ABSTRACT
While big cats are largely a backdrop to the human drama that unfolds throughout the documentary series Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness (2020), the fascination with exotic animals and the debate over their treatment in the United States has a history dating back centuries. Lost among the spectacle of the human characters in the series are the narratives of the big cats and the issues affecting them at large—both in captivity and in the wild; what are the biographies of the estimated 5,000-7,000 tigers currently living in captivity in the US? Big cats who live in zoos, homes, and roadside attractions across the country have continuously been decontextualized both genetically and conceptually from their exotic wild origins and recast as pets and entertainment. Tiger King documents how animals in captivity continue to be subjected to the consequences of our ever-changing conceptualization of them by exposing the struggle between the extreme commoditization of big cats in recent decades and attempts to reclaim an understanding of them as wild animals. This chapter provides historical and species-specific perspectives on exotic animals in captivity, demonstrating how past tendencies of collecting, displaying, and breeding animals can inform our reading of the docuseries and the world of big cat ownership.
