Carole Baskin's feud with Joe Exotic was the central story to Netflix hit, Tiger King.
Controversial zoo owner Joe Exotic is now serving 22 years behind bars after being found guilty of a murder for hire plot to get rid of his rival.
He was also convicted of 17 charges of animal abuse.
The pair's rivalry started when Carole accused Joe Exotic of abusing his animals and he responded with scandalous claims of his own.
Carole said the 1,000 animals, who visitors could pet and play with, at Joe Exotic's Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park were not cared for properly.
Carole claimed his unusual breeding methods - Joe crossbred lions and tigers to create liligers - and charging visitors to pet the majestic beasts was a form of abuse.
PETA then sent an undercover investigator to examine conditions at the unusual zoo.
In a report they claimed to have found "dead, dying, and injured animals; extremely crowded conditions; a serious lack of basic necessities such as food, water, and veterinary care; shamefully inadequate cages; and untrained and insufficient staff who were intentionally cruel to numerous animals”.
Their report claimed: "Animals were routinely hit, punched, kicked, sprayed with cold water, and struck with rakes and shovels. And they were blasted with fire extinguishers to break up frequent fights.
Other allegations included tiger cubs being punched, dragged, and hit with whips and horses he took in were shot in the head to be given to the tigers as food.
Joe Exotic was always adamant his big beasts were well cared for and he insisted he only bred tigers so if the population in the wild was wiped out there would always be some in captivity.
He also claimed he would raise baby tigers to respect people and he would respect them.
But Carole was determined in her mission to stop his Big Cat ownership and even created a website claiming he was an animal abuser.
Joe Exotic, in turn, claimed conditions at Carole's own rescue centre in Florida were not good enough for her tigers.
But he also turned his accusations to her personal life by saying she had been involved in her husband, Don's, disappearance in 1997.
The 60-year-old's body has never been found and five years after his death a judge declared him dead.
Carole has always fiercely denied she had any involvement in what happened to her husband - which has been backed up by police.
She was initially treated as a 'person of interest' but there was no evidence against her and the focus of the investigation moved away from Don's wife.
Carole has since gone on to marry for a second time and is now married to Howard Baskin.
But Joe Exotic never forgot about Don's disappearance and even recorded a music video Here Kitty Kitty, which showed a Carole lookalike feeding flesh to tigers.
She said: "Can you imagine having people think you killed your husband or wife and not being able to prove otherwise? Without a body, there is nothing I can do to clear my name.
"We gave [authorities] all of the information that they needed to go look at the court records and to see that I always dealt fairly and honestly with Don's daughters.
"He had been my best friend from the time that I was 19. I lost him in 1997, so talking about that turns up a lot of painful memories."
Carole has also claimed Don was showing signs of a devastating illness in the months before his disappearance.
She said he had started to become forgetful and was showing the early signs of dementia.
In a blog post, penned after Tiger King dropped on Netflix, Carole said: "His [Don's] behaviour became increasingly strange. He started refusing to use the bathroom and defecating outside.
"He brought in a homeless man to stay in our house. I rescheduled an appointment for him to see the specialist Dr Gold. But he disappeared before the appointment date."
However, other people who knew Don insisted there was nothing wrong with him and he was mentally sound.
Chillingly, Don had also given his executive assistant an envelope that he told her to hand to the police if anything happened to him.
It contained the restraining order that he had filed against his wife but which had been rejected. Don claimed Carole had threatened to kill him and said his wife had a gun, which she has denied.
Carole, who now lives with her second husband, Howard Baskin, hit out at the claims she was involved in her husband's death as the "most ludicrous of all the lies" and "idiotic".
She hit out at the content of the Netflix documentary, claiming she was told it would be similar to the Oscar-winning film, Blackfish.
In a post on her Big Cat Rescue website, she dropped new information about the months before his disappearance, claiming he was exhibiting some erratic behaviour.
She said there are no words to describe how disappointed she is.
Carole wrote: "There are not words for how disappointing it is to see that the series not only does not do any of that, but has had the sole goal of being as salacious and sensational as possible to draw viewers.
"As part of that, it has a segment devoted to suggesting, with lies and innuendos from people who are not credible, that I had a role in the disappearance of my husband Don in 1997.
"The series presents this without any regard for the truth or in most cases even giving me an opportunity before publication to rebut the absurd claims. They did not care about truth. The unsavory lies are better for getting viewers.
"There is no short, simple way to refute so many lies. If you do want to know the truth, it requires understanding the history of events in the years before my husband’s disappearance and the roles and behaviors of the people interviewed in the series, which I have tried to do as concisely as I can below but still requires a few pages."
Two days after he disappeared Carole reported him missing to police and his car was found at a nearby airfield.
Don owned several planes and could fly them. He has also mentioned a possible move to Costa Rica.
