BUTNER, N.C. (CBSDFW.COM/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.

(© Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)