Prosecutors said Doc Antle sold or bought cheetahs, lions, tigers and a chimpanzee without the proper paperwork for a decade.

The shady business practices of a famous zookeeper came back to bite him. Bhagavan “Doc” Antle, whose South Carolina wildlife zoo featured prominently in the COVID-era hit “Tiger King,” was sentenced to a year and a day in prison on Tuesday.

Antle was sentenced to one year and one day behind bars and a $55,000 fine, having pleaded guilty in November 2023, to trafficking exotic animals and money laundering. Antle admitted he had broken federal law as he bought endangered animals to keep at his South Carolina zoo.