Here’s what happened to ‘Tiger King’ animals after doc
Joe Exotic had hundreds of tigers in the Netflix ‘Tiger King’ documentary. The Wild Animal Sanctuary saved 39 of them.
Animalkind, USA TODAY
Eric Goode, the man behind exotic animal documentaries “Tiger King” and “Chimp Crazy,” doesn’t want people to get confused by his latest title “Monsters of God.”
Goode is a lifelong reptile lover. He got his first pet tortoise at age 6, chased salamanders and snakes near his backyard creek, and as he got older received price lists or a “menu of all the reptiles and animals that you might want to buy.” So the term “Monsters” isn’t referring to the scaled animals, Goode clarifies.
“We’re monsters, and we do it under the veil of saying we’re godly creatures when we’re really part of the animal kingdom,” Goode tells USA TODAY. “We use the guise of religion as sort of a way of making us special when we’re animals and we’re homosapiens. We evolved out of apes and animals, but yet we like to put ourselves in another category. We’re the monsters that are destroying the planet as we see it.”
In “Monsters of God,” director Goode and executive producer Jeremy McBride trace the multibillion-dollar reptile industry, delving into the illegal trade of endangered species, its ties to cocaine smuggling and how pop culture drives pet ownership.
The five-part HBO docuseries, which released its first episode Thursday, Aug. 6, features interviews with convicted reptile dealers, designer reptile breeders, U.S. Fish and Wildlife agents and exotic pet owners.
“Wildlife trafficking sentencing is far less than any other crime and any other kind of illegal crime in this way,” McBride said. “Underneath is this pretty massive illegal industry not a lot of people know about or talk about that has pretty far less consequences than the rest.”
As “Monsters of God” places a microscope over the illegal reptile trading business, it also examines reptile dealers and their relationships with zoos, particularly the rare reptiles that slithered their way into captivity. As one reptile dealer alleges he sold illegal reptiles to zoos across the country, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums counters that policies today prevent such incidents from repeating themselves.
Tommy Crutchfield, a known reptile dealer featured in the first episode of the series, has what’s considered the “fever,” or an obsessive draw to the sale and purchase of the cold-blooded creatures.
Crutchfield said he provided cobras for an “Indiana Jones” film, an alligator on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” and tortoises for Michael Jackson. He claimed he made millions of dollars in sales annually, purchasing Rolexes and a charcoal grey Mercedes.
Crutchfield, who was previously sentenced to 30 months in prison for reptile smuggling, alleged that he also had dealings with the New York Zoological Society (now recognized as the Wildlife Conservation Society), Fort Worth Zoo, Gladys Porter Zoo, Los Angeles Zoo and the Detroit Zoo.
“I sold illegal animals to every zoo in this country,” Crutchfield said in the documentary, adding “but whether they knew they were illegal I can’t say that for sure.”
Crutchfield also had a symbiotic relationship with the former San Diego Zoo reptile curator Earl Thomas Schultz, providing 300 animals to the San Diego Zoo from 1985 to 1992, while Schultz used his curator position to sell exotic animals to Crutchfield for resale and breeding.
In 2000, Schultz was sentenced to three years of probation and fined $74,500 for trafficking rare animals. The zoo cut ties with Crutchfield, and Schultz retired from his position.
“More than 30 years ago, a former staff member at the San Diego Zoo engaged in illegal reptile smuggling activities without the knowledge or support of the Zoo. That individual was prosecuted and held accountable under federal law,” the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance said in a statement. “The incident served as a turning point, not only for our institution but for the broader accredited zoo community.”
Goode co-founded the Turtle Conservancy in California, which is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. He acknowledges that zoos and institutions have a flawed history, and in the ’60s, some followed a “don’t ask, don’t tell attitude” when working with unscrupulous wildlife dealers. Goode says he knew of fired zoo curators in the ’70s and ’80s who smuggled endangered reptiles.
“It’s something the general public does not know,” Goode says. “Zoos always talk about, oh, ‘we just had a baby panda bear, come see the panda bear.’ But they don’t talk about the mortality. ‘Oh, we just had a gorilla that died. Oh, we had the elephant that died.’ Of course, they don’t want to advertise that, nor do they want to advertise where they get their animals much of the time.”
In response to animal smuggling, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums established a policy as part of its accreditation process in the 1970s, which classifies where animals come from, where they are headed and checks that the animals were acquired legally, ethically and sustainably.
The association has also implemented the Species Survival Program, which allows institutions to breed animals for display and conservation efforts, said Dan Ashe, the president and CEO of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Other organizations like the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) monitor wild plants and animals, including amphibians and reptiles on a global scale.
“Zoos like museums during that time and earlier in their evolution were collectors,” Ashe tells USA TODAY. “They had a collection mentality. People wanted what other people didn’t have. That was then and dominated the industry at the time. That is not true today at all.”
For Goode, the reptile trading business is complex and the line between the good and the bad actors can be blurred. Hollywood, for example, has given snakes a bad reputation, with movies like the 1997 horror “Anaconda” and the 2006 action film “Snakes on a Plane” vilifying the scaly animals. Even some animals that were brought into the United States illegally have led to positive outcomes.
“The first bearded dragon that ever made its way into the United States was brought here illegally from a reptile dealer that was doing something illegal,” Goode says. “But the byproduct was actually quite good that kids can have this wonderful pet. So, because someone brought something in illegal doesn’t make it always the worst thing in the world.”