Doc Antle

Bhagavan Mahamayavi "Doc" Antle (born Kevin Antle; March 16, 1960), is an American animal trainer, roadside zoo operator, and felon convicted of wildlife trafficking.

Doc Antle was born in Salinas, California in 1960.

Antle grew up on an industrial farm in Salinas, part of a wealthy family connected to Tanimura & Antle, an agricultural company.

His father endowed him with a hefty trust fund after his death.

Antle dropped out of school before the ninth grade.

As teenagers, Antle and his girlfriend traveled to Virginia to attend a one month yoga retreat at Yogaville, a community founded by Swami Satchidananda Saraswati, an Indian spiritualist.

Antle performed magic shows and became a close associate of Satchidananda.

Through family business connections, Antle traveled to China and received basic medical training to serve rural populations; he claims to have earned the nickname “doc”.

The charges included felony wildlife trafficking as well as misdemeanor animal cruelty and violations of the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

Upon his returned to the U.S. in the 1980s he began practicing alternative medicine in Yogaville.

In the 1980s Antle practiced as a magician and opened a private zoo in Buckingham County, Virginia on a 14 acre property near the Yogaville ashram that held 100 animals including lions, tigers, bears, monkeys, and an elephant.

Antle began raising dogs in his youth, and started operating a private zoo in 1983.

Antle has worked as an animal trainer for films including Ace Ventura and Dr. Doolittle in addition to appearing as a guest on several television shows.

The private zoo was opened in 1983.

Antle is the founder and director of The Institute for Greatly Endangered and Rare Species (T.I.G.E.R.S.) in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and the Myrtle Beach Safari, a tour that runs through the facility.

He is a self-described conservationist and is the executive director of the Rare Species Fund, a nonprofit organization that purports to fund wildlife conservation.

Journalists have raised questions about how revenue generated by Antle's cub petting tours is distributed between his business and his nonprofit organization.

Antle was fined by the USDA for abandoning deer and peacocks at his zoo in Buckingham, Virginia in 1989.

In total, Antle has more than 35 USDA violations for mistreating animals.

Joe Exotic, who operated the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park, accused Antle of killing tigers in gas chambers to make space for further breeding.

Antle delivered seven tigers to the Samut Prakan zoo in Thailand, which is a zoo that has faced allegations of keeping animals in terrible conditions.

Antle runs a charity called Rare Species Fund, which is dedicated towards protecting animals living in the wild.

However, former employees of Antle have claimed that much of the charity's donations are funneled back to Antle.

Writing in Variety, Rebecca Rubin states, "Antle has ties to Hollywood, having worked as an animal expert on films like "Dr. Dolittle" and "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective." He appeared frequently on late night talk shows and also provided creatures for movies including "The War," "Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book," "Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls," "Mighty Joe Young" and "The Jungle Book 2." Antle was credited as a "principal animal trainer" in the 1994 and 1995 Ace Ventura films, a "trainer" in the 1994 and 1997 Jungle Book films and as an animal trainer in Mighty Joe Young.

In 2001, Antle was on stage with Britney Spears during her performance of "I'm a Slave 4 U" at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards, which featured a caged tiger and a large albino python draped over Spears' shoulders.

In 2008, Suryia and Roscoe, an orangutan and an orphaned blue tick hound which had formed an unusual relationship at Antle's zoo, appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show in Chicago.

Antle was the subject of a three-part true crime documentary spin-off of Tiger King, titled Tiger King: The Doc Antle Story released by Netflix on December 10, 2021.

In late December 2019, South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources and Horry County Police Department raided Doc Antle's Myrtle Beach Safari.

Antle told media at the time that this was for DNA testing lions for a multi-state investigation.

In 2020, he was featured in the first season of Netflix true crime documentary series Tiger King. Antle was the subject of a follow-up documentary Tiger King: The Doc Antle Story released in December 2021.

Antle has faced accusations of animal cruelty throughout his career.

In October 2020, Antle was charged with two felony counts related to wildlife trafficking and 13 additional misdemeanors after an investigation by the Attorney General of Virginia.

Antle has also has faced public allegations of inappropriate relationships with minors at the private Buckingham County, Virginia zoo, and of operating a cult at the Myrtle Beach Safari location, claims that Antle denies.

On June 3, 2022, Antle was arrested by the FBI on federal charges related to money laundering.

In addition to evidence that Antle had laundered money and falsified paperwork to facilitate the illegal sale of exotic animals, federal authorities uncovered evidence that Antle had laundered cash he believed to have been obtained through human smuggling.

In June 2023, Antle was convicted in Virginia of wildlife trafficking.

In October, he was fined $10,000 and banned from owning wildlife in Virginia for five years.

In November, he pleaded guilty to federal wildlife trafficking and money laundering charges, and faces up to five years in federal prison for each charge.

In 2020, Antle was reported as being investigated by the United States Department of Agriculture and the United States Department of Justice for the illegal sale of big cats including tigers.

Antle was indicted in October 2020 by a grand jury in Frederick County, Virginia, after a months-long investigation by the Animal Law Unit of the Virginia Attorney General.