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BRISBANE, Australia — The father of late television star Steve Irwin said he quit the family's Australian conservation park because he had become a "disrupting influence," although the widow of the khaki-clad "Crocodile Hunter" denies a rift in the clan. Australian media have speculated for months that Terri Irwin, the U.S.-born wife of the television host and mother of his two children, had fallen out with Bob Irwin following his son's death in a 2006 stingray attack. In brief excerpts released Thursday of Bob Irwin's first interview since he left the park earlier this year, he told the Australian Broadcasting...

I opened my copy of my Our Daily Bread devotional this morning and was reminded that it was one year ago today that we first heard the news about the death of the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin. Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin dead (Initial thread) Bindi's tribute to Steve Irwin (Speech from Memorial)Terri Irwin Says, 'I've Lost My Prince' - Interview with Steve's wife Steve Irwin Memorial Service (Live Thread)Screenshots from Steve Irwin's memorial serviceWas Steve Irwin a Christian? (Rumors denied by Snopes investigators) "My Prince"People around the world reacted with shock in September 2006 when news broke that Steve Irwin,...

BEERWAH, Australia - Bindi Irwin wants her new TV show to continue the educational and conservation work of her father, the late "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin. "I'm proud to be showing kids that conservation and helping wildlife is a stack of fun," the 8-year-old Bindi said Friday at the Australian launch of "Bindi: The Jungle Girl." "It's just the most amazing thing that we could ever do," she said. Producers say the show will feature Steve Irwin in scenes shot before he was killed by a stingray last fall while filming one of his popular television documentaries. Irwin's widow, Terri,...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bindi Irwin, the 8-year-old daughter of late "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin, will launch her new television series in June with her father appearing in some episodes, Discovery Kids Channel said on Tuesday. The exuberant, khaki-clad Australian naturalist and his daughter began filming the 26-part cable TV show, "Bindi: The Jungle Girl," in early 2006 with the aim of getting children more interested in wildlife conservation. Irwin, however, died last September after a stingray's serrated barb pierced his heart while he was filming scenes for a documentary off Australia's northeast coast. But after 44-year-old Irwin's death, his...

Really funny Steve Irwin video. He'll be missed.

KERRY O'BRIEN: What does Bindi Irwin have in common with Winston Churchill, Indira Gandhi and Nelson Mandela? Answer: Washington's National Press Club. She's only eight years old but, for the past fortnight, Bindi Irwin has spearheaded a quite staggering publicity blitz across America, selling the virtues of the land down under. From Hollywood to the Big Apple, the Bindi Irwin bandwagon relentlessly sang, danced and charmed everyone from fans to television talk show hosts. The final stop for the charismatic daughter of the late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin was the national capital. Tracy Bowden reports on the Bindi phenomenon. TRACY...

More info at link.

THE wife of Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin has been handed the footage of his death after Queensland authorities broke with protocol to ensure it did not pass into the wrong hands. State Coroner Michael Barnes told The Australian that such footage was normally held by the Coroner in perpetuity but copies of film showing Irwin being gored by a stingray had been destroyed amid fears it would be leaked and sold on the black market. Mr Barnes said the original tape was handed to Terri Irwin just before Christmas, with the coronial investigation into the death almost completed. "When the...

TERRI Irwin has taken her two children to a psychologist following concerns daughter Bindi has been "so happy" despite the death of her father Steve. In an interview in The Australian Women's Weekly to be published today, Mrs Irwin said she had taken eight-year-old Bindi and her two-year-old brother Bob to a psychologist to assess their emotional state. "I don't pretend to have all the answers," Mrs Irwin said. "I met with a psychologist and that's been a tremendous help for me. "I asked him if everything was OK, because Bindi has been so happy. "And he said, 'Why? Are...

THE executive producer of the BBC's Planet Earth series has branded the late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin a "showman" more interested in his own stardom than the animal kingdom. Alastair Fothergill launched an extraordinary attack on the Australian TV star who was killed by a stingray while making a wildlife program in September. "What Steve Irwin did for a living was as different from what we do as it's possible to get," he told the Radio Times. "Let's face it, Steve was a showman. Yes, he introduced a lot of people to natural history, but his basic stock in trade...

The creators of South Park have never been afraid to upset celebrities - and many of the show's viewers. From jokes about religion and homosexuality to four-letter tirades, Trey Parker and Matt Stone have always mixed shock tactics with satire in the hit cartoon series. But they were accused of hitting a new low last night after lampooning the demise of Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin just weeks after his death. The latest episode shows an animated Irwin in Hell with a stingray poking out of his bleeding chest. Irwin, 44, died in September after he was impaled by a stingray's...

Link to video: http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=2093706n

Ray Martin's Australian interview with Terri Irwin has just begun - I am posting during the first commercial break. It's incredibly moving and I will do my best to digitise it and place it online after it's complete - I should be able to do it but with only a dial up connection, it may be a while before it's up/

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Footage of "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin's death will never be shown on television, his wife said in her first interview since the exuberant naturalist was killed by the serrated barb of a stingray's tail. Asked in an interview with the ABC News program "20/20" whether the footage of Irwin's September 4 death would ever be aired on television, Terri Irwin was blunt and emphatic. "It won't be. No. No. What purpose would that serve,' she said, adding that she had not looked at the footage of her husband's death. That footage shows Irwin swimming above a...

When Discovery Communications launched the Animal Planet channel in 1996, network executives hunted for a star to help distinguish it from the staid, narrated documentaries that were the hallmark of animal shows.

WATCHING through teary eyes the extraordinary tribute to Steve Irwin was one of those rare occasions, like the opening and closing ceremonies of the Sydney Olympics, when what it is that makes Australians unique becomes so clear. By now the knockers, the whingers, the Lefties and the chardonnay socialists, with intellectual tickets on themselves, will have sneered and derided the event and the man. But, it was about Australian values and how we express them. Leaving aside attempts by the politically correct and minority groups to hijack and mould Australian values to their causes, what do Australians themselves believe in?...

A NURSE who tried to resuscitate Steve Irwin says the Crocodile Hunter had virtually no hope of surviving the stingray attack that killed him. Nurse Enid Traill said she and paramedics were shocked to learn the man they had been trying to save on the Great Barrier Reef was "the" Steve Irwin. And in an uncanny coincidence, Mrs Traill said she knew the celebrity conservationist when he was a teenager – more than 1000km north of the Sunshine Coast where Mr Irwin grew up – but hadn't recognised him. A stingray's barb pierced Mr Irwin's chest at 11.18am (AEST) at...

Claim:   Crocodile hunter Steve Irwin became a born-again Christian a few weeks before he died. Status:   False. Example:   [Collected via e-mail, 2006] Yes, we now have confirmation of Steve Irwin's decision for Christ. I want to inform Creation Ministries International, that Steve Irwin became a born again Christian two and a half weeks ago at the Kings Church AOG Buderim, Queensland Australia, going forward publicly before the congregation to ask Christ to become his Lord and Saviour. Many of us will now spend eternity with him. I am sure Terri is comforted as a Christian in the...

"My Daddy was my hero - he was always there for me when I needed him. "He listened to me and taught me so many things but most of all he was fun. "I know that daddy had an important job. He was working to change the world so everyone would love wildlife like he did. "He built a hospital to help animals and he bought lots of land to give animals a safe place to live. "He took me and my brother and my mum with him all the time. We filmed together, caught crocodiles together and loved being...

PRIME Minister John Howard was among a string of political leaders, singers, actors, entertainers, academics and friends who have delivered tributes at the memorial service for Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin today. More than 5000 people crowded into the zoo’s Crocoseum on the Sunshine Coast, and another 300 million fans worldwide watched the service. "My fellow Australians, we gather in this special place that Steve created to celebrate the life of a remarkable man and remarkable Australian," Mr Howard said. "Steve Irwin touched the hearts of Australians and touched the hearts of millions around the world in a very special way....

A Memorial for Steve Irwin was held today in his family owned zoo. The likes of Australian PM John Howard, Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner, Cameron Diaz, The Wiggles, Larry King, Justin Timberlake, Hugh Jackman, Wes Mannion, Peter Beattie all spoke at the memorial. There were also moving tributes from his daughter Bindi, and dad, Bob. His daughter Bindi said her own tribute from a sheet of paper in front of an image of her dad. She said: "My daddy was my hero - he was always there for me when I needed him." "He listened to me and taught me...

STEVE Irwin's daughter Bindi has told a packed memorial service that her dad was her hero and she did not want her father's passion for wildlife to ever end. The little girl told mourners at Australia Zoo - and an international television and internet audience in excess of 300 million - that "my Daddy was my hero". "He was always there for me when I needed him", Bindi said. "(But) most of all he was fun". "I know Dad had an important jo - he was working to change the world so we everyone would love wildlife like he did",...

-- Marine explorer Jean-Michel Cousteau said Tuesday that while he...had "a lot of respect" for Irwin...Irwin would "interfere with nature, jump on animals, grab them, hold them, and have this very, very spectacular, dramatic way of presenting things...You don't touch nature, you just look at it. And that's why I'm still alive...I don't mess with nature."

"I don't want Daddy's passion to ever end. I want to help endangered wildlife just like he did.'' Mr Irwin's eight-year-old daughter Bindi Irwin. "Please don't grieve for Steve - he's at peace now. But I would like you to grieve for the animals - the animals have lost the best friend they ever had, and so have I.'' Mr Irwin's father Bob Irwin. "In everything he did he was direct, he was genuine and oh so Australian and that is what we loved about him.'' Prime Minister John Howard. "And as we share this celebration and we honour this...

Recorded tribute by Russell Crowe Prime Ministers Speech The Leader of the Opposition Kim Beazley Prime Minister John Howard Terri Irwin with Bindi and Bob Tribute by local indigenous people John Williamson singing Senator Ian Campbell, Australia's Minister for the Environment Wes Mannion Bob Irwin, Steve's Father Bindi Irwin, Steve's daughter Anthony Field, The Blue Wiggle A young fan in the crowd

Steve Irwin's Memorial Service to Air on Animal Planet TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, FROM 9-10 P.M. ET/PT. Get a reminder! (Silver Spring , MD) — Animal Planet is airing Steve Irwin's memorial service exclusively in the U.S., commercial-free, on Tuesday, September 19, from 9-10 p.m. ET/PT, with an encore broadcast airing 12-1 a.m. ET/PT. The memorial service, entitled Steve Irwin: He Changed Our World, will be a same-day broadcast (with a two-hour delay) of the event Wednesday morning in Australia. The public memorial service for the beloved animal conservationist and television personality is being held in the "Crocoseum," a 5,500-seat stadium...

A spare seat will be left beside Steve Irwin's widow and children as a special way to remember the Crocodile Hunter during his memorial service. An estimated 5,000 people are expected to attend Wednesday's service at Australia Zoo, on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, while millions are expected to watch the telecast live around the world. Guests at the zoo's Crocoseum will include Prime Minister John Howard and Queensland Premier Peter Beattie. Mr Irwin's manager and long time friend John Stainton would not reveal many details about the service, but said a spare seat would be left for Mr Irwin beside his...

ANIMAL rights extremists have called Steve Irwin a cheap reality star who exploited animals. The comments have infuriated The Daily Telegraph readers who have been commenting below. The blast comes just days after Germaine Greer said the Crocodile Hunter was an "embarrassment''. Now pro-animal organisation People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is now also dancing on Irwin's grave. PETA activist Dan Matthews said he was not surprised he was killed by an animal. "It comes as no shock at all that Steve Irwin should die provoking a dangerous animal,'' Mathews said. "He made a career out of antagonising frightened...

THOUSANDS of people are expected to camp out at booking outlets tomorrow night for tickets to Steve Irwin's memorial service. The life of the Crocodile Hunter will be honoured at a special public memorial service next Wednesday at the family's Sunshine Coast animal park, Australia Zoo. The memorial will be held at the park's Crocoseum, which was built by Mr Irwin and holds a capacity of 5500. Three thousand tickets – a maximum of four per person – will be released to the public at no charge from 9am (AEST) on Friday at Australia Zoo's box office and Ticketek outlets...

TERRI IRWIN, the widow of Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin today spoke for the first time about the loss of her "soulmate" in a freak accident off the north Queensland coast.In a statement read by her father-in-law Bob Irwin today, Mrs Irwin described her late husband as as her "soul mate" and thanked the community for their "overwhelming outpouring of love, support and prayers". Bob Irwin today announced the details of a memorial service for the larger than life conservationist and television personaility. It will be held at Australia Zoo on Queensland's Sunshine Coast next Wednesday.Irwin, 44, died last Monday when...

STEVE Irwin died from a stingray attack just weeks before work began on his dream of building the world's biggest animal hospital. The Crocodile Hunter had planned the $4 million hospital in the grounds of his Australia Zoo at Beerwah in Queensland as a tribute to his mother Lyn, who died in a car accident six years ago. Now staff at the existing animal hospital have vowed to see his expansion plans through as Irwin's legacy to Australian conservation. "To make Steve proud we want to make it bigger and better than even he dreamed," said Australian Wildlife Hospital manager...

I WAS standing just down from the radio station 3RRR at ... in Melbourne when my phone rang.... I flipped open the batphone ... and found out that Steve Irwin was dead. I swore loudly as the moment fused, possibly forever, into memory. Something similar happened millions of times over in this country alone. Perhaps hundreds of millions of times across the world. You almost certainly remember exactly what you were doing when you heard. ... Not everyone is mourning, however. ... ... Germaine Greer pulled on her redundant fright mask and charged into print to bitchslap and rake at...

ON the afternoon before his final adventure, Steve Irwin sat on the aft deck of Deepstar, an aluminium catamaran moored at Batt Reef off Port Douglas, and looked wide-eyed at his host Pete West's newest purchase. It was a modern-day suit of armour. A head-to-toe stainless steel mesh outfit, complete with full-face helmet. The creation of a San Diego-based company specialising in marine equipment, it had been custom-made to protect its wearer from all but the most determined sea creatures. Even tiger sharks - known to devour stingrays, serrated barb and all - would have found the sections of steel...

STEVE Irwin's film crew secretly returned to the Queensland reef where he was killed to complete his final documentary, Ocean's Deadliest. Irwin's longtime manager and friend John Stainton revealed on US TV today that he had asked the crew on the morning after Irwin's death if they would like to complete the documentary. “To a man, they all said yes,” Stainton told CNN talkshow host, Larry King. Stainton said they secretly slipped out to Batt Reef on the Great Barrier Reef, where Irwin was killed by a stingray on Monday, to shoot the final scenes of the documentary.

THIS is the muzzle The Daily Telegraph has sent to batty loudmouth Germaine Greer on behalf of all Australians furious over her comments about Steve Irwin. Today The Daily Telegraph calls on all Crocodile Hunter fans to tell the controversial academic exactly how they feel - and ... this afternoon we can also publish a new address to contact her. Greer raised the ire of a nation this week when she made the bizarre claims that the animal world had taken "revenge" on Steve Irwin when he died tragically from a sting ray attack in northern Queensland. A furious Queensland...

CROCODILE Hunter Steve Irwin's widow has revealed her fears about raising their two young children alone and how their toddler son pines for his father. Terri Irwin's mother Julie Raines said today Steve Irwin's shock death had been "very hard" on his family. Mrs Raines said her two-year-old grandson Robert kept asking his mother "where's Daddy?" But Mrs Raines said eight-year-old granddaughter Bindi, who has made regular TV appearances with her father, had been "a rock" for Terri. Mr Irwin, 44, died on Monday after he was pierced in the heart by the barb of a stingray while filming a...

BEERWAH, Australia - "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin, killed in a stingray attack this week, knew the risks involved in his work and often discussed the possibility he might die doing it, his father said Wednesday. The 44-year-old star was being filmed for a new TV program as he swam with a stingray on the Great Barrier Reef Monday when it lashed out with its tail, plunging a poisonous barb into his chest. He died within minutes. In the first public comments by Irwin's family since the tragedy, Bob Irwin, who started the wildlife park that his son turned into a...

Germaine Greer, a dingo and a few jackasses said Steve Irwin was a publicity hog, but he was a huge star and a happy Australian. Professional harpy Germaine Greer was one of the first to publicly cackle over the death of Steve "Crocodile Hunter" Irwin. "The animal world has finally taken its revenge on Irwin," the feminista gloated in an article published in Left-wing newspapers such as The Age and The Guardian. And if she meant by "animal world" the slavering pack that has paraded its resentment of Irwin since he was killed she'd be right. On Jon Faine's ABC...

NOW YOU know why Aussie crocodile aficionado Steve Irwin called the new TV show he was working on "The Ocean's Deadliest." After years of poking his boyish face and trademark safari shirt, khaki shorts and hiking boots in front of dangerous animals, Irwin likely would have found some small satisfaction in a deadly animal -- a stingray with a fatal barb -- living up to his PR. Crikey. With Irwin gone, the world will see a little less swagger. Irwin's enthusiasm was infectious and his love for animals was apparent. You have to admire a man who, trained as a...

STEVE Irwin will be buried in private after his family declined offers of a state funeral, with his father Bob yesterday saying the international celebrity should be remembered as an ordinary bloke. The laconic, slightly built retired reptile farmer was obviously grief-stricken but he faced the public because it was what his "mate" Steve would have wanted. Similarly, he declined offers by Prime Minister John Howard and Queensland Premier Peter Beattie for a state funeral. "He's just an ordinary bloke and he wanted to be remembered as an ordinary bloke," said the 66-year-old Mr Irwin, whose two-year-old grandson Bob was...

There are no plans to air video capturing the shocking death of famed "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin, but media experts predicted yesterday it will soon be circulating on the Internet.... "It shows that Steve came over the top of the ray and the tail came up, and spiked him here," said Stainton, pointing to his chest. "[Irwin] pulled it out, and the next minute he's gone." The tape shows "no evidence Mr. Irwin was threatening or intimidating the stingray," Queensland State police Superintendent Michael Keating said. While Stainton said every effort will be made to keep the video away from...

IT was the best Father's Day present Steve Irwin could have asked for – a moving tribute from his eight-year-old daughter telling the world how she loved him "very, very much." In Irwin's last magazine interview, Bindi told the September edition of marie claire in it's Father's Day special just how much her dad meant to her: "I love that he's funny, he's entertaining and he's always there when I need him most. "I'm proud to have a dad like that, who takes on conservation issues around the world. "I love him very, very much." For Irwin, the rare father-daughter...

STEVE Irwin's dad Robert has indicated the family may refuse an offer for a state funeral for his son because he was "just an ordinary bloke". "He is just an ordinary bloke - he wants to be remembered as an ordinary bloke," he said at Australia Zoo in Queensland today.

R.I.P: Steve Irwin's body isn't yet cold and already the Pecksniffs are out, tut-tutting the late crocodile hunter's risky encounters with wild beasts. They miss the point: Irwin's life was about enriching humans. Irwin, who died over the weekend after a freak attack by a stingray, did not live a riskless life. In fact, for those who've watched his Animal Planet shows, some wonder why a fatal encounter hadn't happened earlier. But it's indisputable that he mastered nature with a rare talent — a talent that took him to the edge of possibility. For the sake of the rest of...

QUEENSLAND'S Coalition parties are at odds over whether the media focus on Steve Irwin's death has killed off their chances of winning Saturday's state election. Liberal state director Geoff Greene today said Irwin's death on Monday after he was stabbed by a stingray's barb, had blunted a positive response to the Coalition's campaign launch the previous day. "It's all over isn't it. Who could predict this?" Mr Greene was quoted as saying in today's Australian Financial Review newspaper. "The reality is, in this election Steve Irwin is the news from now until the weekend. "Those stingrays are public enemy No.1...

BEERWAH, Australia "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin's widow thanked the staff of his wildlife park in her first comments on his death, a spokesman said Wednesday, as she considered whether to accept the offer of a state funeral or hold a more private ceremony. Terri Irwin spoke late Tuesday over the internal public address system at Australia Zoo, the crocodile farm and animal preserve that was the global television personality's home base in southeastern Queensland state, thanking staff for their support, spokesman Michael Hornby said. "It was very brief. She was very choked up. It was a very frail comment," Hornby...

AN American diver who owes his life to Steve Irwin says he was shattered to learn about the Crocodile Hunter's death. "He saved my life," an emotional Scott Jones said today from his home in Iowa. "I've lost a good friend." Mr Jones was part of a tragic scuba diving expedition in the Sea of Cortez, off the coast of Mexico, in 2003. Mr Jones' friend, 77-year-old Katie Vrooman, died during the dive after a sea surge knocked her twice against rocks. Mr Jones fought to hold on to her unconscious body for almost two hours and, while hanging off...

Steve Irwin had such a profound impact on children that many parents believe his tragic death will be a landmark for kids in the way the deaths of John F Kennedy and Princess Diana were for adults. Many younger Australians were grieving for the Crocodile Hunter as if they had lost a member of their own family, parents say. "This guy has been in our lounge room for years," said one Sydney mother who has been consoling her tearful primary schooler since breaking the news the TV wildlife enthusiast had died after a stingray barb punctured his chest while filming...

Feminist Greer slams Steve's antics By Fiona Hudson in London September 06, 2006 01:00am Article from: The Daily Telegraph AS glowing tributes and praise for Steve Irwin filled newspapers and television screens around the world, fellow Australian Germaine Greer launched a distasteful tirade on the much-loved Crocodile Hunter yesterday. Most London papers carried sympathetic news articles, features, columns and obituaries mirroring the disbelief felt in Australia. But Greer launched a scathing attack on Irwin, declaring "the animal world has finally taken its revenge". In her column in The Guardian newspaper, Greer said the wildlife warrior displayed the "sort of self-delusion...

OK, here's a thread where all the Steve Irwin bashers can post away to their hearts content. Please leave the threads titled "In Memory..." or "Tribute to..." alone. Not every single thread about Steve Irwin on FR has to include the incident of him holding his son in the croc enclosure, a mention of Darwin, and/or the word "Fool" Sometimes the old saying is true "If you can't say something nice about someone, don't say anything at all."