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“Fear,” Aussie hero Steve Irwin once told an interviewer, “helps me from making mistakes, but I make a lot of mistakes.”
However, what most people will remember is not the mistakes the world-famous Crocodile Hunter made, but all the right things he did in a lifetime spent in understanding - and making others understand - wildlife. Not just in Australia, but in the US, Europe, Asia and Africa.
The Crocodile Hunter did more than just hunt crocodiles. And when we say hunt, he did not kill them. His job was to capture unruly crocodiles and remove them from highly-populated areas, and rehabilitate them. He was hired by the Queensland Government to do this. It also happened that Irwin loved the reptiles and took really good care of them in Australia Zoo, a wildlife park that his parents had set up. Stephen Robert Irwin - to give him his full name - with his trademark smile and the involuntary exclamation, “Crikey”, was a passionate conservationist. He loved whales, seals, penguins, pythons, smaller snakes, venomous snakes, elephants and orangutans... all creatures... equally. His shows taught people many things they would otherwise not have known. For instance, his invaluable tips on snakes, snakebites and venom, have saved many lives.
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Irwin, who learnt to handle a python (gifted to him by his father) at the age of six, made sure that his own children, son Bob and daughter Bindi Sue, too learnt to love animals and care for them. When Irwin was nine, he could jump into the river and capture a crocodile even at night. That passion stayed with him for life.
Unlike what his detractors believed, Irwin was not an attention-grabber who loved to be seen on television. Nor was he vain. Though his approach to wildlife conservation was a bit on the flashy side, he really respected animals. Another great trait in him was that he also acknowledged that others, elsewhere, were doing their bit as well.
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This quote, from one of his many interviews, reveals that aspect of Irwin’s character. “I am optimistic globally. So many scientists are working frantically on the reparation of our planet.” They are, and they will continue to, but Irwin will remain special for what he has done.
The ultimate tribute was paid by Irwin’s team who were shooting the documentary, The Ocean’s Deadliest, with him on the day of the fatal accident. His friend John Stainton, co-host Philippe Cousteau (grandson of the legendary environmentalist, Jacques Cousteau) and the gang went back the next morning to complete the film. In true Irwin style.
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