[3][5] Antle has worked as an animal trainer for films including Ace Ventura and Dr. Doolittle in addition to appearing as a guest on several television shows.

[4] 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.

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”.

[4] In the 1980s Antle practiced as a magician and 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.

[2][3][22] Journalists have raised questions about how revenue generated by Antle's cub petting tours is distributed between his business and his nonprofit organization.

[21][23] 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."

[24] In 2008, Suryia and Roscoe, an orangutan and an orphaned blue tick hound which had formed an unusual relationship at Antle's zoo, appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show in Chicago.

[30] Antle runs a charity called Rare Species Fund, which is dedicated towards protecting animals living in the wild.

The charges included felony wildlife trafficking as well as misdemeanor animal cruelty and violations of the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

[12][13] He faced charges relating to illegally trafficking animals, including leopards, cheetahs and a chimpanzee, in violation of the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

[37] On November 6, 2023, he pleaded guilty to one count of wildlife trafficking under the Lacey Act and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, stemming from his illegal interstate sale of seven endangered animals, his falsification of paperwork to disguise the transactions as lawful intrastate transfers, and for disguising payments for the animals as lawful donations to his nonprofit.

[15][16] Federal authorities also uncovered evidence that Antle and an unidentified co-conspirator used bank accounts they controlled to launder large cash payments they believed to have been obtained through human smuggling by another individual.

[40] Antle has required female employees to be single, childless, to abstain from eating meat, and to wear certain clothing and weigh within 20 pounds of their "perfect athletic weight.

[48][44] He married his first wife, Betsy "Brami" Rodgers around the time they both attended a one month yoga retreat at Yogaville while teenagers.

[51][52] Antle's daughters Tawny and Tilakam have both been criminally charged for animal cruelty and violations of the Endangered Species Act.