Doc Antel from ‘Tiger King’ sleeps with an AK-47 owing to fear of getting killed by animal rights activists

Despite the unexpected stardom Netflix’s hit series ‘Tiger King’ has brought to the people featured in it, a couple of them have been living in immense fear after being targeted by animal lovers for their ill-treatment of wild cats and other exotic creatures. 

In one such news, it has been revealed that Doc Antle, who identifies himself with the name Mahamayavi Bhagavan Antle or Bhagavan "Doc" Antle, has received multiple death threats from animal rights activists,  leaving him with no choice but to carry weapons everywhere he goes for self-defense. 

Tiger King Aka Joe Exotic’s misadventures and hatred towards Carole Baskins has also garnered a lot of unwelcome attention towards Antle, who now believes that animals right activists are after his life. 

In an interview with Mirror, the 60-year-old Zoo boss has revealed, “My life is threatened every day, one to 50 times. People say they want to kill me, they are going to kill me, they’re going to get me.”

He further claimed that he has been sleeping with an AK-47 assault rifle and also added, “I have a pistol in my pocket, another in my glove box. I travel like that all the time.”

Whether Exotic was involved in the murder-for-hire hatched against Baskin or not is still subject to fair debate among fans of the show, Antle is sure she’s caused him a lot of damage. “The salacious insanity she’s written, all of the stuff she said that I’m this evil dude. People think that there’s something there,” he told the publication. 

Nevertheless, he’s being as careful as he could for his own life as he doesn’t know “where the next crazy person is going to go.” Once again using the opportunity to boast about his expertise and skills, pretty similar to what he was seen doing in the docuseries, Antel proudly stated, “I’m a professional cowboy. I grew up with a six-gun on my hip when I was ten years old. That’s the Wild West I grew up in so I’ve always had some ­automatic weapons and a variety of another 50 guns in my life.”

“I have a pistol in my pocket, another in my glove box. I travel like that all the time.” he further added. 

Meanwhile, talking about Exotic’s trial and chances of winning his case against his nemesis Baskin, Antel quipped, “If Joe had OJ Simpson’s legal team, he would be walking around today, singing Eye of the Tiger. If I had to put money on it, I think it’s 50/50 Joe could get out.”

All seven episodes of ‘Tiger King’ are available to stream on Netflix.