Tuesday, January 28, 2025, 9:04PM |  41°
MENU
Advertisement
David Stanton, former Tiger King videographer, on April 8 at Friendship Park in Bloomfield. Mr. Stanton ran the video operation for Joe Exotic in Oklahoma for about eight months in 2012, long before he landed on Netflix as
1
MORE

Brian O'Neill: He rescued a pup and fled the Tiger King

Michael M. Santiago/Post-Gazette

Brian O'Neill: He rescued a pup and fled the Tiger King

David Stanton, of Polish Hill, ran the video operation for Joe Exotic for about eight months in 2012

More than 34 million people have watched “Tiger King” on Netflix, but I knew of only one who worked with the big cat king, so I drove across town to meet him.

David Stanton is a videographer with a home and a production studio in Polish Hill. Late in 2011, he took a three-day train ride to southern Oklahoma to go to work with Joe Exotic, aka Tiger King.

For those who haven’t seen the Netflix miniseries, the multi-aliased Exotic is a drug-addled, gun-toting, death-threatening, mullet-wearing, narcissistic, polygamous con man. But when Mr. Stanton shipped all his studio equipment to his ranch and moved out there, he pegged Joe as just a colorful conservationist.

Advertisement

Mr. Stanton, 53, walked up to me Wednesday afternoon in the Friendship Park wearing a T-shirt that said, “The more people I meet, the more I like my dog.” He still lives with a miniature dachshund he rescued from Joe Exotic.

Shannon Ebbitt, co-owner of Mana Boardgame Tavern, with some of its 550 games.
Brian O'Neill
Brian O'Neill: 'Pandemic' isn't easy, even as a game

The two had met, virtually, about nine years ago, after Mr. Stanton launched Gay Life Television and OutTVPittsburgh. Exotic liked an animal segment Mr. Stanton hosted on “Talk it Out,” and pretty soon Exotic was on the show via Skype with his monkeys and such. By Nov. 1, 2011, Exotic was in the studio in Pittsburgh with Mr. Stanton on a show called “OUT and Wild With Joe Exotic.”

Neither fame nor infamy arrived that day; the segment had only 71 views on YouTube through Thursday afternoon. But Exotic was by then spinning such a story of his concern for animals — “he put me under his spell” — that Mr. Stanton would drop everything in Pittsburgh to move west and build a TV studio at Joe’s exotic animal park in Wynnewood, Okla.

It all seemed wrong from the moment he arrived. One of Joe’s husbands picked Mr. Stanton up at the train station and never said a word on the ride to the ranch. Mr. Stanton had been promised accommodations and a $900 weekly salary, but he was housed in a dirty, critter-crawling trailer that he shared with three others. When he walked into his bedroom, it had only a mattress, a package of cheap sheets and a bathroom with no tub behind the shower curtain, just a big hole to the outside. He’d soon be begging for any pay at all.

Advertisement

The ranch hands were partyers, drifters and undocumented workers. No confidences were shared for fear it would get back to Joe, who told Mr. Stanton, “If you ever see me, there should be a camera in your hand.” He filmed everything, as if he were walking the set of a low-budget horror movie.

“I got good at filming death without looking through the video finder. And I used to edit with sound. When I would hear the gunshot, I would look away. I’m the only producer who could edit by sound alone.”

Every day, he said, he filmed horses being shot. Some who donated these horses to the ranch thought they’d be put out to pasture; instead they were filleted by a squad of workers inside of 10 minutes, the meat given to the lions, tigers and ligers that approached the size of vans.

Fundraisers were outright frauds. Joe named one injured horse “Miracle,” brought in a phony veterinarian and raised $10,000 to “save” it. Mr. Stanton filmed it all only to learn later from a worker that Miracle was shot that night. Exotic then took the money to go off on a bender, Mr. Stanton said.

A family exits Casa San Jose in Beechview on March 26 after receiving food donations. Casa San Jose is a resource center for the Latino immigrants.
Brian O'Neill
Brian O'Neill: A dollar might do two jobs in this pandemic

Newborn tiger cubs were stolen from their mothers with the aid of long poles poked through the cages. A crew would go out on a long road trip to malls with 10 cubs for petting events and “come back with maybe one or two.” One starving coatimundi ate his brother, and “when Joe found out about it, he laughed.”

Exotic eventually pulled the pistol off his hip and pointed it at Mr. Stanton. Fearing for his life, he waited for Exotic’s next fundraiser-fueled bender and left the ranch in August 2012. Mr. Stanton carried with him his production equipment and a cage filled with 53 starving house cats and strays that were supposed to be fed to the ranch reptiles. By then he had an apartment in nearby Pauls Valley, and though he had to run through his savings, he said he eventually got all the cats adopted with the aid of a nearby vet.

Joe sicced the police on Mr. Stanton, accusing him of stealing equipment, but he had all the receipts and they let him go. The crew that cut up horses came by and repossessed his escape van. And Carole Baskin, owner of Big Cat Rescue in Tampa, Fla. (and Exotic’s nemesis), paid his expenses to Florida where he presented testimony to the U.S. Department of Agriculture about Exotic’s operation.

Spoiler alert: Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage, 57, aka Joe Exotic, is serving a 22-year federal prison sentence for animal abuse and a failed plot to kill Ms. Baskin. The Netflix documentary makes every story Mr. Stanton tells easy to believe, but the irony is he hasn’t watched an episode.

Viewing wouldn’t be good for what he sees as post-traumatic stress disorder. “After I left that place, I deleted everything I had.”

But he did keep Penny, the only survivor of a litter of dachshunds. He found her his very first night at the ranch, lying on the floor like an old sock, with partyers stepping over her. Now nearing 9 years old, Penny lives with four pit bulls and “she’s the boss.”

You grow up tough when you’re born among lions.

Brian O’Neill: boneill@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1947 or Twitter @brotheroneill

First Published: April 12, 2020, 12:00 p.m.

RELATED
SHOW COMMENTS (0)  
Join the Conversation
Commenting policy | How to Report Abuse
If you would like your comment to be considered for a published letter to the editor, please send it to letters@post-gazette.com. Letters must be under 250 words and may be edited for length and clarity.
Partners
Advertisement
Pittsburgh Steelers owner Arthur J. Rooney II looks on prior to the NFL football game against the Philadelphia Eagles, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, in Philadelphia.
1
sports
Jason Mackey: Art Rooney II's reasoning for keeping Mike Tomlin as Steelers coach feels misguided
Kansas City Royals' Adam Frazier waits to take batting practice before a baseball game against the Houston Astros, Friday, Aug. 30, 2024, in Houston.
2
sports
Adam Frazier returns to Pirates on 1-year, major league deal
Tensions in Charleroi, PA, intensified after President-elect Donald Trump and Senator JD Vance made controversial remarks about the town's Haitian community, alleging that they were financially draining local resources.
3
news
Fear and anxiety ripple through Western Pa. communities amid immigration crackdown
Van Jefferson #11 of the Pittsburgh Steelers celebrates with Calvin Austin III #19 after making a catch for a touchdown against the Baltimore Ravens during the second half of the AFC Wild Card Playoff game at M&T Bank Stadium on January 11, 2025 in Baltimore, Maryland.
4
sports
Ray Fittipaldo's Steelers chat transcript: 01.28.25
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Justin Fields is greeted by Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Russell Wilson after scoring a touchdown against the Los Angeles Chargers at the Acrisure Stadium on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024, in the North Shore. The Pittsburgh Steelers won 20-10.
5
sports
Gerry Dulac: Steelers want a streamlined QB style, so who fits the bill?
David Stanton, former Tiger King videographer, on April 8 at Friendship Park in Bloomfield. Mr. Stanton ran the video operation for Joe Exotic in Oklahoma for about eight months in 2012, long before he landed on Netflix as "Tiger King."  (Michael M. Santiago/Post-Gazette)
Michael M. Santiago/Post-Gazette
Advertisement
LATEST opinion
Advertisement
TOP
Email a Story