Steve Irwin was a son, brother, husband, father, and a stalwart conservationist and environmentalist. His infectious smile and enthusiasm propelled him to international stardom, which he used to spread his message. On September 4th, 2006, Steve was filming off the Great Barrier Reef when a large stingray unexpectedly struck him in the chest with a barb on its tail.
Steve Irwin
Today’s episode is going to be a little different. For our 200th episode, we aren’t going to talk about somehow who was kidnapped, raped, violently murdered, etc. You saw the episode title, so you know that today, we are going to talk about the one and only, Stephen Robert Irwin.
Steve was born on Feb 22nd, 1962, which also happened to be his mom Lyn’s birthday. Steve was born to Lyn and Bob Irwin in Upper Ferntree Gully, Victoria, Australia. He was the older brother to Joy and Mandy and from a very early age was raised to love animals. Steve’s father was a wildlife expert and herpetologist. His mother Lyn was a wildlife rehabilitator. When Steve was still young, the family moved to Queensland. This is where they opened the Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park. For a young Steve Irwin, this was like living inside of Walt Disney World.
At a very young age, Steve was essentially an employee at the park. He would clean out the areas where the animals were kept. He fed the reptiles, and basically did whatever he could to be near the animals. He was drawn to the reptiles though, it’s almost like he had a sixth sense that just connected him to them. The family started the park from pretty much nothing and lived in a “caravan” the first few years of the park’s existence. The first snakes they had on display were hand caught by Bob and Steve out in the wild when they went out fishing.
As a child, Steve was FULL OF ENERGY. We’ve all seen how he was as an adult, just imagine that same persona, with the energy of a child. He was mischievous but not in a bad way. He wouldn’t get in trouble or anything at school, but he would try his parent’s patience though because he would just disappear sometimes. They would set out to find him and discover that he was just down by the river catching frogs, snakes, and lizards. Steve’s family said that from a very early age, Steve had an uncanny skill when it came to climbing trees. So, many times when he would go missing, all they had to do was “look up.”
When Steve was 6 years old, his parents gave him a 12 foot long python as a present. He was beyond excited and loved spending time with his new best friend. At school, Steve became known to his classmates as their own wildlife expert. At recess and free times, he would wander around looking for lizards, birds, snakes, etc to show to everyone. After a while, the other children in his class got involved and would help him look for creatures during their lunch breaks. From a very early age, Steve Irwin was able to draw a crowd and try to educate them on the thing he loved the most, animals.
When Steve was 9 years old, the park had been established for a while and had several small reptiles on display. This is when Bob decided that the next step for the park was to bring in crocodiles. So, Bob and Steve went out one night in a smaller boat with just an outboard motor on the back. Steve sat at the front with a spotlight while Bob operated the motor. It took pretty much everything Bob had in him to keep Steve in the boat. When they were cruising along though, Steve spotted what he thought was a smaller croc, and he immediately jumped in on top of it. He grabbed it around the neck, and that’s when he realized that the “smaller” croc that he thought he saw was actually the same size as he was, and much stronger.
Bob watched for a second and waited to see what would happen, and when it became abundantly clear that Steve was going to be on the losing side of this fight, Bob leaned over with one arm and scooped both Steve and the croc into the boat. Bob then pinned the croc down with his body. As he did this, Steve shook off any fear or hesitation over what happened and immediately jumped on the croc to pin it down, with a huge smile on his face. Bob went back to the motor, and they made their way home.
The Crocodile Hunter
In the 70s, croc attacks on humans were being reported more and more frequently around Australia. By this point, the park had several more crocs, and Bob decided that he should get involved and try to ease the fears that people had regarding the croc attacks. He joined the East Coast Crocodile Management Program. He and Steve set out to help however they could. This mostly involved intervening when a croc had been reported. When they were told about a croc in an area with people, they would go out and relocate it, trying to avoid as many croc vs human attacks as possible.
It was during this time that it became apparent to Bob and everyone else that Steve was different. While many people, past and present, would describe Steve as fearless, it wasn’t this attribute that he relied upon the most when he was dealing with animals. He knew what they were capable of, and he respected that. He seemed to have a God given gift for locating and capturing crocs. Sometimes, Steve would get absolutely captivated and zoned in on capturing the crocs that it was almost like he was getting ready to fight them one on one.
By the time he was in his late teens, Steve was quickly becoming well known around Australia for his skills. He would spend days out in the bush, living off the land and water, just stalking and capturing a single croc. It was during this time that the legend of the crocodile hunter began to take shape.
One story revolves around Steve and a croc nicknamed “Agro.” Bob and been contacted about this croc that would quietly and sneakily swim up near boats in the river and then pop out, scarring anyone nearby. It was a creek near cattle farms, and the local farmers were ready to just shoot Agro and be done with it. Bob stepped in though with a plan. Bob planned on going up river and trying to locate Agro, then he would place a marker for Steve to come back later and set up a trap for the capture. It wasn’t difficult for Bob to locate Agro, and after he did, he placed the marker for Steve.
Later, Steve went to where the marker was in a boat with his dog, Sui. He said that as he was there, setting the trap, he had an uneasy feeling, like something was watching him, stalking him. His boat got bumped, which caused Sui to start barking. Steve quickly finished setting the trap, and they left. The next thing to do was just wait. 2 days went by, with nothing disturbing the trap. On the third day though, Steve went to the area and saw that the trap was completely submerged and the bait was gone.
As Steve approached, he reached out and grabbed the netting to pull it aboard his boat. When he was doing this, there was a huge bump from below the boat. Then another and another, with greater force. Steve managed to hang on to the net though and continued to pull it aboard. He got Agro’s tail on board, but that’s when the rest of Agro’s body shot out of the water, landing beside Steve in the boat. Steve and Sui both dove out of the boat. Steve began to reach for any and everything he could get his hands on. Branches, netting, handfuls of mud, everything, in an attempt to cover the thrashing croc’s head and eyes. In an instant, Steve jumped back into the boat and on Agro’s back. He again grabbed whatever was around and covered the croc’s head. He fired up the boat and began to make his way back. While he was going along, the croc was thrashing so violently that Steve thought the boat was going to rattle apart.
Once he was back at his camp, he managed to get the 1 ton croc secured and restrained. Staring at the large croc before him, Steve’s next problem was how to transport Agro. He went to a nearby farm and got a few of the farmhands to come and help out. When they saw the size of Agro though, they refused to get near him. Steve ended up getting a front end loader to transport Agro back to the park. That’s just one story of the countless that there are out there about Steve and the lengths he would go to help animals in need. One thing that stuck with Steve about his encounter with Agro was that he just felt bad about having to remove him from his home, but the other option would have just been the local farmers killing him, so this was the lesser of two evils.
Steve’s adventure with Agro was in 1988, by 1990, Steve had captured over a hundred crocs and relocated them. Some were taken back to the reptile park, but the vast majority of them were released back into the wild, just away from people.
In 1991, Bob and Lyn had decided that Steve was able to step up and continue their efforts regarding the park. Steve was beyond excited and wanted nothing more than to show his parents that they made the right choice in trusting him. His goal was to make the park the premiere wildlife park not just in Australia but anywhere in the world. One of his first actions was to rename the park. That’s when “Australia Zoo” was born into existence. With the name change, Steve also wanted something to set them apart and draw crowds.
That’s where Steve really began to perfect the crocodile shows at the park. He wanted to do something that would thrill the visitors, but more importantly, get them talking. One of his main goals was simply educating the people that came in. He would be front and center with these dangerous creatures, but to him, it was just another day of doing what he loved. It didn’t take long for word to get out. Steve’s love of the animals was obviously apparent from the start, but people also just couldn’t resist his huge personality. Attendance numbers at the Australia Zoo began to rise, and it quickly became a destination for families.
Steve & Terri
Far from Steve in Australia, Terri Raines was born in Eugene, Oregon. She was the youngest of three girls, and her parents, Clarence and Judy, were environmentalists. The family owned a long haul trucking business, and all through her childhood, Terri’s father would constantly bring home injured animals he would find along the highways as he drove his big rig. From a very early age, this instilled a love in Terri for animals, and helping / rehabilitating them.
In 1996, while working within the family business, Terri started a rehabilitation facility and named it Cougar Country. Her goal was to rehab and release predator mammals; e.g. foxes, raccoons, bears, bobcats and cougars. Not very long after she started her business, she was handling upwards of 300 animals per year. In 1989, Terri must have thought she didn’t have enough on her plate, so she started to work in an emergency veterinary hospital as a vet tech. Her goal was to learn any and everything she could about caring for the different kinds of animals that came through the doors. At this time, Terri was:
- Helping her father run their family trucking business.
- Running Cougar Country and rehabilitating animals.
- Working as a vet tech at the emergency hospital
- She also took care of her own pets at home: 15 cats, several birds, and a dog.
Terri was all over the place and tried to help anyone she could.
In 1991, Terri had ventured down to Australia and was visiting different wildlife rehab facilities to try to find a home for some cougars. One of those facilities was the Australia Zoo.
While at the Zoo, Terri like many others decided to take in the croc show. That was the first time she saw Steve. Steve and Terri had done a segment with 60 Minutes Australia, and they asked about their meeting. Here’s what Terri had to say about when she first saw him:
“My jaw was on the ground. I couldn’t believe this guy, and I thought, ‘I’ve got to meet him.’ Then he walked over to the feed bucket, and he went to grab another food item out of the bucket. As he bent over I went, ‘Hmmm, I’ve really got to get to know this guy.’”
It’s a bit of a joking way they talked about their first meeting, but Steve also talked about the first time he saw Terri. He saw a “lass” in the crowd and couldn’t take his eyes off of her. He thought to himself, “I need to talk to her after the show.” The show ended, and low and behold, he saw Terri hanging around. Steve said it was love at first sight and that they had a “whirlwind” romance. Within four months of meeting, they were engaged. Eight months later, on June 4th, 1992, they were married back in Oregon where Terri was from. After they were married, they returned to Australia to live.
In 2018, Terri spoke about the couples planned honeymoon. The original plan had been to have a nice beachy honeymoon getaway. Those plans changed when they received a phone call from Australia about “some bad guy who was going to shoot a crocodile.” She said that they were asked to go out and try to save the croc, and while they were out there, maybe they could film it. So they set out and went into the harsh Australian outback. This was Terri’s first real trip out there and her first croc hunt. She was scared, but trusted in Steve and knew that he would keep her away from danger.
John Stainton joined Terri and Steve on this rescue mission, as the person behind the camera, filming as they went along. In the end, they captured the croc and got some great footage, including Terri’s first encounter with a 6 ft Red Bellied Black Snake. That footage was all edited together and eventually became the first episode of “The Crocodile Hunter.”
A Global Phenomenon
In 1996, Australian TV was the first place that “The Crocodile Hunter” was seen. The next year, the show made its way to the US via Animal Planet. The show was hosted by Steve and Terri and aimed to educate people about different animals throughout the world. In the event that Terri wasn’t able to be in the show from time to time, Steve’s long time friend and described “right hand man,” Wes Mannion would be on screen with him.
The show became insanely popular. Over the course of several years, it was aired in Australia, The U.S., U.K., and over 130 other countries. It’s said to have reached over 500 million people. Steve’s over the top personality and exuberant presenting style won people over quickly. The show would air 64 episodes over the course of five seasons and 13 specials. Including the specials, it would be on the air for 11 years.
The Crocodile Hunter wasn’t the only show that the Irwins were involved in though. It spawned a few other shows over the years, Croc Files and The Crocodile Hunter Diaries. By this time, the Irwins were a household name. Steve had been asked to appear as himself in the movie Dr. Dolittle 2. That opened the door to a movie of his own, “The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course” in 2002. Steve and his family appeared in Wiggly Safari, along with Australian children’s group The Wiggles. He also lent his voice to the movie Happy Feet, which was released after his death.
Throughout the years, Steve and Terri appeared in several shows and specials, educating people about so-called “dangerous” animals.
On July 24th, 1998, Steve and Terri welcomed their first child, Bindi Sue Irwin. Bindi was named in typical Steve Irwin fashion. Her first name was taken from Steve’s favorite female croc in the Zoo, while her middle name was in honor of the family dog, Sui.
As young as two years old, Bindi began to appear in tv shows and specials along with Steve and Terri. She also hosted her own show, Bindi the Jungle Girl, along with her dad. Prior to his death in 2006, Steve had filmed several episodes which aired after his death.
On December 1st, 2003, the Irwins welcomed Robert Clarence Irwin into the fold. Robert was named after Steve (Bob) and Terri’s (Clarence) fathers respectively. Robert was also brought into the family business, just like his sister before him. Both children were / and are still heavily involved in the Australia Zoo. Robert hosted tv shows and specials alongside Bindi and Terri.
As Robert got older, it became apparent that he was a chip off the old block when it came to Steve. He is a spitting image of Steve and even took over for him when it came to his “Late Night” appearances. Whenever a late night show needed someone to come on and show some animals, Steve was always a great guest because of his exuberant personality. A few years after Steve’s death, Robert began to do the same, with just as much enthusiasm.
Steve got into some trouble when Robert was still just a baby. Steve was in the park doing a croc show, and he held an infant Robert in his arms while feeding the animals. There was some public outrage and an investigation was opened about the welfare of Bindi and Robert. In the end though, Steve apologized, while he and Terri both defended his actions saying that Steve was in complete control the whole time. After the incident, a law was passed that said no one who wasn’t properly trained or educated could be in a croc cage / area… also children couldn’t be in there.
Steve was also accused in 2004, animal rights groups said that while filming an episode of The Crocodile Hunter in Antarctica, Steve and the crew got too close to the wildlife (whales, seals, penguins) and disturbed them. It was investigated, but no charges or anything were made and it was dropped.
In November of 2003, Steve and the crew were out filming off the coast of Mexico when a call came over the radio about some missing divers. Steve and the crew halted the filming and joined in on the search. On the second day of the search, kayakers found one of the divers on a small rocky area jutting out from the side of a cliff face. Steve and another person escorted the diver back to their boat. The second divers body was found a little later the same day.
In 2002, Steve and Terri founded The Steve Irwin Conservation Foundation. The foundation would later be renamed Wildlife Warriors Worldwide. Their objective and goals are:
- To protect and enhance the natural environment
- To provide information and education to the public and raise awareness of wildlife issues
- To undertake biological research
- To research, recommend and act in the protection of threatened or endangered species.
- To enter into cooperative arrangements with like-minded organizations
Steve was obviously a strong advocate for animals and animal rights. The organizations he established would use funds to buy up huge tracts of land throughout the world, which he referred to as miniature national parks. When asked about fame and money in one interview, Steve said:
“What good is a fast car or flashy house…. To me? Absolutely nothing. I’ve been put on this planet to protect wildlife and wilderness areas. Which in essence is going to help humanity. I want to have the purest oceans. I want to be able to drink water straight out of that creek. I want to stop the ozone layer. I want to save the world. And ya know money? MONEY is great. I can’t get enough money. Ya know what I’m going to do with it? I’m going to buy wilderness areas with it. Every single cent I get goes into conservation. And guess what Charles, I dont give a rip who’s money it is mate. I’ll use it and I’ll spend it on buying land.”
The thing is though, when you see how Steve spoke about environmentalism and protecting animals / wildlife, you could tell that he believed in what he was doing with every ounce of his being. He was a true friend and advocate to the animal kingdom throughout the world.
September 4th, 2006
In September of 2006, Steve and the crew were out filming around the Great Barrier Reef. The weather had been terrible for filming for a few days, and Steve was getting antsy. One day, they caught a break and Steve decided to set out on a small boat with cameraman and trusted friend Justin Lyons.
They had set out with the intention of trying to film for the docuseries they were working on, Ocean’s Deadliest. They were trying to find sharks, sea snakes, box jellyfish, octopuss, etc, basically the things in the ocean that make people cringe and “Nope” the hell out of the water. This particular day, they were out trying to find tiger sharks. They had been out in the smaller boat for a few minutes when they came across a massive, 8ft wide stingray.
Upon seeing it, they decided that they could take the opportunity to film a few shots for a different show they were working on. They had swam with rays numerous times before, with no issue. Looking back, Lyons said it was a very impressive creature. They were in about chest deep water when they slipped over the side of the boat into the ocean. They made a plan on what to film and went about it.
After a few minutes, they got the shots they wanted and then decided that they wanted one last one with the ray between them so it would show the ray up front with Steve in the background.
The sun was on Steve’s back that day. Justin was filming as Steve approached from behind the ray. Suddenly, the ray kinda propped itself with his front facing down and his back end going up and started stabbing wildly with its tail. Lyons said that it must have stabbed hundreds of times within a few seconds. Not knowing what happened though, Justin filmed as the ray swam away. He then panned back over to Steve and saw that he was surrounded by a cloud of blood.
Justin said that initially thought, “We’ve gotta get out of the water because this blood will attract sharks.” Steve stood up in the water and said, “It’s punctured my lung.” Within seconds, he and Steve were out of the water and back into the small boat that had been motoring nearby. Justin said he took about 5 seconds to assess the situation. He saw that Steve had about a 2 inch gash on his chest over his heart with blood flowing out of it. They knew that they had to get him back to the main boat, Croc 1 ASAP.
Justin said that Steve was in an excruciating amount of pain. He knew that Steve had an insane high threshold for pain, so if Steve was in this much pain, it must have been intense.
What they didn’t know at the time was that the barb from the ray hadn’t punctured Steve’s lung, it punctured the thoracic cavity of his heart. Many people think that the barb of a ray is on the end of the tail, but it’s not. It’s more in the middle. This ray had a barb that was about a foot long. Justin said that contrary to what he had seen reported by people, the barb didn’t break off or anything. He also said that even if they had been able to get him to an emergency room that second, the chances of Steve surviving were almost 0 because of the damage that was done to his heart.
As they were going back to the boat, Justin was talking to Steve, telling him to think of his kids and Terri. Just Hold On. At a certain point, Steve looked up at Justin and said, “I’m dying.” Those were his last words. They got him back to Croc 1, and Justin started CPR right away. They did CPR for over an hour until they were able to get him to medics. Within 10 seconds of seeing him though, the medics pronounced him dead.
Justin said that with the way the ray reacted, he suspected that as Steve approached from behind it, it saw his shadow and thought he was a predator like a tiger shark, which caused it to attack as it did..
So, just like that, The Crocodile Hunter was taken out by one of the world’s most gentle creatures.
A private funeral service was held on Sept 9th, 2006. A public memorial service was held in Australia Zoo’s 5,500-seat Crocoseum on 30 September 2006; this service was broadcast live and it is estimated to have been seen by over 300 million viewers worldwide.
Steve had a rule when filming, “Never Stop Filming.” The attack and subsequent efforts to save Steve’s life were all captured. The film was given to Queensland police for their investigation, and there was speculation that the footage would be included with the Ocean’s Deadliest docuseries. The Discovery Network came out and denied that, saying the tape would never see the light of day. John Stainton who was on Croc 1 that day said that he had seen the footage and that no one should ever see it.
It’s similar to the Grizzly Man tapes in which Timothy Treadwell and his then girlfriend Amie Huguenard were attacked and killed by a bear while living amongst them. Grizzly Man is a 2005 documentary by Verner Herzog about Treadwell living in the wild around grizzly bears. He and his girlfriend were attacked by a bear and Treadwell tried to film but didn’t get the lens cap off. There is only audio. Upon listening to the audio, Herzog, the documentarian, told Timothy’s friend who hadn’t listened to it yet, “You must never listen to this.” He then advised her to destroy it for her own well being.
By January of 2007, the police investigation had finished and every copy of the tape was destroyed except for one. That tape was given to Terri. Terri told Access Hollywood in 2007 that the final tape was also destroyed.
After his death, Steve was given numerous honors, including November 15th being named Steve Irwin Day. There have been new species of animals discovered named in his honor. A vessel from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society was named after him. In 2018, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was unveiled for Steve.
Perhaps one of the best ways to close out talking about Steve is a story from Dr. Jamie Seymour, a world renowned toxicologist and professor at James Cook University. He was approached by a friend about helping out when they started to film for Ocean’s Deadliest. Initially, the friend didn’t tell him who he would be filming with, and after a few months of back and forth, finally told him it was Steve Irwin. Dr. Seymour said that at that point, he was going to back out. When the friend asked why, he said, “Because Steve’s an idiot.” He told a story of watching Steve’s documentaries and when Steve did something stupid, you take a drink, by the end of the show, you were completely trashed.
Steve took some time out and went to talk to Dr. Seymour himself though. Steve took him out on Croc 1 and explained what his plan was for the docuseries and what he wanted help with. Seymour said, “Steve, you do realize that people think you’re an absolute moron?” Steve said, “yeah.” Jamie asked, “well, are you?”
Steve said, “Jamie, do you watch my shows?” To which Jamie said “not really, but a couple here and there.” Steve asked why he watched and Jamie said “To see what you’re gonna do wrong.”
That’s when Steve said, “Gotcha. The moment I’ve got you hooked in to see if I’m going to do anything wrong, I can tell you anything and you’re going to remember it.” Seymour said that that’s what he remembers about Steve, he would put himself out there as this crazy dude, but you always remembered, Crocs Rule, Save the Crocs, and Conservation.
sources for this episode
Steve Irwin – The Crocodile Hunter | Australia Zoo
Terri Irwin reveals sweet reason her and Steve cancelled their honeymoon | Starts At 60.com
The Crocodile Hunter | Wikipedia
Steve Irwin Day 15 November | Steve Irwin Day.org
Steve Irwin: The Devastating Death of ‘The Crocodile Hunter’ | Biography
Remembering ‘Crocodile Hunter’ Steve Irwin 15 years after death | Fox 10 Phoenix
