The Zoo Where Everything Went Wrong: Inside Magnolia Wilds

It started with a stolen parrot named Mango, who liked to dance to Doja Cat. When reporter Aidan McCahill wrote a quick, quirky story about the theft for The Advocate, he had no idea it would lead him down a monthslong rabbit hole into Magnolia Wilds, a Louisiana animal preserve already under fire from federal regulators — and its founder, Gabe Ligon, who'd just been arrested at a Texas airport on a felony theft charge. What Aidan found was a menagerie of chaos: porcupines and capybaras escaping their enclosures, animals mauled and trampled to death, kids bitten by otters during $215 swim sessions, and employees quietly bringing kangaroos and lynxes home at night. Behind it all was Ligon himself — a libertarian showman who insisted he loved his animals even as the USDA, his business partners, and his own former staff told Aidan a very different story. Subscribe to our newsletter: ⁠https://jedlipinski.substack.com/⁠ Connect with Jed Lipinski: ⁠ https://www.instagram.com/gonesouthpodcast/ ⁠ https://www.facebook.com/groups/gonesouthpodcast/ ⁠ ⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/jed-lipinski/