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Doc Antle
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Doc Antle
Bhagavan Mahamayavi "Doc" Antle (born Kevin Antle; March 25, 1960), is an American animal trainer and roadside zoo operator. He was convicted of wildlife trafficking and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Antle began raising dogs in his youth, and started operating a private zoo in 1983. Antle has worked as an animal trainer for films including Ace Ventura and Dr. Dolittle in addition to appearing as a guest on several television shows. In 2020, he was featured in the first season of Netflix true crime documentary series Tiger King. Antle was the subject of a follow-up documentary Tiger King: The Doc Antle Story released in December 2021.
Antle has faced accusations of animal cruelty throughout his career. In 2020, Antle was charged with felony wildlife trafficking after an investigation by the Attorney General of Virginia. After his conviction in 2023, he was fined $10,000 and banned from owning wildlife in Virginia for five years. In 2022, Antle was arrested and charged by the FBI for wildlife trafficking and money laundering. In July 2025, Antle was sentenced to 12 months and one day in federal prison, a fine of $55,000, and three years of supervised release.
Doc Antle was born in Salinas, California in 1960. Antle grew up on an industrial farm in Salinas, part of a wealthy family connected to Tanimura & Antle, an agricultural company. His father endowed him with a hefty trust fund after his death. Antle dropped out of school before the ninth grade. As teenagers, Antle and his girlfriend traveled to Virginia to attend a one month yoga retreat at Yogaville, a community founded by Swami Satchidananda Saraswati, an Indian spiritualist. Antle performed magic shows and became a close associate of Satchidananda.
Through family business connections, Antle traveled to China and received basic medical training to serve rural populations; he claims to have earned the nickname “doc”. Upon his return to the U.S. in the 1980s, he began practicing alternative medicine in Yogaville.
In the 1980s Antle practiced as a magician and in 1983 opened a private zoo in Buckingham County, Virginia on a 14-acre (5.7 ha) property near the Yogaville ashram that held 100 animals including lions, tigers, bears, monkeys, and an elephant.
Antle is the founder and director of The Institute for Greatly Endangered and Rare Species (T.I.G.E.R.S.) in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and the Myrtle Beach Safari, a tour that runs through the facility. He is a self-described conservationist and is the executive director of the Rare Species Fund, a nonprofit organization that purports to fund wildlife conservation. Journalists have raised questions about how revenue generated by Antle's cub petting tours is distributed between his business and his nonprofit organization.
Writing in Variety, Rebecca Rubin states, "Antle has ties to Hollywood, having worked as an animal expert on films like "Dr. Dolittle" and "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective." He appeared frequently on late night talk shows and also provided creatures for movies including "The War," "Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book," "Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls," "Mighty Joe Young" and "The Jungle Book 2." Antle was credited as a "principal animal trainer" in the 1994 and 1995 Ace Ventura films, a "trainer" in the 1994 and 1997 Jungle Book films and as an animal trainer in Mighty Joe Young.
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Doc Antle
Bhagavan Mahamayavi "Doc" Antle (born Kevin Antle; March 25, 1960), is an American animal trainer and roadside zoo operator. He was convicted of wildlife trafficking and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Antle began raising dogs in his youth, and started operating a private zoo in 1983. Antle has worked as an animal trainer for films including Ace Ventura and Dr. Dolittle in addition to appearing as a guest on several television shows. In 2020, he was featured in the first season of Netflix true crime documentary series Tiger King. Antle was the subject of a follow-up documentary Tiger King: The Doc Antle Story released in December 2021.
Antle has faced accusations of animal cruelty throughout his career. In 2020, Antle was charged with felony wildlife trafficking after an investigation by the Attorney General of Virginia. After his conviction in 2023, he was fined $10,000 and banned from owning wildlife in Virginia for five years. In 2022, Antle was arrested and charged by the FBI for wildlife trafficking and money laundering. In July 2025, Antle was sentenced to 12 months and one day in federal prison, a fine of $55,000, and three years of supervised release.
Doc Antle was born in Salinas, California in 1960. Antle grew up on an industrial farm in Salinas, part of a wealthy family connected to Tanimura & Antle, an agricultural company. His father endowed him with a hefty trust fund after his death. Antle dropped out of school before the ninth grade. As teenagers, Antle and his girlfriend traveled to Virginia to attend a one month yoga retreat at Yogaville, a community founded by Swami Satchidananda Saraswati, an Indian spiritualist. Antle performed magic shows and became a close associate of Satchidananda.
Through family business connections, Antle traveled to China and received basic medical training to serve rural populations; he claims to have earned the nickname “doc”. Upon his return to the U.S. in the 1980s, he began practicing alternative medicine in Yogaville.
In the 1980s Antle practiced as a magician and in 1983 opened a private zoo in Buckingham County, Virginia on a 14-acre (5.7 ha) property near the Yogaville ashram that held 100 animals including lions, tigers, bears, monkeys, and an elephant.
Antle is the founder and director of The Institute for Greatly Endangered and Rare Species (T.I.G.E.R.S.) in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and the Myrtle Beach Safari, a tour that runs through the facility. He is a self-described conservationist and is the executive director of the Rare Species Fund, a nonprofit organization that purports to fund wildlife conservation. Journalists have raised questions about how revenue generated by Antle's cub petting tours is distributed between his business and his nonprofit organization.
Writing in Variety, Rebecca Rubin states, "Antle has ties to Hollywood, having worked as an animal expert on films like "Dr. Dolittle" and "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective." He appeared frequently on late night talk shows and also provided creatures for movies including "The War," "Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book," "Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls," "Mighty Joe Young" and "The Jungle Book 2." Antle was credited as a "principal animal trainer" in the 1994 and 1995 Ace Ventura films, a "trainer" in the 1994 and 1997 Jungle Book films and as an animal trainer in Mighty Joe Young.
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