Erik Cowie, the zoo keeper on Netflix’s “Tiger King” documentary series, has died at the age of 53.
Authorities found Cowie’s body Sept. 3 in New York City, TMZ reported, after a friend found him face down in a bedroom.
It’s unclear why the animal trainer was at Big Apple, as he lived in Oklahoma. No drugs were found at the scene and a toxicology report is expected.
Cowie appeared on the reality show as one of the star animal caregivers of star Joe Exotic. After Joe, 58, was sent to prison, Cowie stayed and cared for his big cats at the Great Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park.
He later testified against the fight that he allegedly mistreated and killed some of his animals.
Cowie was arrested for a DUI in Oklahoma earlier this year after being involved in a car accident. He pleaded guilty and was supposed to be convicted shortly after the incident, but did not attend his hearing.
Many fans have speculated in the past that Cowie’s crooked teeth were due to methamphetamine use. He denied this rumor and once said that his pearly white ailments were due to old age. He received dental implants in July 2020 from the hand of fellow “Tiger King” star Jeff Lowe.
Cowie had admitted to having a problem with alcohol in the past and, according to TMZ, previously said he was “at the end of the [his] rope ”with his alcoholism before finding Joe.
Joe, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, is serving 22 years in a federal medical prison in Fort Worth, Texas, after he allegedly tried to hire two assassins to kill his business rival Carole Baskin.
A judge granted Baskin’s Big Cat Rescue control over Exotic’s animal park in Wynnewood in 2020, part of the deal in its long trademark lawsuit against Exotic. Baskin sold the Oklahoma property and one of the provisions is that the land cannot be used as a zoo for 100 years. Lowe delivered all the animals from the Exotic Zoo to the DOJ.
