Post by Rhonda on Sept 9, 2006 7:31:06 GMT -5
Steve Irwin
AKA Stephen Robert Irwin
Born:
22-Feb-1962
Birthplace:
Victoria, Australia
Died:
4-Sept-2006
Location of death:
Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia
Cause of death:
Accident
Nationality:
Australian
Steve Irwin was born 22 February 1962 in Essendon, located west of Melbourne, Australia. Although his father Bob was officially a plumber, and his mother Lynn a maternity nurse, the family's consuming passion was rescuing and rehabilitating local wildlife. In 1970 the hobby became a full time operation, as the Irwins, now relocated to Queensland, opened the Beerwah Reptile Park (now "Australia Zoo"). Steve Irwin recalls how, even with the advent of a formal facility, the family home was itself a mini zoo and wildlife hospital, with makeshift marsupial "pouches" slung over the backs of chairs and snakes stashed everywhere.
The young Irwin meanwhile came to share his parents' obsession with wild creatures, and he soon displayed an uncanny rapport with them, able to sense their moods and preferences intuitively. This ability to second-guess animal behaviour, coupled with his enthusiastic admiration of Bob Irwin's real life "action hero" escapades with crocs and venomous snakes, led the young Steve to try his own hand capturing the risky reptiles. Though initially alarmed, his father began tutoring him in crocodile capture. As a young man Steve put these skills to work in the rogue crocodile relocation project run by the Queensland government. Although he eventually claimed the title The Crocodile Hunter, Irwin's methods differed drastically to those of earlier claimants to such titles. That is, rather than ending up as table fare and handbags, the crocs bagged by Irwin were later released, unharmed, in a new home deeper in the wild - or at the Irwins' reptile park.
Able to boast that he and his father had captured or raised every croc in the park, Steve Irwin took over management of the facility in 1991. In that same year he met a lovely American, Terri Raines, on vacation from her own wildlife rehab center in the U.S. Marrying eight months later, the pair opted to go crocodile trapping for their honeymoon. They invited a camera crew along to film the expedition, which later become the first episode of their hit television show The Crocodile Hunter.
In 1998 the Irwin clan enlarged with the addition of daughter Bindi Sue Irwin (allegedly named after "Bindi", a large female croc at the Irwin's Australia Zoo, and "Sui", the Irwins' beloved dog, now deceased), and again in 2003 with son Bob Irwin.
Father: Bob Irwin
Mother: Lyn (d. 2002 car accident)
Wife: Terri Irwin (m. 4-Jun-1992, two children)
Daughter: Bindi Sue Irwin (B. 24-Jul-1998)
Son: Bob Irwin (B. 1-Dec-2003)
While filming an undersea documentary for Animal Planet on the Batt Reef, off North Queensland, Australia, Steve Irwin died in a freak accident when a sting-ray stung him in the chest. Irwin was snorkeling in shallow water above the ray, itself some 8 feet long and a yard across, when the animal unexpectedly reared its spine and struck Irwin near the heart, causing immediate cardiac arrest. Stings from this animal are rarely fatal unless they puncture the heart or stomach.
AKA Stephen Robert Irwin
Born:
22-Feb-1962
Birthplace:
Victoria, Australia
Died:
4-Sept-2006
Location of death:
Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia
Cause of death:
Accident
Nationality:
Australian
Steve Irwin was born 22 February 1962 in Essendon, located west of Melbourne, Australia. Although his father Bob was officially a plumber, and his mother Lynn a maternity nurse, the family's consuming passion was rescuing and rehabilitating local wildlife. In 1970 the hobby became a full time operation, as the Irwins, now relocated to Queensland, opened the Beerwah Reptile Park (now "Australia Zoo"). Steve Irwin recalls how, even with the advent of a formal facility, the family home was itself a mini zoo and wildlife hospital, with makeshift marsupial "pouches" slung over the backs of chairs and snakes stashed everywhere.
The young Irwin meanwhile came to share his parents' obsession with wild creatures, and he soon displayed an uncanny rapport with them, able to sense their moods and preferences intuitively. This ability to second-guess animal behaviour, coupled with his enthusiastic admiration of Bob Irwin's real life "action hero" escapades with crocs and venomous snakes, led the young Steve to try his own hand capturing the risky reptiles. Though initially alarmed, his father began tutoring him in crocodile capture. As a young man Steve put these skills to work in the rogue crocodile relocation project run by the Queensland government. Although he eventually claimed the title The Crocodile Hunter, Irwin's methods differed drastically to those of earlier claimants to such titles. That is, rather than ending up as table fare and handbags, the crocs bagged by Irwin were later released, unharmed, in a new home deeper in the wild - or at the Irwins' reptile park.
Able to boast that he and his father had captured or raised every croc in the park, Steve Irwin took over management of the facility in 1991. In that same year he met a lovely American, Terri Raines, on vacation from her own wildlife rehab center in the U.S. Marrying eight months later, the pair opted to go crocodile trapping for their honeymoon. They invited a camera crew along to film the expedition, which later become the first episode of their hit television show The Crocodile Hunter.
In 1998 the Irwin clan enlarged with the addition of daughter Bindi Sue Irwin (allegedly named after "Bindi", a large female croc at the Irwin's Australia Zoo, and "Sui", the Irwins' beloved dog, now deceased), and again in 2003 with son Bob Irwin.
Father: Bob Irwin
Mother: Lyn (d. 2002 car accident)
Wife: Terri Irwin (m. 4-Jun-1992, two children)
Daughter: Bindi Sue Irwin (B. 24-Jul-1998)
Son: Bob Irwin (B. 1-Dec-2003)
While filming an undersea documentary for Animal Planet on the Batt Reef, off North Queensland, Australia, Steve Irwin died in a freak accident when a sting-ray stung him in the chest. Irwin was snorkeling in shallow water above the ray, itself some 8 feet long and a yard across, when the animal unexpectedly reared its spine and struck Irwin near the heart, causing immediate cardiac arrest. Stings from this animal are rarely fatal unless they puncture the heart or stomach.