Mar 132020

Crickey! Today we are going to discuss about the Australia’s Legend who needs no introduction. He is none other than our ‘Steve Irwin’. Steve Irwin is a man who engendered universal affection with the audiences around the globe because of his enthusiasm and charisma. Steve Irwin is one of those rare TV personalities eventually became a famous Australian wildlife enthusiast. But for any person, it is not that easy to become an iconic figure in their life. There are ups and down, biggest achievements, efforts, hard work, etc. linked up to a person’s pride and fame. Steve is not lesser in his way to achieve such great honors all over the globe. Let us see his details like birth, career, death, significance, etc. in detail.

Who was Steve Irwin?

Steve Irwin, otherwise best-known as “The Crocodile Hunter”. He has gained this international popularity through a show on Television, ‘The Crocodile Hunter’, a popular and unconventional wildlife documentary series hosted by Steve Irwin along with his wife. He is not only just a TV personality but known the world as ‘Environmentalist’, ‘Documentarist’, ‘Naturalist’, ‘Australian wildlife expert and conservationist’, ‘Animal Expert’, and ‘Australian Zoo Keeper’.

Steve Irwin, the famous crocodile hunter looked stunning in his trademark Khaki dress comprised of khaki shirt and shorts. He was rarely seen without his trademark dress or uniform of khaki shirt, short, and work boots. The catch phrase ‘CRICKEY!!’ was one of his antics- actually meaning an Australian feeling of expressing surprise or excitement.  

Early Life

Steve Irwin moved to Queensland along with his parents, Bob and Lyn, after a few years of his birth. Steve Irwin’s parents own a Reptile and Fauna park, where our crocodile hunter grew up studying and caring animals, especially around crocodiles and other reptiles. Once Steve was presented a python by his father as a birthday present. Also, he learned managing crocodiles like how to catch and how to handle them etc. from his father. Though Steve was not possessing a professional scientific degree, he took care of animals very well (by his training from his father) and went on to become an animal enthusiast. His parent’s wildlife park is now well-known as ‘Australia Zoo’. Eventually, he even started hosting many TV popular shows majorly based on animals and wild life. ‘The Crocodile Hunter’ was his most popular TV series made him bag the nickname ‘Crocodile Hunter’ for his unique personality and outrageous antics in the series. He even appeared in many Talk Shows plotted on wildlife.

Birth

The full name of Steve is ‘Steve Robert Irwin’ born on February 22 in 1962 in Melbourne, Australia. During his early manhood, Steve worked as a crocodile trapper (meaning; catching and removing crocodiles from the polluted areas) in Queensland. He used to keep the captured crocodiles at his parent’s zoo on a condition of offering free service.

Rise to Fame

In 1991, Steve took over the management of his parent’s zoo and became the official owner cum manager of the Australia Zoo in Beerwah, Queensland. Subsequently, he met his life partner, Terri Raines, who was an American-born veterinarian. Following the couple got married after a whirlwind romance.

The couple released (in 1996 in Australia) their first video footage of crocodile trapping shot during their honeymoon as the first episode of the TV series, The Crocodile Hunter’, which made Irwin an international celebrity. Consequently, Irwin was asked by Animal Planet and Discovery Channel to commission many wildlife series that include ‘The Crocodile Hunter Diaries’, ‘The Croc Files’, and ‘New Breed Vets’. After four years enjoying the success of The Crocodile Hunter, an American cable network, Animal Planet picked up the series and at the peak of its popularity, this show was aired in more than 200 countries. All of Irwin’s shows and documentaries related to animals and environment became extremely popular and made him an Australian Icon because of his illimitable enthusiasm and extensive personality. Though he is a famous Australian icon, often ridiculed! Surprising! Yes, he often got ridiculed for his contemptuous behaviour but just as often appreciated by everyone for his idiosyncrasies.

Under Steve’s expansive leadership made some improvements to his Australia Zoo that include the rainforest aviary, the Animal Planet Crocoseum, and Tiger Temple.

What made Irwin such a popular figure with audiences?

I would say, his fearless attitude! Yes, audiences were enthralled to his fearless attitude towards wild animals and dangerous encounters with animals on the series. For him, tangling with deadly creatures like snakes, lizards, spiders, and obviously crocodiles. Not only he gets tangled with these wild animals, he even educate viewers by sharing his knowledge on animals a part from his extraordinary adventures with the animals. As a result audiences turned into his fans and showed very much interest to see wild life and at the same time enjoyed seeing Irwin’s unbelievable feats of bravery and boldness. In this way, he had become a popular animal educator. On the other hand, his documentaries inspired many film directors and was adapted in a 2002 released movie, The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course, in which Steve appeared.

Steve was also an environmentalist, let us know what his services are as environmentalist! As an environmentalist Steve saved many animals from polluted areas and did a lot of work with crocodiles. Not only he saved but also helped the world by educating people about the animals because he wanted them to better understand the animals. He taught people to love and save animals from polluted areas because he thought animals did nothing to harm humans. Also advised people on National Television that ‘Not to hurt animals instead save them and love them’. In this way, Steve wanted to save and conserve the wild animals as much as he can. Many inspired from Steve’s thoughts and I am the one among them. He saved several animals than anyone thinks. He lived to save wild life either a reptile, mammal, or fish. This is why many people still missing Steve on television including me and hence Steve remains as a hero.

Film and Other Projects

A part from all his contributions to wild life and his successful history on TV series, Steve had also appeared in many feature films. I have rounded off the list of Steve’s feature films. Have a look!

1) In 2001, Steve appeared in the film, ‘Dr Doolittle 2 with Eddie Murphy’, in which he played the role of cameo.

2) The following year 2002, he starred and released his own feature film, The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course. It was his first feature film yet received bad reviews.

3) The next year in 2003, Steve was supposed to host a chat show on Australian network television but the series was never eventuated.

4) Later in 2006, Steve appeared at the Pauley Pavilion, UCLA Los Angeles, California as part of Australia Week celebrations in the USA.

5) In 2006, a tragic incident had happened on June 24th in Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo i.e. The Harriet, one of the oldest tortoises of Australian zoo aging 176 years died of heart failure and was considered as a part of Irwin’s family. The longest-lived tortoise had reputed to have collected from the Galapagos Island and was one of those three tortoises taken by Charles Darwin on his historic 1835 voyage aboard the HMS Beagle.

6) In an Australian kids TV show feature-length episode, Steve appeared along with his family including his wife and daughter. The show, The Wiggles entitled “Wiggly Safari” seems to be dedicated to Steve and the song “Crocodile Hunter, Big Steve Irwin” in the film takes special appreciation.

7) Steve announced about his new show, Discovery Kids, developing for his daughter, Bindi Sue during an interview on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The Jungle Girl is another yet similar show to The Wiggles movie with beautiful songs and lyrics that surround the story.

8) Apart from his service to wild life and environment, Steve was also active in politics and supporter of Australia’s conservative Liberal Party. In particularly, Steve was the supporter of Prime Minister John Howard.

Controversies surrounding Steve Irwin

Though Steve was leading a successful life with wonderful achievements and contributions related to wild life and environment, he and his career often fraught and surrounded by controversies for his stunts and adventures. Let us know what they are!

1) The incident happened in 2004 was a greater controversy he faced for feeding a crocodile holding his son. In the course of a public show, Steve took his infant son Bob into the crocodile arena at the Australian Zoo and fed the crocodile holding his son in one arm. When the images of this incident were out, many were in shock and accused Steve for child endangerment. However, Steve refused to give apologies for his public stunt with his son insisting that his son was never put in a real dangerous situation and supported his refusal by saying his children were brought up in zoo environment and was never in harm’s way.

2) Again in the same year 2004, Irwin was in a controversy during his trip to Antarctica. He faced accusations for disturbing seals, whales, and penguins while filming a documentary.    

Charities and Conservation Programs

Steve Irwin educated a millions of people around the world while entertaining them through his most popular series, The Crocodile Hunter’ regarding the animals and environment. With his boundless enthusiasm, he spent all his life for promoting wild life conservation and environmentalism. Steve is not with us right now but still we remember his charity work!

The charities and conservation programs run by Steve Irwin include ‘International Crocodile Rescue’, ‘Wildlife Warriors Worldwide’, ‘Australian Zoo Wildlife Hospital’, and ‘the Lyn Irwin Memorial fund’.

International Crocodile Rescue- The main aim is to rescue crocodiles that are found in wrong habitats and polluted areas and helping crocodiles that are found homeless and injured. Steve rescues them and get them back to their life by feeding them and restoring them to healthy animals. Once they are completely set to their normal lives, Steve leave them to their original and natural habitat.

Wildlife Warriors Worldwide- Basically, this is an inspirational program that inspires people to support the protection of injured, unprotected, threatened, homeless, and endangered wild life right from a single animal to entire wild life.

Australian Zoo Wild life Hospital- This is a major project of the Australia Zoo Wildlife Warriors, aims to help, save and conserve animals. The main duties of this project are general maintenance, feeding, gardening, laundry duties, gardening, and cleaning of wild animals. All these duties are managed by many volunteers.

The Lyn Irwin Memorial Fund- There is a speciality of this charity as this is the charity developed by Steve in memory of his mother. Because Irwin’s mother was also fond of conserving wild animals.

Steve Irwin was the founder of all these charities and projects and had gained a huge response from the public and government. All the donations from public, public figures, volunteers, etc. directly credits Iron Bark Station Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, which manages 3,450 acres only for the management of wild life sanctuary. Steve Irwin personally purchased lands in lots throughout Australia only for the sole purpose of restoring and preserving wild life habitat.

Tragic Death of Steve Irwin

The successful life of Steve Irwin came to a tragic end shortly after 11 a.m. (local time) on September 2006 in Australia. His death was happened at Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia, while diving in Queensland Batt Reef (a part of Great Barrier Reef). While making a documentary of a stingray, he was killed by a barb of a stingray, fatally pierced to death in the chest when he closely approached to it. He was 44 years old when died. Very Sad to know but still let us know in detail about his death.

“Actually, Irwin was in the spot in order to film his own documentary, ‘The Ocean’s Dealiest’ but the weather dint supported him. But the enthusiastic nature of Irwin made him to take the opportunity to document some shallow water shots for a section in a television program, which was hosted by his daughter. Unfortunately, he went very close to one of those animals and a stingray came on top of him and put a hole into his heart,” said, John Stainton, Steve’s friend and colleague who was on board on Steve’s boat during the incident happened.

All these events of tragic incident were caught and recorded on camera. The footage of the incident and the cameraman’s (Ben Cropp, who is a marine documentary filmmaker and fisherman) speculations after the incident says, “since the Steve went close to the stingray, plus the cameraman ahead, Stingray got threatened, confused, and went on defending mode to protect itself from both Steve and the Cameraman. In that pathetic situation, stingray senses automatically responded and flexed the jagged barb up to 25 cm or 10 inches long on its tail and came over the top of Steve, hit him deep into the chest resulting a hole in Steve’s heart.” Cropp also added to his statement that “Steve unintentionally enclosed the animal in a box and the defensive stingray immediately threw up its tail with a spiky barb directly into the chest. The bull ray, which stung Steve was a ‘one-in-a-million-creature and its bite is like being stabbed using a dirty dagger” to Time Magazine.

The rest of the crew members boarded on the same boat immediately reached out nearest city, Cairns for emergency services and got the CPR (Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation) done. Meanwhile they rushed to nearby Low Isle in order to reach out an emergency helicopter but the emergency medical staff who arrived after sometime pronounced that Steve was dead because of stingrays attack in his chest. The toxins of the barb caused Steve to die of cardiac arrest.

From his shows and series telecasted in the television, we knew that Steve was always leading his life at a biggest risk, like almost on the edge but never expected his sudden demise. May be seeing at his confidence levels while handling the dangerous creatures made us think so. Unlike to our expectations Steve’s demise (which was thought invulnerable) was a sudden shock to millions of people all over the world. And his demise from a stingray was the third known fatality in Australian history. All over the world only 17 fatalities has happened and this incident was only one ever captured on film.

Though the manner of Steve’s death is still a surprise to many of us, Steve was the third person to be killed by a stingray, which is a docile animal. Usually, it is easy to handle sting rays and it that docile to which we can even feed food by our own hand but under right conditions and safety measures.  

When the news of Steve’s death was released people in millions around the world mourned. Also many gathered at Australian Zoo and left flowers, notes, and cards and mourned for passing. On the web, people sent text messages expressing their heartache.

Family

Steve Irwin married to Terri Irwin in 1992 and became parents to two children: A daughter, Bindi Sue Irwin born on July 24th 1998 and a son, Robert Clarence born on December 1st 2003. Robert is well-known as Bob. Bindi Sue was named after two animals of Steve; Bindi, who accidentally killed by a hunter and the other was Sui, who had natural death in 2004 June.  

Steve’s death was tragic incident happened in 2006 and destroyed their happy family life. Steve won millions of hearts, who even considering his death incident as his’ final act of showmanship. It was even argued by the public figures that may be this was the way he wanted to go, while leading life on the edge. It could perhaps be a small consolation to his family.

Wild facts about the Late Steve Irwin

Steve until his sudden and tragic death in 2006, worked tirelessly in the field of wildlife conservation and education in order to educate people about wild animals and encourages them to advocate for animals. To recall all his contributions and services to wildlife and environment, we have listed a few facts about his career in wildlife and nature conservation including his charity programs and organizations, created by him to protect crocodiles and other numerous animals. Let us begin!

1) As Steve grew up spending most of the time in his parent’s zoo, his love for animals also grew up with him. Since he was been around animals, he was able to handle and hold crocodiles when he was at nine but yes, under his father’s supervision.

2) He started becoming famous in less than 10 years by running the world famous Australia Zoo.

3) He was married to a tourist he met in the Zoo, Terri Raines. On their honeymoon, the couple shot a documentary, which was released as the first episode of The Crocodile Hunter featured Steve and Terri Irwin trapping crocodiles. Most of the people were shocked seeing this footage and made statements like ‘This is not a honey moon what every couple would dream of’! Of course yes.

4) By 1998, Steve Irwin had become a super star through his TV show, The Crocodile Hunter, which gained incredible popularity in United States. Over 130 countries telecasted this TV series on their local networks. What a global appeal he earned!!

5) In 2002, he had become a movie star by featuring in his own film, The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course. For this movie, Steve won a Young Artist Award for the Best Family Feature Film: Comedy. If you haven’t seen it, go and check it out to enjoy Steve’s stereotypes and antics.

6) Steve was even awarded with the Australian Centenary Medal in 2001 for his service to global conservation and Australian tourism. I hope Steve was very much excited and thrilled for being recognized by the country he belong to and loved to.

9) Regardless of working with deadliest creatures like snakes and crocodiles, it was reported that Steve was afraid of parrots. Hahaha! A man who’s around with predators scared of small birds!

10) Sui (Staffordshire bull terrier) and Bindi (his crocodile) were Steve’s two favourite animals. So, he wanted to give their names to his little daughter, Bindi Sue, as a token of love towards them.

11) A part from his services to wild life, he was trained in martial arts system of Gaidojutsu and a big fan of Australian Rules football.

12) During a show,Steve discovered a new species of snapping turtle, which was named after him: Elseya Irwini, or “Irwin’s turtle.” But this new species of turtle is not as friendly as Steve. So, do not be so close to it.

13) Irwin appeared at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles during Australia Week Celebrations in January 2006. Audiences were thrilled to witness their hero in person. The height of his fame and renown made his Australia Zoo a top Australian tourist destination.

14) Steve’s son, Robert Clarence (Bob) is now a young man loves wild life photography and acts as television personality just like his dad.

15) During his early career building days, Steve worked as a volunteer for Queensland’s East Coast Crocodile Management program and captured over 100 crocodiles.

16) Sincehis childhood Steve took part in taking care of animals, feeding them, general maintenance of park at the zoo. Many names kept on changing to the zoo before Steve named it as Australian Zoo in 1998. Till this day, his surviving family members managing the zoo.

17) The hometown of Steve was Beerwah, Australia with a very less population. Steve brought his hometown to glory through his accomplishments and contributions, resulted in becoming Australia’s national icon. He was honoured in his own hometown by naming a street after his death i.e. Steve Irwin Way.

18) Just like a street named after him, there was a ship, which was named after him, The MY Steve Irwin. The MY Steve Irwin serves for the well-being of aquatic wild life. This ship is a 194-foot flagship from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society works mainly when any organization demands for illegal fishery activities. I am sure that Steve would be proud of their efforts to protect sea creatures.

19)  Steve was a huge of Brisbane Broncos, a rugby team based out of the Queensland capital.

20) Till date, Steve Irwin is one of the most significant personalities in wild life conservation.

21) He had around $10 million worth assets at the time of his passing in 2006.

22) Steve invested the money which he earned through his shows in buying large masses of land in Australia, Fiji, Vanuatu, and the United States for the sole purpose of saving wild life and endangered species. I must say, Steve was truly a selfless human being.

23) The CEO of RSPCA called Steve the “modern-day Noah” after his death.

24) Though Steve was always around crocs and wrestle with the predators, he once admit that he was scared of getting married and he even sweating bullets throughout the event.

25) As a recreation activity, Steve love to do jet skiing. Surprisingly he was also a certified driver. Once Steve along with his production team drivers participated in a rescue operation conducted in search of a group of drivers who went missing in Mexico.

26) Martial Arts is another interest of Steve Irwin and in particular, he loves mixed martial arts competitions. Just before his death, he got trained with Greg Jackson, owned a gym and produced a few of the best MMA fighters.

27) To our surprise, Steve even appeared in an ESPN television commercial, a sports centre commercial. This sports centre is the series of a comical television commercials that run by ESPN for the purpose of promoting the news related to their sports centre sports debuted in 1995. In this commercial, the always active and enthusiastic Steve wrestles against the Florida Gators mascot for the University of Mascot and immediately wrestled it to the ground in an ESPN studio hallway.

28) His popularity is not only in regard to his service to the wildlife but also related to his dressing culture of wearing khaki shirts and pants along with work boots. This popularity led him to become a favourite dress up character at Halloween and costume parties not only in Australia but also in United States.

29) In June 2004, he was accused by the Australian Court for the guilty of bothering creatures like penguins and whales during the film shoot of a documentary on Antarctica.

30) Apparently, Steve was often late for his classes because he used to save animals on the way to his school. In fact, at the age of six, Steve caught a venomous snake, Common Brown.

31) In 2002, he had founded a foundation to educate and encourage people on the importance of saving threatened, injured, and endangered wildlife called Steve Irwin Conservation Foundation. Later it was renamed to The Wildlife Warriors.

32) In 2006, Steve had come up with an amazing foresight plan, which is a 10 year plan that proposed the future of his Australian Zoo. And this plan helped him to solidify his lifelong goals and efforts on conservation programs. Unfortunately, Steve died just two months after announcing this plan but thanks to the goodness.

33) His spellbound popularity through television shows and series on wildlife and nature conservation had turned meagre Australian Zoo into a complete home to hundreds of exotic and local animals, spread in 76 acres.

34) In 1991,Steve fell in love at the first sight to young Terri Raines, who came to visit Australian Zoo. They got engaged after four months and got married in 1992. As Terri Irwin said, “I thought there was no one like this anywhere in the world. He sounded like an environmental Tarzan, a larger-than-life superhero guy.” The couple were leading an active family life and was together at the time of tragic death of Steve.

35) The creature that violently took his life away was a stingray, docile creature of all the dangerous and aggressive animals that Steve dealt with. His death was the third known fatal stingray attack in Australia since 1945. According to the reports, it is said that there will e only one or two fatal deaths might happen per year worldwide.

36) As we all knew, the incident of his death was filmed in the camera and his family rightly fought to keep it as private. That is the reason, all the copies of this video were destroyed after the investigation. The members of Queensland State Police Department are only ones who saw the video till date. And if you find any other such video leaks online, just learn that they are the hoaxes.

37) The only man who was with Steve at the time of his death was Justice Lyons, cameraman. The reply given by him when asked about the footage of the attack being leaked was “it should never see the light of day. “Never,” he said. “Out of respect for his family, I would say never.”

38) There are some speculations on the revenge act done by his fans, which tells, after Steve’s fatal death incident had happened, many stingrays were found dead with their tails cut off on Queensland beaches. Many claims that this is a revenge act done by his fans which is what Steve would have never wanted to.  

 39) Who were his best mates!? Wes Mannion. Yes, Wes Mannion whom Steve saved from an angry crocodile, which bit Mannion hard in the thigh in 2001. With the help of a ‘Safety Stick’, Steve subdued the crocodile and allowed Mannion to escape from the scene. Mannion was the one who worked with the Steve on The Crocodile Hunter.

40) After his death, American cable television and satellite channel, Animal Planet had to end its journey of The Crocodile Hunter. Since it was a last series or episode, the team members of the channel telecasted three hours finale programme titled “Steve’s Last Adventure”, which showed Steve Irwin’s adventures across the globe. Though it was sad to learn but it was a kind of tribute to Steve from the most popular American satellite channel.

41) Steve even had a touching tribute from his surviving family members i.e. both Robert Irwin and Bindi Sue went on with their own conservation activities and work, which is like carrying on their father’s legacy. Though Bindi Sue was just eight years old at the time of her father’s death, she keot her father’s unforgettable memories in her heart safely.

42) On the 12th death anniversary of her father which was on September 4, 2018, Bindi Sue posted a heart touching tribute to his father with an image of hers taken along with father and crocodile, captioned “Together Forever”.

43) In the same year, Terri Irwin made touching statements over her husband’s death and confessed. She says, “She has never completely gotten over Irwin’s death and “I’m just lonely for Steve.”  

44) Steve Irwin’s final rites ceremony and burial was happened at Australia Zoo. Steve’s family keopt burial private and not accessible to the common public. At the end of the ceremony, Steve’s gear truck was drove around the arena, which symbolises ‘a final good bye’ and all the staff bellowed “Crikey” while showering yellow flowers. Till date, Steve’s memorial is restricted for public viewing. May his soul Rest in Peace!!

His great and vast contributions towards conservation of wildlife and environment are still acknowledged and shows a great impact on today’s wildlife conservation. For instance: Rwandan Government named their new baby gorilla on the name of Steve after him. This simple incident shows how influenced the public were about Steve’s activities on wildlife, just not only in Australia but also in other countries.  In this way, Steve raised conservation awareness across the globe through his enthusiasm and energetic way to entertain and educate millions of people.

Steve Irwin Day

Every year on November 15th, Steve Irwin Day is celebrated internationally in a grand way in order to celebrate and honor the amazing life of our one and only crocodile hunter, Steve Irwin. What a great personality!!

Steve’s life was a blend of passion, love, respect towards animals, and enthusiasm. His excitement and helping nature of saving wildlife brought him to become the founder of many animal and nature conservation organizations and events. Through his activities for wildlife conservation, he inspired many other fellow humans care for and respect wildlife and nature as much as he did.

Here are few ideas on how people celebrate Steve Irwin’s Day in a general way…

1) Watch episodes of The Crocodile Hunter

2) Watch the Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course

3) Visit Australia Zoo, visit a nearby zoo, or spend the day learning about animals

4) Have a backyard campout

5) Support the Australia Zoo Wildlife Warriors

6) Wear khakis just like Steve Irwin did

7) Say “Crikey!” whenever possible

Officially, the legendary Crocodile Hunter is remembered with a new annual commemoration of his life at Australia Zoo. His widow Terri announced that November 15 of each year would mark as Steve Irwin Day at the famous Australia Zoo. The date is specially selected to coincide with the birthday of our wildlife experts’ most beloved animal, Harriet—A big tortoise from Galápagos Islands. “Harriet lived to be 175 years old. She was our giant Galápagos land tortoise and we celebrated her birthday on November 15,” Terri told the Nine Network along with Bindi and Robert Irwin.

Also she added, “In honour of their special relationship and making sure Steve Irwin Day is all about wildlife and wild places we’re continuing the tradition of a mid-November celebration with Steve,”.

Here is the link where you can watch the full conversation of Terri Irwin: Click Here

Steve is the popular culture icon of his uniform, KHAKI. In simple words, KHAKI is a symbol of original Crocodile Hunter and Wildlife Warrior, Steve Irwin. At the Australia Zoo, everyone gathers annually on November 15th, pay tributes and continue the legacy of wildlife conservation, fun, and family that Steve had created. All the Aussies and even people around the world are pleased to wear KHAKI’S on his remembrance day, November 15th. KHAKI is not just a symbol or color but it is more than a symbol or color. Yes, it is a passion, a positive thing, and an attitude to make a difference in one’s life. If you see a person in KHAKI uniform, then you can say that the person is willing to save an animal and ready to campaign for wildlife conservation. Sounds interesting right!? You do not need to be a Steve, or Terri or Bindi or Bob to save a needy animal from polluted areas. Simply having a positive thought of saving wildlife and nature is more than enough to become a Steve (a full-fledged wildlife warrior) in your area.

KHAKI IT is a fund raising event that happens every year at Australia Zoo to continue Steve’s legacy and raise some funds for the development of conservation programs, organizations, and events at Australia Zoo Wildlife Warriors. What the Wildlife Warriors at Australia Zoo say about KHAKI IT!? Here we go in their own words.

“As wildlife warriors, we believe that every life is worth rescuing.

We believe that anyone can be a Wildlife Warrior.

We believe khaki is not just a colour – it’s an attitude!

We believe that if you save one – you can save the species.

We believe that even kids can make a difference.

We believe in living the motto each day – KHAKI IT!

Remember, anyone can make a difference. All you have to do is KHAKI IT!”

Final Analysis

I am sure, Steve is still remembered today for his greatest contributions in the field of nature conservation and wildlife education. Whether he is alive or dead, Steve was a modern day and real life Australian Icon: Crocodile Dundee. Though some section of audiences were not happy with Steve’s antics and stereotypes, his charisma, ability to educate people on wildlife conservation, deep Australian accent, ability to show nature and animals in a very natural and exciting way with excellent communication skills earned him millions of fans and popularity worldwide.

The passionate advocate for the environment, Steve took a special place in our hearts as a great entertainer, a tireless promoter of his country, a great crocodile hunter, ambitious environmentalist, and adventurous, etc. what not!! He was a multi-talented personality whose absence made the world poorer. We miss you, Steve.

Steve Irwin–22 February 1962 – 4 September 2006

“The world has lost a great wildlife icon, a passionate conservationist and one of the proudest Dads on the planet. He died doing what he loves best and left this world in a happy and peaceful state of mind. Crocs Rule!”

—John Stainton, Steve’s Producer and Closest Friend


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