BUTNER, N.C. (AP) — A defense attorney says the former Oklahoma zookeeper known as “Tiger King” Joe Exotic has been transferred to a medical facility in North Carolina for federal inmates after a cancer diagnosis. Defense lawyer John Phillips says Joe Exotic, whose real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage, was taken from a federal medical center in Fort Worth, Texas, to a federal medical center in Butner, North Carolina, last week. Maldonado-Passage is prominently featured in the Netflix documentary “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness.” In July, a federal appeals court ruled that Maldonado-Passage should get a shorter prison sentence for his role in a murder-for-hire plot and violating federal wildlife laws.

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Sue Ogrocki/AP
FILE - In this Aug. 28, 2013, file photo, the late Joseph Maldonado-Passage, also known as Joe Exotic, answers a question during an interview at the zoo he runs in Wynnewood, Okla. The Oklahoma zoo, featured in Netflix’s “Tiger King” documentary, has closed after federal authorities investigated it for alleged maltreatment of animals and suspended its license. The Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park closed to the public after the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Monday, Aug. 17, 2020, suspended the exhibitor license for current-owner Jeff Lowe for 21 days.(AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki, File)

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