Tiger King star and convicted felon Joe Exotic has written to Donald Trump to ask for a presidential pardon.

Exotic, real name Maldonado-Passage, was given a 22-year sentence in 2019 for animal abuses and two counts of murder-for-hire.

But earlier this year Trump said he would ‘take a look’ at offering Exotic a pardon from his crimes.

And now the 57-year-old former zookeeper has personally written to the President to plead with him for his release.

The letter read: "If I have ever looked up to anyone it would be you, not because I need you to save my life but because you stand for what you believe no matter what anyone thinks.

"That is why I took my beliefs to the political arena, if you don’t like something don’t sit around and bitch, do something, so I ran for office (Exotic unsuccessfully ran for Governor of Oklahoma in 2018).

"I am begging you to listen to the millions who see the truth. I am asking you to listen to your own son Donald Jr and make this right and grant me a miracle, ‘a pardon’ and let me put this behind me and go save my dad.

"Allow me to make you proud, to make America proud, to make the world proud. Be my hero please."

President Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr, spoke about the sentence back in April and insisted the sentence Exotic received was harsh.

"It doesn't seem like he was totally innocent of anything. But when they're saying, 'We're putting this guy away for 30 years,' I'm saying that seems sort of aggressive," he said.

"Now, I don't even know exactly what he was charged with ... I watched the show, but it was like, I don't know exactly what he was guilty of or wasn't."

Exotic’s husband confirmed recently that the zoo keeper-turned-felon will feature in a second series of Tiger King in the form of audio recordings from prison.