Tiger King Star Jeff Lowe Hospitalised Following Stroke

Tiger King star Jeff Lowe was hospitalised after having a stroke in a casino in Oklahoma, according to TMZ.

His wife Lauren told the publication he was not breathing when she found him on 18 March at around 3am at WinStar World Casino.

She said: "I thought he was dying in my arms."

He was subsequently airlifted to a hospital in Denton, Texas.

Lauren said that a number of tests were unable to determine the cause of his stroke.

He remained in hospital for three days and is now recovering at home, though he's still having difficulties with his speech and coordination.

It's been just over a year since Tiger King - the show that made a celebrity of Lowe - dropped on Netflix, shocking and captivating viewers across the globe.

The questionable characters, escalating feuds and endless twists undeniably made for compelling TV, but at the heart of it all was a troubling theme - the mistreatment of tigers.

Tragically, the welfare standards exposed in the docuseries are not uncommon, and an estimated 5,000 tigers are living in captivity in the US; of these, only around six percent are being kept in accredited facilities such as zoos, according to conservation organisation Traffic.

By contrast, only around 3,900 remain in the wild worldwide, down from 100,000 in 1900.

In a bid to protect big cats from the sort of handling exhibited by the likes of Joe Exotic, a new series is exposing the illegal pet trade and encouraging viewers to take action.

Not A Pet is available to view on free wildlife and environmental streaming service WaterBear, and a petition has been set up in tandem with its release, calling for US Congress to advance new laws that will protect wildlife and ensure public safety.

Lisa Rose, head of impact at WaterBear, said: "Tiger King drew the public's attention to the brutality inherent in the US exotic animal trade, but we still need a much greater level of awareness around the dangers of having wild animals as pets, for the sake of public safety but also to ensure these species can continue to survive in the wild.

"It is critical that we support new legislation that can help end the cruel trade in captive big cats and primates as well as making it socially unacceptable to keep wild animals as pets."

You can sign the petition here and watch Not A Pet here.

Topics: Tiger King, Celebrity, US News, US Entertainment

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey