business.

There's a bottom line though, and it's essentially this ... she says she did everything she could to help find Don when he disappeared, and even questions "Tiger King" director Eric Goode's intentions in allegedly attempting to vilify her.

Joe Exotic's actually way more disturbing than the 'Tiger King' documentary makes him out to be, at least according to the guy who lived at the zoo for a year and helped make Joe a star.

Producer Rick Kirkham joined us Wednesday on "TMZ Live" and said the wildly-popular Netflix series is frighteningly accurate -- but still only scratches the surface of Joe's crazy lifestyle.

Check out the video ... Rick recalled the time "a poor old woman drove in with a horse trailer" asking Joe to take over caring for the horse on the grounds of his zoo in Oklahoma. He claims Joe told her he'd offer the horse lots of green pasture -- but as soon as she left, he instead did something horrifying.

If you've seen the documentary, you'll recall Rick produced Joe's online reality series and even gave him the nickname Tiger King. He says Joe even wanted him to record the horse incident. As fans know, almost all of Rick's footage burned up in a mysterious fire at the zoo.

Rick also has some strong feelings about Carole Baskin ... and the allegations she was involved in her husband's unsolved murder.

Safe to say, after everything he saw firsthand, Rick's no fan of Joe or Carole.

Is Shaquille O'Neal video chat buddies with Jeff Lowe from 'Tiger King?'

That's what Lowe wants us to believe ... and now PETA is calling on the NBA legend to cut ties with the Oklahoma zoo owner ASAP claiming he's just as bad as Joe Exotic.

If you recall from the Netflix doc, Lowe owns the Greater Wynnewood Animal Park in Oklahoma ... and just a few weeks ago, the zoo posted a screengrab which appears to show a FaceTime call between Shaq and Lowe.

"One of the nicest guys in the World," the G.W. Animal Park posted on Facebook on March 21 ... "Shaq facetime’d a few minutes ago to see how we were doing and if we need anything. We love you too buddy."

Shocking, considering Shaq just went on his podcast a few days ago and tried to distance himself from the park and former owner, Joe Exotic.

In fact, Shaq said he "stopped going" to the zoo when he found out what was really happening behind the scenes.

Now, PETA is begging the NBA legend to disavow Jeff Lowe the same way he disavowed Joe Exotic ... firing off a letter to Shaq explaining their position.

"It appears that the equally problematic wild animal exhibitor Jeff Lowe is now claiming to have your support, PETA said to Shaq.

"Lowe is no different from Joe Exotic when it comes to harming animals."

PETA points out Lowe "has a long history of violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act" -- and there's still an active warrant for Lowe in Nevada stemming from Lowe's failed tiger-petting business (which was also mentioned in the Netflix doc).

"It's clear that you love tigers, and we hope you will dissociate yourself from people who profit from abusing, breeding, and exploiting them," PETA said to Shaq in the letter, obtained by TMZ Sports.

"Will you please make it clear right away that you don't desire to have an ongoing relationship with Lowe? As long as he continues to use your name to support his abusive business, you will be tied to animal suffering."

"Instead, please help these tigers. Help us shut down these hellholes, move the animals to reputable sanctuaries, and keep them out of the hands of abusers."

We've reached out to Shaq for comment. So far, no word back.

It would be incredibly cruel for Kate McKinnon to use real cats for her new show ... so says "Tiger King" star Carole Baskin who implores the actress to choose a different route.

A rep for Carole's Big Cat Rescue tells TMZ ... the org would very much feel like it would be cruel to use real big cats in a television series about cruelty to big cats. The org suggests Kate to instead utilize computer-generated imagery (CGI) of cats in the show rather than forcing real big cats to suffer just to entertain the audience.

ICYMI ... Kate -- who plans to star as Carole -- has had a project in the works since November based on the popular Wondery podcast, "Joe Exotic." The enormously popular Netflix doc "Tiger King" has since turned Kate's project a hot commodity, but she's also now in the crosshairs of wild animal conservationists.

The rep for Big Cat Rescue says, "We hope McKinnon has a passion for animals and that her series will focus on the horrible lives captive big cats lead when exploited by breeders like Joe Exotic. We further hope she urges the public to support the Big Cat Public Safety Act that would end the cub petting abuse in America."

PETA, which for years had been working to shut down Joe Exotic, has also come out echoing Big Cat Rescue's sentiments ... pleading with Kate and her producers "to use only CGI, animatronics, or even existing footage of big cats and other animals."

Shaquille O'Neal wants to make it clear -- he does NOT support Joe Exotic or the GW Zoo, despite the way it looked in the Netflix docuseries, "Tiger King."

One of the big moments in the series was when Shaq not only visited the GW Zoo back in the day -- but he then gave Joe Exotic a plug on "Inside the NBA." Shaq says he's visited the zoo several times and even appeared on Joe's reality show in 2014.

People have been critical of Shaq -- since the doc paints Joe as a scumbag who mistreated the animals at his Oklahoma facility. Also, he's accused of trying to put a hit out on a rival tiger sanctuary owner. Bad stuff.

But, Shaq addressed the situation on "The Big Podcast with Shaq" -- and claimed he had NO IDEA things were as bad as they were at the zoo.

"I was just a visitor. I met this guy. Not my friend. Don’t know him. Never had any business dealings with him, and I had no idea any of that stuff was going on," Shaq said.

The NBA legend admits he made donations to the zoo -- claiming he does stuff like that all the time -- but would never support the mistreatment of animals.

"People that know me know that I'm righteous. I don't harm tigers. I love tigers."

"We found out that he’s involved with all the stuff, and then, actually, I stopped going.”

Shaq says he really likes the show -- he's binged watched it -- saying, "It's actually a really good documentary."

The incarcerated Joe Exotic has one new champion in his corner -- and it's someone with a big voice and a major platform ... one Cardi B, who says she wants him freed.

The NY rapper went on a Twitter rant late-Friday night, with a bunch of messages in support of the 'Tiger King' star -- who's currently locked up for allegedly attempting to facilitate the murder of his onscreen nemesis, Carole Baskin, who Cardi doesn't like either.

She wrote of Baskin -- who runs a big cat animal rescue out of Florida, seemingly on the up-and-up -- with contempt, saying ... "Carol you think you slick bitch 😑😑😑😑." CB went on to say, "Who you think is more wrong? Narcissist joe? Or Greedy Carol? And Why?"

Very Trump-like, eh? BTW, Cardi also retweeted a meme that perpetuated a theory floated throughout the entire docuseries ... that Carole might've had her multi-millionaire husband killed and fed him to the tigers they had. She's vehemently denied that several times, and no evidence ever suggested she did that. No arrests were ever made in the case either.

The biggest vote of confidence, however, came when Cardi tweeted that she was itching to start a GoFundMe account for Joe, adding ... "He shall be free." Seems like she sympathized with his side of the story -- even though he was convicted and ultimately jailed.

As we reported ... Joe filed a $94 million lawsuit from prison pretty recently, accusing different governmental agencies of railroading him and allegedly discriminating against him with the animal cruelty charges he got slapped with and for which he was convicted.

"Game of Thrones" fans already reeling from the show ending have another heartbreaking loss -- the dog that played Bran's direwolf has died.

Odin, an Inuit dog who played Summer the direwolf in the very first 'GoT' episode back in 2011, died after being diagnosed with mouth cancer in November.

His owners announced the sad news on social media Thursday, saying they got him as a 7-week-old pup and he's been a member of the family the past decade.

Though they're very sad, they say ... "We can all take great comfort in knowing that he is forever immortalized in the great TV Show Game of Thrones as Summer Bran Starks' Direwolf Pup in Season 1 episode 1."

The HBO show even rallied behind Odin following his cancer diagnosis, helping raise funds for the family, so they could get the TV direwolf special treatment in Dublin on a weekly basis.

The family says Odin was treated to beach walks and his favorite foods during his final days, but succumbed to further illness this week and passed in his sleep.

He was 10.

RIP, good boy.

Tim Tebow has the cure for those coronavirus blues -- THREE INSANELY ADORABLE PUPPIES!!!!

Meet Paris, Chunk and Kobe ... the newest members of the Tebow family!!

The baseball stud and his new wife Demi-Leigh Tebow debuted their fur-babies on social media -- where they even started an IG page for the dogs called, "The Tebow Pack."

Yeah, you may think it's goofy, but they've already cracked 7,000 followers!!!

And, since we know you're thinking it ... no, we don't know if the dogs are rescues or from breeders. We're trying to get more info.

Based on their appearance, seems Kobe is a Golden Retriever. Chunk looks like a Bernese and Paris has all the markings of a Dalmatian.

Tebow LOVES dogs and was devastated when he had to put his beloved pet Bronco to sleep back in November saying it was "one of the toughest goodbyes."

As for Kobe, unclear if Tebow named the pup -- or if someone else came up with the monicker, but a cool Mamba tribute nonetheless.

Congrats!!

John Finlay -- one of the stars of the hit Netflix docuseries 'Tiger King' and Joe Exotic's ex-husband -- has a nice new set of pearly whites ... that almost make him look like a different person.

John tells TMZ ... he actually got his teeth redone in July 2019 all at once -- they're dentures -- and he's a little miffed at Netflix and the filmmakers because they never showed it.

We're told there's plenty of footage and photos of John fixing his smile but for whatever reason ... none of it made the final cut of 'Tiger King.'

Finlay also wants to clarify something about his gnarly teeth -- they weren't the result of meth abuse. Though John admits meth was a drug of choice for him in the doc, we're told his teeth were messed up before that, due to genetic reasons. He told us he has not touched drugs in 6 years.

John is currently working as a welder and living in central Oklahoma with his fiancee Stormey. We're told she's the one with John at the end of the series when he's getting his Joe Exotic tattoo reworked.

As for why Finlay's shirtless the entire time he's being interviewed on 'Tiger King' ... our sources say that was the idea of one of the producers, and John went with it.

For more on Finlay, ya gotta watch 'Tiger King' on Netflix, and also check out the podcast "Joe Exotic: Tiger King" by Robert Moor on Joe Exotic's story ... including more with John.

Lisa Vanderpump says the coronavirus might create a revolving door for shelter dogs -- on one hand, more people are adopting ... but she fears many are also ditching their dogs.

It's a pretty bittersweet reality from the Bravo star, who runs her own rescue center called The Vanderpump Dog Foundation. Lisa came on "TMZ Live" Monday to share the sad news that while, yes, more people are looking for furry friends during quarantine ... a lot of others are also making the tough decision to give up their dogs to shelters.

The reason behind it is more practical than cruel ... Lisa tells us that a lot of folks are simply losing their jobs right now, and they might foresee an unfixable situation when it comes to caring for their canines. As such, they're getting ahead of it and leaving 'em at the pound -- and that can be very sad news for those that don't get adopted.

There's also the issue of adopter's remorse, which Lisa says can be dealt with fairly easily -- just foster first, see if it's for you, and then sleep on it long and hard if you truly think you wanna adopt. The idea, obviously, is to keep these pets forever ... not just during statewide shutdowns and quarantine.

Kim Kardashian West isn't the only one finding random lobsters hanging out on local pavements in the midst of the coronavirus ... another one of the mysterious creatures just popped up on the sidewalk in Ohio.

Kim was shocked to find a lobster -- most likely crawfish -- near her home in Hidden Hills earlier this week. It's unclear just how the crustacean got there, as they spend almost all of their time in the water ... but it was certainly a sight to see.

We thought the strange sighting ended there until a friend of one of our staffers found ANOTHER one of the animals cruising a sidewalk in Ohio ... though it was much smaller than Kim K's.

The Ohio crustacean was found near a golf course, so it's possible it made the long journey out of a pond. However, we're told employees at the course had never seen one out like that.

Then again -- the biz is hurting so bad -- maybe restaurants are just letting their extra produce loose.

Lots of folks coping with the coronavirus scare have done a really good thing ... adopt a pet that needs a home for companionship and love, but the doors to many adoption agencies are closing.

Paw Works has been in overdrive over the last week ... check out some of the beneficiaries, like Wilbur, Saroo, Guddu, Sapphire and Granite -- 32 in all.

Here's the problem ... Paw Works and other animal rescue orgs are out of cash. From Paw Works ... "As of today, our Adoption Centers are closed until further notice ... Currently, there is nothing in place with the government to assist us with the rents and utilities that we pay as we do not fall into any of the categories."

They add, "In addition, the tax benefits allotted to businesses do not help us now or in the future. Closing all non-essential business puts us in jeopardy of future financial hardships, up to permanent closure."

Paw Works needs to raise $6,700 to cover April rent for its 3 locations. A tall order given what's going on. The org has saved more than 5,500 dogs and cats.