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Animal
House Folly
Farm Blog
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Dressed in khaki shorts two sizes too small and with his trademark phrase “Crikey” Australian Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin was a larger than life character whose passion for wildlife captured the imagination of the public. Stephen Robert Irwin was born on February 1962 to Lyn and Bob Irwin in Victoria, Australia. Bob who had a keen interest in reptiles moved his family to Queensland in 1970 where he started a small reptile park at Beerwah. Australia Zoo turned into a flourishing family business and when Bob and Lyn retired in 1991 their son Steve took over the management of the park. Growing up at the zoo Steve was surrounded by all types of different animals taking part in their daily care. For his 6th birthday he was granted a life long wish when he was given a twelve-foot (3.6 m) long scrub python. Unlike other children his age Steve’s days were spent catching fish and rodents to feed his pet crocodiles and snakes. By nine years of age Steve had been taught by his father to jump in rivers and catch crocodiles in North Queensland. Bob and Steve Irwin would later boast that every crocodile at the zoo was either caught or bred by them. No mean feat considering the zoo often held over 100 reptiles. Later Steve volunteered to work for the Queensland Governments East Coast Crocodile Management program spending years living in isolation catching crocodiles single handed in the mosquito infested rivers, creeks and mangrove swamps of North Queensland. In 1990 Steve reunited with friend television producer John Stainton who was filming a TV commercial at the zoo. Deciding to showcase Steve’s animal wrangling to the world they made “The Crocodile Hunter” in 1992 the first of a series of successful documentaries that would bring Steve worldwide fame. In early 1992 Steve met the woman who would share his passion for wildlife and help him develop and expand Australia Zoo. Terri Raines of Oregon USA was visiting Australia as a tourist when she happened to attend a show at the zoo. Steve described their meeting as “love at first sight” after he glanced up and saw her in the audience. Their relationship quickly deepened and culminated in marriage in June of that year. Over the next few years Terri and Steve starred in many episodes of The Crocodile Hunter and series Croc diaries and were later joined by their two children Bindi and Bob who seemed set on following in their father’s footsteps as Wildlife Warriors. Steve Irwin had always had a feeling that he would die young although he thought it would be a car crash that would end his life. Instead it was a stingray whose barb pierced his chest while he was filming a documentary off the Great Barrier Reef on September 4 2006. Sometimes controversial in his methods no one could deny the great love and enthusiasm Steve Irwin had for the wild world. Bringing the public the message of the earth’s fragility through his documentaries and conservation work at Australia Zoo will always be seen as his greatest legacy. ©Jen Longshaw
2006 Please do not copy in any manner, print or electronic,
without permission from the author.
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