The Crocodile Hunter’s legacy lives on. In a recent article with PEOPLE Magazine, Steve Irwin’s daughter, Bindi Irwin, explained how her daughter is captivated by documentaries of her father, who the world knew as “the Crocodile Hunter.”
In the article, which was the cover story for this issue of PEOPLE Magazine, Bindi explained, "We have so many documentaries of Dad, and we're always playing them for Grace. It's so fun to watch her study him. I didn't realize how much Dad's passion for life and his animated facial expressions — I mean, they captivate her."
Although Bindi was only eight when her father passed away, she still maintains strong memories of him. Irwin, who rose to fame with the internationally successful series, The Crocodile Hunter, was filming an underwater film entitled Ocean’s Deadliest on September 4, 2006, when he was stung in the heart by a stingray in a freak accident and killed. He was just 44 years old but left a legacy of conservation and education behind him.
Talking about the legacy of education he left, Bindi added, "It's so lovely that without him knowing, he was creating the most wonderful TV programming for our daughter. She just stares at him in complete and utter fascination. She hangs on every word he says. Whether he's talking about a croc or a spider, she thinks it's amazing."
The Crocodile Hunter lives on in the Irwin family, and Bindi believes she can see a lot of her famous father in her daughter. She explained, "I definitely see parts of [Dad] in Grace. His determination and his inability to sit still. I think that's really special. I'm excited to see as she grows up how her personality will develop. If Dad was around, honestly, we would never see her. He would be in love. He'd just have her doing everything with him. We would only see her if she needed a feed and then be gone again."
Steve Irwin’s Legacy and Mission Lives On
Steve Irwin’s mission was to promote education and conservation when it came to animals. To that end, he created The Crocodile Hunter and other shows to teach people about various animals and their habitats. Although organizations such as PETA have condemned the way the Crocodile Hunter would interact with the animals for his shows, going so far as to tweet out a wholly inappropriate comment about his death when Google honored him with a Google doodle, Irwin always treated the animals he encountered with the respect and admiration he wanted others to treat them with.
That love of animals and conservation, unsurprisingly, was passed down to his children who live and work at the Australia Zoo alongside Steve’s widow Terri. Whether it be their conservation work through the zoo or Steve’s son Robert’s YouTube videos (His anger management series with a curlew are particularly amusing), the Irwin children continue the Crocodile Hunter’s mission of educating people about the animals that he spent his life loving.
And that is the kind of legacy any father could wish to pass along to his children.
The full interview with Bindi Irwin appears in PEOPLE Magazine as the cover story in the May 23, 2022 issue.