September 5, 2006

"Crocodile Hunter" Irwin Dies

Iconic Aussie wildlife daredevil Steve Irwin has died as he loved living: seeking out the world's most dangerous and exotic creatures in their own domain.

But, in a strange twist, it was one of the less dangerous creatures that he has confronted that ultimately claimed his life.

The ebullient environmentalist, one of Australia's best known exports, was killed when he was lashed in the chest by a stingray's poison barb while filming underwater on the Great Barrier Reef on Monday.

"We have probably lost one of the most passionate wildlife people on this earth," said Irwin's producer John Stainton, who was filming with Irwin when his heart was pierced by the stingray's venomous tail.

Irwin's overflowing passion for animals, reptiles, fish and other creatures -- however deadly they might have been -- was a lifelong affair that made him a household name across the world.

His infectious enthusiasm and natural showmanship grew out of a childhood spent at the small reptile park started by his parents in Queensland, northeastern Australia, where he learned his love for creepy crawlies.

Born Stephen Robert Irwin in the southern city of Melbourne in 1962, the future "Crocodile Hunter" was exposed to such creatures from the earliest age by his reptile-enthusiast plumber father Bob and mum Lyn.

When Irwin was eight, his family moved to Queensland to launch a reptile park at Beerwah on the Sunshine Coast, where he helped care for and feed the slithering menagerie which he soon adopted.

He would spend his spare time catching fish and hunting rodents to feed to his 3.6-meter (12-foot) pet python and his crocodiles.

Irwin's father taught him the ropes, even training him to jump into rivers in the region to catch crocodiles at night with his bare hands, an antic that would become one of Irwin's signature moves when he became a global television star.

As an adult, Irwin launched into the crocodile trapping business in areas of Queensland where the beasts were troubling residents, and in 1991 he took over the family business which he would turn into a global attraction.

Fate took a hand in Irwin's fortunes in 1991, when he ran into an old friend and television producer, Stainton, who oversaw the making of Irwin's first documentary, "The Crocodile Hunter", in 1992.

The show depicted the crocodile-trapping honeymoon of Irwin and his new American bride Terri Raines, who he had met at the park, and it turned Irwin into a TV personality.

Over the next 15 years, Irwin would make more than 70 one-hour episodes of his unusual wildlife documentary series, as well as scores of other shows with titles such as "Croc Files" and "Croc Diaries".

The unusual mix of Irwin's boundless enthusiasm and apparent fearlessness while getting close up and personal with terrifying creatures turned him into a star, notably in the United States where he is the subject of countless impersonation acts.

But his passion for promoting environmentalism and educating children in the ways of the wild had got Irwin into trouble as well as making him legions of fans.

In 2004, the father-of-two became the focus of a public firestorm when he fed a chicken to a hungry crocodile while holding his one-year-old son Bob in his other arm.

Irwin hit back at critics, saying the child was in no danger and insisted that he would continue such antics if they taught children about wildlife. His eight-year-old daughter Bindi looks set to follow in her dad's footsteps.

"When I was a very small boy, my dad did the same for me," he retorted. "In fact when I was nine-years-old he let me jump, restrain and capture my first crocodile."

SOURCE: AFP

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