WILDLIFE WARRIOR

STEVE IRWIN 1962-2006

A man who changed the world

by RICHARD SHEARS

Brand new softcover book, 204 pages, contains lots of colour photos, including Bindi's moving tribute at her father's memorial service. Published October 31, 2006

 This is the story of Steve Irwin, 'Crocodile Hunter', showman, foot-in-the-door salesman for Mother Nature. He trapped ferocious crocodiles, stared into the eyes of the world's most dangerous snakes and won a worldwide audience of more than 500 million. Such was Steve Irwin's international profile as a 'wildlife warrior' that there was an unprecedented display of worldwide shock and despair, likened in its enormity only to that which followed the death of Britain's Princess Diana. Emails from his fans flooded into his Australia Zoo, north of Brisbane, Queensland, and literally thousands of wreaths were left at the premises' gates. News of his death led news bulletins everywhere, and in America he had been so idolised that, for a week, the Iraq war was a secondary item. This book is a celebration of Irwin's extraordinary life. It is the account of a man who was not ashamed to live life to the full, to love life to the full. He was unapologetic about who he was, his love of nature and his love for his family.

 "There's only one way to shoot a crocodile, and that's with a camera" - Steve Irwin

A bit more about Steve Irwin

Stephen Robert Irwin was born to Lyn and Bob Irwin in Victoria in February 1962. Bob Irwin was a keen enthusiast of reptiles and moved his family to Queensland in 1970 to start a small reptile park at Beerwah on the Sunshine Coast. Australia Zoo became a true family business, flourishing until 1991 when Bob & Lyn retired, turning over management to their son, Steve.

Living in the Zoo, Steve grew up with animals of all kinds, taking part in the animals daily feeding, care and maintenance. His 6th birthday present was what he had always wanted – his very own scrub python! It was 3.6m (12ft) long and while most other children were opening cans of pet food for their cats or dogs, Steve was out catching fish and hunting rodents to feed to his crocodiles and snakes.

Bob taught the young Steve everything there was to know about reptiles – even teaching his nine-year-old how to jump in and catch crocodiles in the rivers of North Queensland at night. This father and son’s proud boast is that every crocodile in their Zoo (the numbering some 100 animals) was either caught by their bare hands or bred and raised in their Zoo.

As he grew older Steve followed in his father’s footsteps and volunteered his services to the Queensland Governments East Coast Crocodile Management program which saw him spend years living on his own in the mosquito infested creeks, rivers and mangroves of North Queensland catching huge crocodiles single-handed. His record of successful catches is still staggering to this day.

Since 1991, Australia Zoo has flourished and expanded under Steve’s guidance. In 1990 a chance reunion with his friend, television producer John Stainton, filming in the Zoo for a TV commercial, gave Steve the opportunity to show his diverse animal talents to the world when they both took a punt and make the first documentary, "The Crocodile Hunter" in 1992.

The tremendous success of this one program quickly encouraged the making of more and so over the next 3 years, 10 one hour episodes were made and on television screens all over the world. Steve has now filmed over 70 episodes of "The Crocodile Hunter", 53 episodes of "Croc Files", 43 episodes of "Croc Diaries" and his next television series is called "The New Breed Vets" for release in 2005.

Steve has the greatest respect and understanding for all animals – something that has been instilled into him by his family for all of his life – and he's proud to share his passion with everyone who visits his Zoo and with his five hundred million viewers world-wide.

In June 1992, Steve married Terri Raines from Oregon USA. They had met a few months earlier when Terri visited the Zoo whilst on holidays in Australia.

 

Wildlife Warrior: Steve Irwin 1962 - 2006 by Richard Shears