Carole Baskin Biography
Carole Stairs Jones is an American big-cat rights activist is better known as Carole Baskin is also CEO of Big Cat Rescue, a non-profit animal sanctuary based near Tampa, Florida. She expressed an interest in saving cats when she was nine, but she decided against pursuing a career in veterinary medicine after she learned that veterinarians euthanize animals. As a teenager, she worked at a department store. She launched a successful YouTube channel called "The Cat Chat" as she starred on "Dancing With The Stars" in 2020. She got into a feud with Joe Exotic, which was highlighted in the 2020 Netflix series "Tiger King". Joe was eventually sentenced for attempting to hire a killer to murder Carole, and Carole was awarded his Oklahoma sanctuary. Scroll down to read Baskin's Full Biography, Interesting Facts, Wiki, Age, Tiger King & Joe Exotic, Net Worth, Personal Life, Family, Story Behind Carole Baskin, Song, & more.
Famous For
- Being an American big-cat rights activist.
- For being the CEO of Big Cat Rescue, a non-profit animal sanctuary based near Tampa, Florida.
Source: @filmdaily.co
Carole Baskin Early Life
On 6th June 1961, Carole Baskin was born with the real name or full name of Carole Stairs Jones in Bexar County, Texas, U.S. She holds an American nationality and her ethnicity is American-white. Likewise, she is from the Christianity religion and her race is white. She happily celebrates her birthday on the 6th June of every year and she has celebrated her 59th birthday as of 2020. Her zodiac sign is Gemini as her birthdate. She is the daughter of Vernon Charles Stair (father) and Mary Barbara Jean Norris Stairs (mother). Moreover, she dropped out of high school and left home with a local roller rink employee. Baskin then hitchhiked back and forth between Florida and Bangor, Maine, sleeping under parked cars. She later purchased a Datsun truck and slept in the back with her pet cat.
Carole Baskin Career
- Carole Baskin kicks off her career working at a Tampa department store at the age of 17 as she started breeding show cats to earn money; she also began rescuing bobcats, and used llamas for a lawn trimming business however, she later joined her second husband's real estate business.
- Baskin and her husband Don founded Wildlife on Easy Street, an animal sanctuary near Tampa for big cats, in 1992 whereas she is the current chief executive officer of the sanctuary, which she renamed Big Cat Rescue sometime after Lewis's disappearance in 1997.
- As well, "The New York Times" and "The Hollywood Reporter" have described her as an animal rights activist however, she was cast in season 29 of "Dancing with the Stars" in 2020.
- She danced the paso doble with partner Pasha Pashkov to Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" and they received an 11 out of a possible 30 on the series' 14th September season premiere.
- Baskin has also starred in "Tiger King" in March 2020. She later spoke out against the series, calling it "salacious and sensational", and criticized directors Eric Goode and Rebecca Chaiklin.
Everything You Need To Know About Joe Exotic
Politics Career
- Carole through her company Big Cat Rescue has lobbied Congress to ban the private trade and ownership of exotic cats.
- She gave exclusively to Democratic candidates from 2005 to 2016, but since 2017 all but one of her contributions has gone to Republicans.
- Her only donation to a Democrat in the past three years was to Cory Booker's 2020 presidential campaign.
- She has also praised Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and called out Ron Desantis for not doing enough to fight COVID-19.
- Besides, a federal judge granted Joe Exotic's former zoo property to Baskin and Big Cat Rescue on the basis that Joe Exotic fraudulently transferred the zoo's real estate to his mother to avoid creditors, particularly Baskin's judgment against him in June 2020.
Carole Baskin Personal Life
Reflecting on Carole Baskin's personal life, she is a married woman. She was married to Michael Murdock on 7th April 1979 but Baskin has said that she never loved him and married him only because her parents were disappointed that they had been living together outside of marriage. She became pregnant soon after, and daughter Jamie Veronica Murdock was born on 16th July 1980. She threw a potato at Murdock as he attempted to attack her in 1981 when she was 19 according to Baskin. She ran out of their home barefoot and met her next husband, Don Lewis, on Nebraska Avenue in Tampa. She and Lewis engaged in an affair while both were still married. According to Baskin, Lewis was obsessed with sex and would frequently fly to Costa Rica, where he had substantial real estate holdings, to have affairs timing the trips for whenever she was menstruating. Later, Lewis filed a restraining order against her in July 1997, claiming that she had threatened to kill him; the restraining order was rejected. Lewis told her multiple times that he wanted a divorce, but she did not think he was ever serious about it. She claimed he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder months before he vanished. Sadly, Lewis disappeared in August 1997 and was declared legally dead in 2002. A dispute ensued between Baskin and the children of Lewis over his estate, with Baskin prevailing as the primary beneficiary. The case of Lewis' disappearance is still active as of early 2021. After that, she tied a knot with Howard Baskin in November 2004 whom she met in November 2002 at a kick-off party for the newly formed No More Homeless Pets organization. He joined Big Cat Rescue soon after as chairman of the advisory board. He proposed to her in November 2003. Furthermore, Baskin came out as bisexual in October 2020.
Source: @bigcatrescue.org
As recent news, Baskin thinks her husband could be suffering from memory loss if he is still alive. She says Lewis was suffering mentally prior to his disappearance and that he may not know who he is if he is out there. "And, you know, I really believe he was suffering mentally, so if he's alive somewhere, he probably has absolutely no idea who he is. But if that were the case, I would take care of him for the rest of his life. I am happily married, but I always loved Don".
Carole Baskin Net Worth
Moving towards Carole Baskin's net worth, her worth is estimated to be somewhere between $1 million and $20 million dollars. It's known that she received around seven million dollars when her husband passed, five from defaulted loans she and her husband had purchased, and another two million from a trust her husband held. In addition, her major source of income is from activist and CEO career. She has not done any endorsement work yet.
Carole Baskin Body Measurement
The height of beautiful and adaptable activist, Carole Baskin is around 5 ft 5 in or 165 cm whereas her body weight is around 65 kg or 143.5 lbs. Blessed with great looks and an amazing goddess-like figure, she can definitely rock any wear she decides to put on. She has an astonishing personality as her hair color is blonde and her eye color is blue as her body build type is average and her body measurement is 34-30-36 inches.