I still remember 4th September 2006 quite vividly. I was only 12 years old and I had just lost one of the most significant people in my life. This wasn’t a family member or a friend, but it felt a lot like it. The tragic death of TV personality and larger-than-life crocodile wrangler Steve Irwin hit me like a tonne of bricks. Irwin was just 44, but he had done more for animals and the natural world in that brief stretch of time than just about anyone else has done in an entire lifetime. He’s the definition of a climate hero.
It’s difficult to explain to those who weren’t around for his life how important Steve Irwin was to a generation of young people. Prior to his death, he was arguably the most famous wildlife presenter in the world – introducing millions of people to the beauty of crocodiles, snakes, spiders, and just about every other animal on this planet. But more than that, he was a vigorous defender of the Earth as a whole – a “wildlife warrior” as he would often put it himself.
In 2019, his son Robert told Time Magazine: “The amazing thing with our dad was that he was talking about climate change and the effects that it had kind of before it was as popular as it is now. He was definitely ahead of his time.”
Irwin understood the importance of using the arts – and particularly television – to spread his vital message about preserving nature. In 1992, Irwin married his wife Terri and the couple spent what should have been their honeymoon rescuing crocodiles, filmed by their friend John Stainton. Four years later, some of that footage became the pilot episode of The Crocodile Hunter – one of the most influential wildlife docuseries of its era.
The Crocodile Hunter soon broke free of its Aussie roots and became an enormous hit here in the UK, as well as in the United States where Irwin soon became a fixture of the chat show circuit. The original series was soon followed by numerous spin-offs and one-off specials, while Irwin used his increased fame and wealth to launch Wildlife Warriors in 2002 – a charity dedicated to conserving the natural world and the living things within it.
That same year, Irwin laid out the core of his mission in a famous interview with 60 Minutes Australia. He said: “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 [damage to the] ozone layer. I want to save the world.”
He went on to explain that the money he earned would go into his long-term project of buying land in wilderness areas in order to preserve its natural state. “Every single cent I get goes into conservation. And I don't give a rip whose money it is,” he said in his uniquely Australian, straight-talking way.
Irwin’s message even made it to the big screen with the enjoyably goofy movie The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course. The film combines the traditional fun and energy of an Irwin documentary with a silly story about a CIA satellite beacon landing in the mouth of a crocodile. I was lucky enough to interview Stainton, who directed the movie, in 2022 and he explained to me how the film kept Irwin’s message at its heart.
“You need to have the general underlying feeling that wildlife is suffering and it’s going to be extinct eventually, with the way it’s going, and the habitat is being destroyed. That message came through loud and clear,” he said. “[Steve] gave crocodiles, alligators and snakes a personality and made people think about them not as ugly monsters, but as creatures living their lives who deserved our respect.”
None other than David Attenborough – another climate hero who you can read more about in our interview with filmmaker Serena Davies – praised Irwin in a tribute after his death, calling him a “born communicator” while appearing at the National Television Awards. In a separate interview in 2008, Attenborough said: “Steve Irwin spent a lot of his time and money in nature protection and calling people's attention to the danger the natural world is in, so all credit to him. He did it in a way that I wouldn't do it. In fact he did it in a way that I couldn't do it.”
Steve Irwin regularly performed live crocodile shows at Australia Zoo
(Credit: Paul Williams)
Attenborough said he was uncomfortable about some of Irwin’s stunts involving animals and it’s only fair to acknowledge that Irwin was occasionally a controversial figure. However, his up close and personal approach fostered a love and affection for animals in his viewers – myself included – and made us feel a lot closer to the world around us.
I watched hours and hours of Steve Irwin documentaries as a child and I still do today whenever I can, often falling down YouTube rabbit holes of his best moments. There wasn’t anyone like him before and there hasn’t been since, though his son Robert is doing great work at following in his footsteps by terrifying Kevin Hart and Jimmy Fallon. This year, Robert became one of the first global ambassadors for the Earthshot Prize launched by Prince William.
Steve Irwin’s legacy is in great hands and his uniquely charismatic message is still beaming out across the world through the work of Australia Zoo. By bringing us right into the faces of some of the most beautiful and misunderstood creatures on Earth, he showed us exactly what we can lose if we don’t take action now to save our natural world. And crucially, he was willing to put his own money where his mouth was, taking action to ensure that as much of Australia as possible could be kept wild.
But there was nowhere wilder than wherever Steve Irwin, the climate hero, happened to be. He's profoundly missed by millions of people all over the world, but there's no doubt that he created a whole new generation of wildlife warriors.
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