I have no fear of losing my life - if I have to save a koala or a crocodile or a kangaroo or a snake, mate, I will save it.
― Steve Irwin
Stephen Robert Irwin (February 22nd, 1962 - September 4th, 2006) also known as The Crocodile Hunter, was an Australian Zookeeper, Conservationist, Environmentalist, Wildlife Expert, and Television Personality.
He became famous worldwide due to his popular television series, "The Crocodile Hunter", which ran from 1996-2007, which he hosted alongside his wife, Terri Irwin.
Personal Life[]
Steve Irwin was born on February 22, 1962, to Lyn Irwin and Bob Irwin in the Melbourne suburb of Essendon and was one of their three children. His two sisters were Joy and Mandy Irwin. Steve had Irish descent on his father's side. As a child, he moved with his parents to Queensland in 1970. There, he attended Landsborough State School and Caloundra State High School.
His father was a wildlife expert interested in herpetology, as Irwin described, and his mother was a Wildlife Rehabilitator. Steve Irwin's parents started the small Queensland reptile and Fauna park, where their son Steve grew up around many reptiles, including Crocodiles.
He became involved with the park in many ways, such as feeding animals on a daily basis, taking part in care and maintenance activities. He was given a 12 foot Scrub Python on his sixth birthday. When he turned nine in 1971, he began handling crocodiles, and he also wrestled his first crocodile, both under his father's supervision.
He worked as a volunteer for the East Coast Crocodile management program, based in Queensland, and he had captured over 100 crocodiles, many of them housed at the family park, with some other ones relocated. In 1991, Steve took over the management of the park, and seven years later, in 1998, renamed it the Australia Zoo.
Also in 1991, Irwin met an American naturalist from Eugene, Oregon named Terri Raines. While she was visiting Wildlife rehabilitation facilities in Australia, she had decided to visit the Australia Zoo. According to both of them, it had been love at first sight.
Four months later, on June 4th, 1992, they married in Eugene, Oregon. They had two children. Bindi Sue Irwin in 1998, and Robert Clarence Irwin, who was named after Steve Irwin's dad, in 2003. Steve jointly named Bindi Sue after his two favorite animals. Bindi, a Saltwater Crocodile, and Sui, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, who died in 2004. At one point in time, he described Bindi as the reason he was put on the Earth. According to Terri herself. "The only thing that could ever keep him away from the animals he loves are the people he loves even more."
They spent their honeymoon on October 25th, 1996 trapping crocodiles together. Film footage of this became the first episode of the wildlife series, The Crocodile Hunter. It had been taken by Steve's close friend, John Stainton. It made its way onto North American television television the following year, and became very successful in the United States, the United Kingdom, and over 130 other countries, reaching about 500 million people.
Steve Irwin was praised by Sir David Attenborough for introducing many people to the natural world, stating: "He taught them how wonderful and exciting it was. He was a born communicator." Animal Planet, American satellite and Cable television channel, ended The Crocodile Hunter with Steve's Last Adventure, meant to wrap up the series proper. It lasted three hours, with Steve Irwin traveling to many places of the world.
He would go on to star in The Croc Files (1999-2001), The Crocodile Hunter Diaries (2002-2006), and New Breed Vets, In January 2006, during an interview with Jay Leno, he announced Discovery Kids was developing a show for his then 8-year old daughter, Bindi Sue Irwin, named Bindi the Jungle Girl (2007-2008), a plan that was realized after his death.
His daughter, Bindi and her boyfriend Chandler Powell got engaged in July of 2019, and they married in 2020. She gave birth to their daughter, named Grace Warrior Irwin Powell, on March 26, 2021.
Death[]
On September 4th, 2006, Irwin died after being pierced in the heart by a stingray barb while filming clips for Ocean's Deadliest in Australia's Great Barrier Reef. He was near Port Douglas, Queensland, and was at Batt Reef. He decided to snorkel in chest deep water in an effort while being filmed to provide footage for his daughter's television program.
Irwin had approached a short tail stingray, which had an approximate span of two meters (6.5 ft) from the rear, in which he wanted to film it swimming away. According to Steve Irwin's cameraman, Justin Lyons, "All of a sudden, the Stingray suddenly propped on its front and started stabbing wildly with its tail. Hundreds of times within a few seconds." Initially, Irwin believed he had a punctured lung, however, the Stingray's barb had pierced his heart, causing him to bleed to death. According to his cameraman Justin Lyons, Irwin's last words were "I'm dying."
Crew members aboard Irwin's boat administered CPR. However, efforts to revive Irwin were unsuccessful. He was rushed to the Low Isles where he was pronounced dead by medical staff. His death is the only stingray fatality from a stingray captured on video. He was preceded in death by his mother Lyn Irwin, who was killed in a single car accident at the age of 58 on February 11th, 2000.
After the investigation, at the request of Irwin's family, all copies of the footage were destroyed, although fake videos claiming to be the footage pop up all the time. There are also supposed screenshots of the footage, though those screenshots haven't been proven to have come from that footage. Production was completed on Ocean's Deadliest, which was broadcast in the US on the Discovery Channel, on January 21st, 2007. Steve Irwin's cameraman Justin Lyons claimed that he did have a copy of the footage of Irwin's death, but he had lost it, not knowing what happened to it, and stated that he hopes that it is, assuming someone took it and still has it, never released out of respect for Irwin's family.
Following Irwin's death, 10 stingrays were found mutilated on Australia's eastern coast, reportedly due to Irwin's fans taking revenge on them and "avenging" Steve Irwin as a result. Michael Hornby, the executive director of Wildlife Warriors, Irwin's conservation group, appalled at this, stated:
"We just want to make it very clear that we will not accept and not stand for anyone who has taken a form of retribution. That's the last thing Steve would want. I hope everyone understands we have to protect wildlife now more than ever. This is what Steve was all about."
Trivia[]
- As a teenager in the mid-late 1970s, Irwin played for the Caloundra Sharks, a rugby league team, in Queensland, as a second-rower.
- Later, as an adult, he was a fan of the rugby league team Brisbane Broncos, involved with that club on multiple occasions.
- Despite being called the Crocodile Hunter, he actually never hunted crocodiles.