biography of steve ervin

Born in Victoria, Australia and later relocated to Queensland, the Irwin family started a small reptile park in Beerwah on the Sunshine Coast. In 1973, the Australia Zoo opened their doors to the public and it became a true family business. The young Irwin literally grew up with the animals at the zoo, taking part in their daily maintenance and care.

The elder Irwin taught his young son everything there was to know about reptiles -- even teaching young Irwin how to jump in and catch crocodiles in the rivers of North Queensland at night. His favorite boast back then (and to this day) is that every crocodile in their park (now numbering some 100 animals) was either caught by their bare hands or bred and raised in their park.

In 1990, Irwin received his break into television when he was reunited with his friend, television producer John Stainton. Stainton was filming a television commercial in the Australian reptile park and had extended an offer to shoot a documentary of Irwin and his animals. In 1992, Irwin's first documentary,"The Crocodile Hunter," aired on the Discovery Channel. The success of this documentary led to the production of one of the most popular nature series on cable television.

Irwin could not have made a more fitting choice when he decided to appear in the feature film "Dr. Dolittle 2"(2001), the Eddie Murphyvehicle about a doctor who who can speak to animals. One year later, Irwin's bold and courageous demeanor was showcased in his first starring feature role as himself in "The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course" (2002). In it Irwin is joined by his wife Terri as they do what they do best...hunt crocodiles. A nature lover at heart, Irwin did not forget those who have helped him claim fame -- he donated a generous portion of his movie earnings to various crocodile and animal rescue leagues.


The park was a family run business, until it was turned over to Steve. He took over the running of the park, now called Australia Zoo (renaming it in 1992). Also that year, he appeared in a one-off reptile and wildlife special for television. In 1991, he met Terri Raines at the park, while performing a demonstration. The two married in June 1992, in Terri's hometown of Eugene, Oregon. The footage, shot by John Stainton, of their crocodile-trapping honeymoon became the first episode of The Crocodile Hunter. The series debuted on Australian TV screens in 1996, and by the following year had made its way onto North American television. The Crocodile Hunter became successful in the United States and also, after repackaging by Partridge Films for ITV, in the UK.[4] In 1998, he continued, working with producer and director Mark Strickson, to present The Ten Deadliest Snakes in the World. By 1999, he had become very popular in the United States, making his first appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. By this time, the Crocodile Hunter series was broadcast in over 137 countries, reaching 500 million people. His exuberant and enthusiastic presenting style, broad Australian accent, signature khaki shorts, and catchphrase "Crikey!" became known worldwide.[5] Sir David Attenborough praised Irwin for introducing many to the natural world, saying "He taught them how wonderful and exciting it was, he was a born communicator."[6]

A 2000 FedEx commercial with Steve Irwin lightheartedly dealed with the possibility of occupational death from snakebite and the fanciful notion that FedEx would have saved him, if only FedEx were used.[7]

Under Irwin's leadership, the operations grew to include the zoo, the television series, the Steve Irwin Conservation Foundation (renamed Wildlife Warriors), and the International Crocodile Rescue. Improvements to the Australia Zoo include the Animal Planet Crocoseum, the rainforest aviary and Tiger Temple. Irwin mentioned that he was considering opening an Australia Zoo in Las Vegas, Nevada, and possibly at other sites around the world.[1]


Film
In 2001, Irwin appeared in a cameo role in the Eddie Murphy film Dr. Dolittle 2, in which a crocodile warns Dolittle that he knows Irwin is going to grab him and is prepared to attack when he does, but Dolittle fails to warn Irwin in time. Irwin's only starring feature film role was in 2002's The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course, which was released to mixed reviews. In the film Irwin (who portrayed himself and performed numerous stunts) mistakes some CIA agents for poachers. He sets out to stop them from capturing a crocodile, which, unknown to him, has actually swallowed a tracking transmitter. The film won the Best Family Feature Film award for a comedy film at the Young Artist Awards. The film was produced on a budget of about $12 million, and has grossed $33 million.[8] To promote the film, Irwin was featured in an animated short produced by Animax Entertainment for Intermix.[9]

In 2002, the Irwins appeared in the Wiggles video/DVD release Wiggly Safari, which was set in Irwin's Australia Zoo. It featured Irwin-themed songs written and performed by the Wiggles such as "Crocodile Hunter", "Australia Zoo", "Snakes (You can look but you better not touch)" and "We're The Crocodile Band". Irwin was featured prominently on the cover and throughout the movie.

In 2006, Irwin provided his voice for the 2006 animated film Happy Feet, as an elephant seal named Trev. The film was dedicated to Irwin, as he died during post-production.[10] Another, previously incomplete scene, featuring Steve providing the voice of an Albatross and essentially playing himself, was restored to the DVD release.


Animal Planet and later projects
Animal Planet ended The Crocodile Hunter with a series finale entitled "Steve's Last Adventure." The last Crocodile Hunter documentary spanned three hours with footage of Irwin's across-the-world adventure in locations including the Himalayas, the Yangtze River, Borneo, and the Kruger National Park. Irwin went on to star in other Animal Planet documentaries, including The Croc Files, The Crocodile Hunter Diaries, and New Breed Vets.

As a part of the United States' "Australia Week" celebrations in January 2006, Irwin appeared at the Pauley Pavilion, UCLA in Los Angeles, California. During an interview on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Irwin announced that Discovery Kids would be developing a show for his daughter, Bindi Sue Irwin.[11] The show, Jungle Girl, was tipped to be similar to The Wiggles movies, with songs that surround a story. A feature-length episode of Australian kids TV show The Wiggles entitled "Wiggly Safari" appears dedicated to Irwin, and he's featured in it heavily with his wife and daughter. The show includes the song "Crocodile Hunter, Big Steve Irwin".

In 2006, the American network The Travel Channel had begun to show a series of specials starring Irwin and his family as they travelled on cross-country tours.


Media work

A poster from Irwin's Quarantine Matters! campaign.Irwin was also involved in several media campaigns. He enthusiastically joined with the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service to promote Australia's strict quarantine/customs requirements, with advertisements and posters featuring slogans such as, "Quarantine Matters! Don't muck with it". His payments for these advertising campaigns were directed into his wildlife fund.[12]

In 2004, he was appointed ambassador for The Ghan, the passenger train running from Adelaide to Alice Springs in the central Australian outback, when the line was extended all the way to Darwin on the northern coast that year. For some time he was sponsored by Toyota.[13]

He was also a keen promoter for Australian tourism in general and Queensland tourism in particular. In 2002, the Australia Zoo was voted Queensland's top tourist attraction.[14] His immense popularity in the United States meant he often promoted Australia as a tourist destination there.[15]


Honours
In 2001, Irwin was awarded the Centenary Medal for his "service to global conservation and to Australian tourism".[16] In 2004, he was recognised as Tourism Export of the Year.[17] He was also nominated in 2004 for Australian of the Year, an honour which was won by Australian Cricket Captain Steve Waugh. Shortly before his death, he was to be named an adjunct professor at the University of Queensland's School of Integrative Biology.[18] On 14 November 2007 Irwin was awarded the adjunct professorship posthumously by the University of Queensland.[19] In May 2007, the Rwandan Government announced that it would name a baby gorilla after Steve Irwin as a tribute to his work in wildlife conservation.[20] The Crocodile Rehabilitation and Research Centre in Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary was named by the Kerala government after late Steve Irwin.[21]


Environmentalism
See also: Wildlife Warriors
Irwin was a passionate conservationist and believed in promoting environmentalism by sharing his excitement about the natural world rather than preaching to people. He was concerned with conservation of endangered animals and land clearing leading to loss of habitat. He considered conservation to be the most important part of his work: "I consider myself a wildlife warrior. My mission is to save the world's endangered species."[14] Irwin bought "large tracts of land" in Australia, Vanuatu, Fiji and the United States, which he described as "like national parks" and stressed the importance of people realising that they could each make a difference.[22]

He had urged people to take part in considerate tourism and not support illegal poaching through the purchase of items such as turtle shells or shark-fin soup.[23]

He founded the Steve Irwin Conservation Foundation, which was later renamed Wildlife Warriors Worldwide, and became an independent charity. He was described after his death by the CEO of RSPCA Queensland as a "modern-day Noah," and British naturalist David Bellamy lauded his skills as a natural historian and media performer.[24] Irwin and his father discovered a new species of turtle that now bears his name, Elseya irwini — Irwin's Turtle — a species of turtle found on the coast of Queensland.[25]

He also helped to found a number of other projects, such as the International Crocodile Rescue, as well as the Lyn Irwin Memorial Fund, in memory of his mother (who was in a fatal car crash in 2000), with proceeds going to the Iron Bark Station Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre.

Irwin, however, was criticised for having an unsophisticated view of conservation in Australia that seemed more linked to tourism than to the problems Australia faces as a continent.

In response to questions of Australia's problems with overgrazing, salinity, and erosion, Irwin responded, "Cows have been on our land for so long that Australia has evolved to handle those big animals." The Sydney Morning Herald concluded with the opinion that his message was confusing and amounted to "eating roos and crocs is bad for tourism, and therefore more cruel than eating other animals".[26]

According to Terri, Sir David Attenborough was an inspiration to Irwin. When presenting a Lifetime Achievement Award to Attenborough after Irwin's death at the British National Television Awards on 31 October 2006 Terri stated "If there's one person who directly inspired my husband it's the person being honoured tonight." She went on to say "[Steve's] real, true love was conservation - and the influence of tonight's recipient in preserving the natural world has been immense."[27] Sir David reciprocated with praising Irwin for introducing many to the natural world, saying "He taught them how wonderful and exciting it was, he was a born communicator."[6]


Filmography
Year Film Role Other notes
1997-2004 The Crocodile Hunter Himself
1999-2000 Croc Files Himself
2001 Dr. Dolittle 2 Himself Cameo role
2002 Mystery Hunters Himself One episode
2002 The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course Himself
2006 5 Takes: Pacific Rim Himself One Episode
2006 Happy Feet Trev (voice)


Personal life

Family

Terri Raines Irwin, the widow of Steve IrwinIn 1992, Irwin married Terri Raines from Eugene, Oregon, United States. The pair had met a few months earlier, when Terri had visited the zoo on a holiday; according to both of them, it was love at first sight. Terri said at the time, "I thought there was no one like this anywhere in the world. He sounded like an environmental Tarzan, a larger-than-life superhero guy."[28] Although he and Terri were happily married, they did not wear wedding rings; in their line of work, wearing jewelery could pose a hazard to them and/or the animals.[29]Together they had two children: a daughter, Bindi Sue Irwin (born 24 July 1998), and a son, Robert Clarence "Bob" (named after Irwin's father) Irwin (born 1 December 2003). Bindi Sue is jointly named after two of Steve Irwin's favourite animals: Bindi, a saltwater crocodile, and Sui, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier who died in June 2004.

Irwin was as enthusiastic about his family as he was about his work. He once described his daughter Bindi as "the reason [he] was put on the Earth." His wife once said, "The only thing that could ever keep him away from the animals he loves are the people he loves even more."[1]

Terri Irwin recently reported that Steve had an ongoing premonition that he would die before he reached age 40.[30] She wrote about this in her book Steve and Me about their lives together.[31]


Controversies
A controversial incident occurred during a public show on 2 January 2004, when Irwin carried his one-month-old son, Bob, in his arm while hand-feeding a chicken carcass to Murray, a 3.8-metre (12 ft 6 in) saltwater crocodile. The infant was close to the crocodile, and comparisons were made in the press to Michael Jackson's dangling his son outside a German hotel window.[32] In addition, child welfare groups, animal rights groups, and some of Irwin's television viewers criticised his actions as irresponsible and tantamount to child abuse.[33] Irwin apologised on the US NBC Today Show.[34] Both he and his wife publicly stated that Irwin was in complete control of the situation, as he had dealt with crocodiles since he was a small child, and based on his lifetime of experience neither he nor his son were in any danger. He also showed footage of the event shot from a different angle, demonstrating that they were much further from the crocodile than they had appeared in the publicised clip.[35] Terri Irwin said their child was in no more danger than one being taught to swim. No charges were filed; according to one journalist, Irwin told officials he would not repeat the action. The incident prompted the Queensland government to change its crocodile-handling laws, banning children and untrained adults from entering crocodile enclosures.

In June 2004, allegations were made that he disturbed wildlife (namely whales, seals and penguins) while filming a documentary, Ice Breaker, in Antarctica. The matter was subsequently closed without charges being filed.


MV Steve Irwin approaching Melbourne in February 2008After Irwin's death, the vessel MV Robert Hunter owned by the environmental action group Sea Shepherd was renamed MV Steve Irwin in Steve's honour.[39] Sea Shepherd is a controversial environmentalist group that conducts direct action operations including the sinking of whaling ships to protect marine species and environments. Shortly before his death, Irwin had been investigating joining their 2007/08 voyage to Antarctica to disrupt Japanese whaling activity. Following his death, as an alternative the renaming of the vessel was suggested by Sea Shepherd and endorsed by his widow Terri.


Politics
After questions arose about Irwin being paid $175,000 worth of taxpayers' money to appear in a television advertisement and his possible political ties, Irwin told ABC that he was a conservationist and did not choose sides in politics.

His comments describing Australian Prime Minister John Howard as the "greatest leader in the world" earned him scorn in the media.


Search and rescue effort in Mexico
In November 2003, Irwin was filming a documentary on sea lions off the coast of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula when he heard via his boat's radio that two scuba divers were reported missing in the area. Irwin and his entire crew suspended operations to aid in the search. His team's divers searched with the rescue divers, and Irwin used his vessel to patrol the waters around the island where the incident occurred, as well as using his satellite communications system to call in a rescue plane. On the second day of the search, kayakers found one of the divers, Scott Jones, perched on a narrow rock ledge jutting out from the side of a cliff. Irwin and a crewmember escorted him to Irwin's boat. Jones did not recognise his celebrity rescuer, as he had never seen Irwin on television. The other lost diver, Katie Vrooman, was found dead by a search plane later the same day not far from Jones' location.


Sports fan
Having grown up in Essendon, Irwin was a fan of the Essendon Bombers, an Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League.[ Irwin took part in an Australian Rules football promotion in Los Angeles as part of "Australia Week" in early 2006.[After his death, a picture of Irwin wearing a Bombers Guernsey was shown by ESPN.com in their Bottom 10 ranking of the worst Division I FBS college football teams after Week 1 of the season in tribute to him.

Like many Australians, he was a big cricket fan. This was seen during his visit to Sri Lanka where he played cricket with some local kids and saying "I love cricket" and "It's a shame we have to go catch some snakes now". This was seen during the Crocodile Hunter episode “Island of the Snakes".

Living in Queensland most of his life, Irwin was also a fan of rugby league. As a teenager, he played for the Caloundra Sharks as a second-rower, and as an adult he was known to be a passionate Brisbane Broncos fan and was involved with the club on several occasions. On one occasion after turning up to training he asked if he could tackle the largest player, Shane Webcke. Despite being thrown to the ground and looking like he'd been crushed he was jovial about the experience. Irwin laughingly shared the experience with the Queensland State of Origin squad before the 2006 series. Irwin also supported rugby union, being a fan of the national team, the Wallabies. He once wore a Wallaby jersey during a demonstration at the zoo. A behind-the-scenes episode of The Crocodile Hunter showed Irwin and the crew finding a gas station in a remote part of Namibia to watch the Wallabies defeat France in the 1999 Rugby World Cup Final. Irwin was also a talented surfer.

Irwin loved mixed martial arts competitions and trained with Greg Jackson in the fighting/grappling system of Gaidojutsu.