TIGER King's Carole Baskin has claimed Joe Exotic "would have loved" if his fans had killed her.
The animal rights activist said the zoo keeper turned felon had been trying to "embolden" his supporters to kill her for years.
Carole aired her thoughts in a newly-resurfaced Access interview from last year.
The Netflix documentary star said: "I think the reason that Joe was posting such horrible acts online against me was to dehumanize me and to embolden his supporters so that they would kill me on his behalf.
"I think he would have loved that."
Joe, a wildcat enthusiast who kept numerous tigers, lions and other large animals at the G.W. Zoo in Oklahoma, had an undying hatred for Carole.
He paid a hitman to bump her off and he is now serving 22 years in prison for the hit.
Carole talked about the threats he made against her and how she had to carry a gun out of fear for her safety.
She recalled: "His threats became more and more outrageous with the specific things he was going to do to me.
"From about 2011 to 2015 he was trying to get his followers to kill me and couldn't get anybody to do it just because they loved him so much.
"I know Joe tries to say he's just eccentric and crazy and makes a lot of noise, but I don't think anybody thought he wasn't serious."
Carole went on: "I installed security cameras, I was carrying a gun, I had to stop riding my bicycle to and from work. I had to keep a really low profile."
She also insisted her stand against Joe was never "personal".
She said: "Ripping tiger cubs from their mothers and using them as props…
"People want to make this a personal feud between us. It's not – it's a matter of morals and ethics."
It comes after Joe admitted he is "ashamed" of himself when he considers how he caged his animals for years.
He said: "Go sit in a cage with your animals for a week."
"When I left the zoo and sent my chimpanzees to the sanctuary in Florida and imagined what my chimpanzees went through for 18 years, I am ashamed of myself."
However, he also admitted that when he does leave prison he will still be "as crazy as I was before" and that "it would be nice if I could see me being famous out there, but I have seen these four walls for a year and half now."
Joe, real name Joseph Maldonado-Passage, is a self-proclaimed “gay, gun-toting cowboy with a mullet” who opened and operated a big cat exhibit called the G.W. Zoo in Oklahoma in his late brother’s honor.
The G.W. Zoo gained popularity in the early 2000s, with tourists and celebrities coming for photo ops with Joe’s lions.
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