Carole Baskin Defends Using Charity Funds to Purchase $895,000 Florida Crib

Last year, Carole Baskin purchased a new home in Odessa, Fla., for $895,000, but did she use charity funds to pay for her new digs?

TMZ reports that despite it being purchased by Carole and her husband Howard, the deed to the property "lists Big Cat Rescue as the property owner," meaning the new crib was purchased using funds from Carole's non-profit, Big Cat Rescue.

TMZ reports it was not illegal for Carole to use charity funds to purchase the home, but the purchase does raise a few eyebrows.

Carole told the outlet that "she bought the place after she and Howard sold their sanctuary/headquarters and moved the cats to the Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas."

"We are still in business and plan to be for at least the next 40 years. We needed a place to work from," Carole said.

The eccentric animal lover insisted she has nothing to hide regarding her new digs.

"There is nothing nefarious about purchasing the property we bought to replace it since it's used for our office work funding conservation programs in the wild, fundraising events, board meetings and storage of the records and equipment from the grounds we are vacating," the 63-year-old explained.

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Carole gained notoriety after the 2020 premiere of Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem, and Madness, which shined a spotlight on the underground world of big cat breeding.

The Netflix series follows Joseph "Joe Exotic" Maldonado-Passage, a breeder and former zoo owner, who is currently in prison, and his arch-nemesis Carole's battle over big cats.