Joe Exotic associate Ryan Easley killed by tiger at Growler Pines preserve

An Oklahoma man linked to Joe Exotic, featured in Netflix’s “Tiger King,” was killed during a tiger performance in Oklahoma.

Ryan Easley, 37, was the owner of Growler Pines Tiger Preserve. He “lost his life in an accident involving a tiger” on Saturday, the preserve said in a Facebook post. 

“Growler Pines was more than just a place of work for Ryan, it was his calling, his passion and his life’s purpose,” the post said. “His courage, compassion and unwavering commitment to wildlife will never be forgotten.”

According to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Easley was “an associate” of Exotic who had obtained animals from him in the past. Both PETA and Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, reacted to Easley’s deeath.

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“I have known Ryan for many years,” Exotic wrote on X on Monday. “No one can blame the tiger for what happened. We all take risk in what we do and we don’t need further laws to ban tigers because of this because you can get killed doing just about anything.”

PETA called Easley’s facility a “roadside zoo,” and accused him of hauling tigers “around the country” and forcing the animals “to perform in cruel circuses.”

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Joe Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, speaks with the media after giving a statement at the Garold Wayne Interactive Zoological Park, formerly known as the G.W. Exotic Animal Park, in Wynnewood, Okla., Monday, Oct. 7, 2013.  ( Nate Billings/The Oklahoman via the USA TODAY Network)

“It’s never safe for humans to interact directly with apex predators, and it’s never a surprise when a human is attacked by a stressed big cat who has been caged, whipped, and denied everything natural and important to them,” PETA Foundation Senior Director of Captive Wildlife Debbie Metzler said in a statement.

“PETA is calling for the remaining wild animal exhibitors who aren’t dead or in federal prison to get out of the business now and send the animals to accredited sanctuaries where they can finally live in peace,” she concluded.

One of the 39 tigers rescued in 2017 from Joe Exotic’s G.W. Exotic Animal Park yawns while relaxing at the Wild Animal Sanctuary on April 5, 2020, in Keenesburg, Colorado.  (Marc Piscotty)

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Choctaw County Sheriff Terry Park told ABC News the tiger that killed Easley had been in his care since he was a cub, and it bit Easley in the neck and shoulder. 

“It happened toward the end of a show in which there were people that saw this incident occur,” Park told ABC News. “No one knows, other than God above, as to what made the tiger attack the handler/trainer.”