Rest in peace Steve Irwin...

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Famous words of the Crocodile Hunter

"Crickey!"
"Look at that whoppa!!"

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News article: The "Freak accident"

Reports of the Australian wildlife television presenter Steve Irwin's death have long been either exaggerated or expected. On previous occasions, Irwin, known worldwide for his Discovery Channel programmes, was allegedly killed by a black mamba and a komodo dragon. This time, sadly, the reports were true - the barb from a stingray punching into his heart in what most experts regard as a freak accident.
Irwin, whose death has come at the age of 44, was no stranger to danger. He was born in Essendon, near Melbourne, Victoria, to Lyn and Bob Irwin, both naturalists, and for his sixth birthday received as a pet a 3.6m-long scrub python called Fred. The family moved north to Beerwah, on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, and in 1970 bought the land for a small reptile park. It grew in size, went through various changes of name, was celebrated for its displays of crocodile feeding, and in 1990 became the Australia Zoo.

Years of learning from his father to relocate rogue crocodiles in the mosquito-infested swamps of north Queensland led to Steve volunteering to trap problem crocodiles in populated areas and remove them to the family zoo. His television breakthrough followed an encounter in 1990 with producer John Stainton, who was shooting a commercial there. The following year, Irwin took over the running of the Australia Zoo when his parents retired, and met an American visitor there, Terri Raines, from Eugene, Oregon.
They married six months later, and the following year film from their honeymoon became the first episode of the series The Crocodile Hunter (1992). Thus began a television career featuring oversize khaki shorts, ankle-length boots, an enthusiastically thick Australian accent and an ability to shout "Crickey, he's angry" when Irwin and the film crew had hauled some deadly (and quite reasonably angry) poisonous snake, or lizard, out of the bush by the tail. By the late 1990s he was one of Australia's biggest media celebrities with television shows like The Crocodile Hunter, The Crocodile Hunter's Croc Files (1999) and The Crocodile Hunter Diaries (2002) reaching a worldwide audience of half a billion viewers.

The Crocodile Hunter was rapidly taken up by America's Discovery Channel and Irwin became a US celebrity. His ability to exude an almost violent enthusiasm, talk extremely loudly and, seemingly, live a charmed life grabbing some of the world's most poisonous creatures out of the bush, spawned a growing cult for "red in tooth and claw" wildlife television. Other broadcasters criticised his programmes as exploitative and the antithesis of proper natural history programmes, where cameramen spent months trying to capture intimate moments of rare creatures. For Irwin, the selling point was the more immediate the better, with helicopters and multi-camera crews capturing every moment.

In 2002, his career went from mainstream television to Hollywood, initially with a role with Eddie Murphy in Dr Doolittle 2, wrestling an alligator and losing an arm, and then with a leading role (although he says he never saw the script) in The Crocodile Hunters: Collision Course, with his wife. That script revolved around a crocodile which swallowed a black box from a US spy satellite and led to a pursuit involving Irwin and the CIA. The film recorded 10m viewers in its opening weekend.

The year 2004 went less less well. Irwin was criticised for holding his infant son near a crocodile pool while feeding chickens to a four-metre long crocodile. Local authorities and children's rights groups said it was tantamount to child abuse; he claimed he was in "absolute and complete control". Later in the year he was attacked for allegedly filming too close to penguins, seals and humpback whales in the Antarctic. Despite the controversy, Irwin remained hugely popular, with Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz visiting Australia Zoo that year; the previous year, he had been among leading figures invited to meet President George Bush on a state visit.

It is most likely that Irwin would have preferred to have been killed by a saltwater crocodile, his favourite creature, but he would, nevertheless, have relished telling an audience about the creature which killed him, the stingray, "with a 10-inch long serrated spine which flexes if it is frightened". Stainton was on the boat 1,200 miles off Port Douglas on the Great Barrier Reef where Irwin was attacked: "He died doing what he loved best and left this world in a happy and peaceful state of mind. He would have said 'Crocs Rule.'"

Irwin is survived by Terri, his daughter Bindi Sue and son Bob.

· Stephen Robert Irwin, television wildlife presenter, born February 22 1962; died September 4 2006

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Biography

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. They now spend their lives together educating people everywhere to care for all of our world’s wildlife.

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Members

[The Chronicles of Faelan] In memory of Steve Irwin, and in sympathy for his wife and children, I pray you rest in peace, you're a true "Aussie Bloke!"

[Forever Equine]- To the man I loved and admired from afar, may you wrestle many more gators in the hearts and minds of generations to come! You'll not be forgotten! *lights a candle*

[~_//That Which Is Lost\\_~] he was my hero...he taught me to love and care for animals and to treat them with respect. hes encouraged alot of people to help the animals instead of hurt them. hes a brave man who is loved by millions of people around the world. he was a great role model...adored by all....great song...perfect friend wonderful husband and an even better father....ill miss him..and so will millions of his adoring fans....R.I.P Steve Irwin...you died doing what you loved and loved oding it until the da you died....

[Bookwyrm] - I loved Steve Irwin, and I'm glad that he died doing what he loved...I just wish he'd lived a little longer for his family. We'll never forget you.