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Lowe and his wife Lauren were also ordered not
to put animals on public exhibit without a license in a federal
court ruling issued in Oklahoma last week, according to a U.S.
Justice Department statement on Tuesday.
"The Lowes have shown a shocking disregard for both the health
and welfare of their animals, as well as the law," Jonathan
Brightbill at the Justice Department's Environmental and Natural
Resources Division, said in the statement.
Lowe's attorney did not respond on Tuesday to a request for
comment.
Lowe is the former business partner of flamboyant Oklahoma zoo
keeper Joe Exotic, whose story was featured in the hit 2020
Netflix series "Tiger King." He is working on opening a new park
in 2021 in Oklahoma for big cats called Tiger King Park.
Lowe took over ownership of the Wynewood Exotic Animal Park in
Oklahoma after Exotic was convicted in 2019 and imprisoned for
hiring a hitman to try to kill a rival.
Lowe said last summer that he was closing Wynewood under
pressure from animal rights activists and inspectors and had
moved some 160 big cats his new facility.
The federal court on Jan. 15 found that two tiger cubs had died
less than a week apart because of a failure by the Lowes to
provide proper nutrition and veterinary care.
It ordered the couple to surrender all big cat cubs under the
age of one year, and their mothers, and to provide records for
all animals acquired or disposed of since June 2020.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
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