Howie responded:

 

I appreciate your frankness and I will return in kind.

 

While I did take a liking to you in the course of your visit, the reason I said I would likely hate your story is based on two things.  We have on occasion had media come to us claiming they wanted to "expose" some bad guy and then wright pieces that the bad guy would happily pay for. A writer for Rolling Stone did that to us with respect to Doc Antle a few years ago. Worse than a waste of our time. Some of the questions you asked, and the way you asked them, made me think you were drinking Joe's Koolaid and wanting to drag up all the crap he says about Carole. You spent a large amount of time on things like the disappearance of Carole's husband and what I consider very old crap that is irrelevant to the issue at hand but makes for salacious reading.

 

Second, based again on the questions you asked and what you spent your time on, I came away at the end of your visit feeling like at best you were going to position this as a "feud," a personal battle between two individuals. We find this characterization both frustrating and inaccurate.  A feud is a personal conflict.  While Joe has for years attacked us personally, including incredibly crude, vile, often sexually oriented personal attacks as you know, we have never responded in kind. Even when I have been with Joe in person, which has been at mediations, I have simply ignored that and treated him cordially.  He even he once said he appreciated that I treated him in a gentlemanly fashion.  We have always focused single mindedly on the issue, which is the treatment of the cats, not on Joe personally. And we have not singled out Joe, we have done the same with many others we view as mistreating big cats. The only reason we spent so much time on Joe is that he was foolish enough to provoke us into the lawsuit which consumed so much time.  We would have had no problem with Joe continuing to operate a zoo if he just stopped breeding cats and doing cub petting.

 

Also, again being frank here, I thought it was inconsiderate that I got no reply to my email about your book, which I did enjoy. Think how that came across to me - guy is all over us when he needs us, then does not have the courtesy to even acknowledge an email where I show interest in him.  How many of your other interviewees bought and read you book?  Then, many months later when he wants something from me, here he is again with a hollow apology. No one is too busy to send a one line email of acknowledgement.  It was just poor form.  But, please, let’s say no more about it.

 

All that being said, I respect that you have done all the work you describe above and am willing to take you at your word and we can get together after the trial and do so with a positive, upbeat approach to your work.  I do feel you are a very capable writer. - Howard Baskin

 

Hi, I’m Carole Baskin and I’ve been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views.  These are my views and opinions. If I'm going to share my story, it should be the whole story.  The titles are the dates things happened. If you have any interest in who I really am please start at the beginning of this playlist: http://savethecats.org/

 

I know there will be people who take things out of context and try to use them to validate their own misconception, but you have access to the whole story.  My hope is that others will recognize themselves in my words and have the strength to do what is right for themselves and our shared planet.  

 

You can help feed the cats at no cost to you using Amazon Smile!

Visit BigCatRescue.org/Amazon-smile

 

You can see photos, videos and more, updated daily at BigCatRescue.org

 

Check out our main channel at YouTube.com/BigCatRescue

 

Music (if any) from Epidemic Sound (http://www.epidemicsound.com) This video is for entertainment purposes only and is my opinion.  Closing graphic with permission from https://youtu.be/F_AtgWMfwrk