Bhagavan “Doc” Antle, the flamboyant animal trainer who turned Myrtle Beach Safari into a photo-op destination for cub-cuddling tourists, was ordered to serve 12 months and one day in federal prison and to pay a $55,000 fine after admitting to wildlife trafficking and money-laundering conspiracies, according to CNN.

Judge David C. Norton delivered the sentence in Charleston, South Carolina, nearly five years after the “Tiger King” docuseries catapulted Antle and his fellow exotic-animal dealers into pop-culture infamy.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons / Andy Carvin, License: CC BY-SA 2.5

Prosecutors traced $500,000 in alleged smuggling cash through Antle's nonprofit.

Illegal animal deals laid bare

Court records show Antle’s trafficking stretched across state lines and species. In 2018 he sent an intermediary to Florida with $35,000 in cash for two cheetah cubs. Four months later, he sold two lion cubs for $15,000, then funneled $10,000 from his nonprofit, the Rare Species Fund, to move two tigers to Montana, Live5 News reports.

Prosecutors say each transfer violated the Lacey Act, which forbids trafficking wildlife taken or sold in defiance of federal or state law.

Antle’s business model relied on newborn animals that tolerated human handling.

“A baby chimpanzee could easily cost $200,000,” he told an FBI informant during a wiretapped call, CNN reports. The profit window closed once the animals grew too strong.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons / ZooFriend, License: CC BY-SA 4.0

The Lacey Act turned 115 in 2025 and is still used to bust modern traffickers.

Cash scheme tied to migrant smuggling

Investigators say Antle did more than peddle rare cubs. Between February and April 2022, he laundered more than $500,000 in what he believed were proceeds from smuggling undocumented migrants across the southern border, USA Today reports.

“Antle and others falsified records, funneled transactions through nonprofits, and purchased and sold newborn endangered species – all while promoting themselves as conservationists,” Adam Gustafson, acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, told USA Today.

To disguise the origin of the cash, Antle and an associate deposited bundles in their own bank accounts, skimmed a 15 percent fee, and wrote checks back to the purported smugglers, according to Live5 News.

Co-conspirators and lingering attractions

The investigation snared several allies.

Jason Clay, a private Texas zoo owner, received a four-month sentence for selling a primate. Employees Meredith Bybee and Andrew “Omar” Sawyer drew probation for, respectively, brokering a chimpanzee sale and helping launder cash, CNN reports.

Shaylynn Kolwyck-Peterson, who admitted selling Antle a chimp for $200,000, awaits sentencing, USA Today reports.

Antle must also surrender three chimpanzees and nearly $200,000 to the government. Yet Myrtle Beach Safari remains open “by reservation only,” its website states.

Previous convictions and broader context

The latest punishment follows Antle’s 2023 Virginia conviction for four counts of wildlife trafficking tied to lion sales. Two counts were later tossed on appeal, but the court left intact a suspended two-year prison term contingent on five years of good behavior, CNN reports.

Antle’s on-screen rival, Joe Exotic, is serving 21 years for attempting to hire hitmen and for wildlife violations. His case, along with Tuesday’s sentence, reinforces what prosecutors call a persistent illicit market that thrives on public fascination with charismatic megafauna.

For animal-welfare advocates, the verdict marks a tangible blow against pay-to-play cub encounters, even if the practice has not disappeared from the tourist brochure.