A real Doctor Dolittle
Steve Irwin, the Australian television personality known as The Crocodile Hunter, was never one to dodge controversy throughout his colourful career. To some he was an irresponsible parent, to others he was a standard-bearer for conservation. But most would agree he was one of the great eccentrics of his generation.
Wolverhampton-born TV wildlife expert Mark O'Shea says he should be remembered for raising the profile of conservation in Australia.
"He's certainly left a legacy, he's heightened awareness about conservation of some of the less popular animals, and he's enthused a lot of youngsters to look at biology as a career."
Irwin was best known in Britain for an incident in January 2004, when he cradled his baby son Bob in one arm while feeding a chicken carcass to a crocodile with the other hand. He insisted there was no danger to his son, and he simply wanted to make sure Bob grew up "crocodile savvy", but the incident sparked outrage across the world.
Irwin was born in Melbourne in February 1962, but as a child he moved to Queensland where his parents Bob and Lyn ran a wildlife park, where the young Steve grew up surrounded by crocodiles and other reptiles.
He started work as a crocodile trapper, safely removing them free of charge from populated areas, on condition he could keep them for the park.
Yet despite his confidence with dangerous creatures, Irwin spent most of his life with a bizarre phobia for parrots after a bad experience with a macaw during childhood.
He took over the park, renamed Australia Zoo, in 1991, and the following year he met his wife Terri. They spent their honeymoon crocodile trapping, and footage of their holiday filmed by his friend John Stainton was broadcast in the US, making him an overnight celebrity.
Stainton would remain his friend and producer for life, and was today leading the tributes to Irwin.
"The world has lost a great wildlife icon, a passionate conservationist and one of the proudest dads on the planet," he says. "He died doing what he loved best and left this world in a happy and peaceful state of mind."
The publicity enabled the zoo to expand considerably, and he founded the Steve Irwin Conservation Foundation and International Crocodile rescue service.
But it was the "Baby Bob" incident which really led to his fall from favour with TV viewers. He repeatedly refused to apologise for the incident, despite the outcry both in Australia and abroad, insisting he was in complete control of the situation.
His supporters said he had many decades of experience in dealing with crocodiles, while his wife even said Bob was in no more danger than a child being taught to swim.
There was more controversy later that year, when he was accused of getting too close to penguins, a seal and humpback whales in Antarctica while making a documentary. Irwin again denied any wrongdoing, and an Australian environment department investigation recommended no action be taken against him.
In an attempt to explain his actions in both the "Baby Bob" incident and the Antartica row he released a special edition of The Crocodile Hunter called Crocodiles & Controversy, repeating his claims that his son was never in any danger and that there was no risk to any of the animals in Antartica.
His final series of The Crocodile Hunter ended with an emotive three-hour programme called Steve's Last Adventure, which took in locations including the Himalayas, the Yangtze River and Borneo.
He continued to be in demand as a guest on TV chat shows, and in January this year he appeared at Los Angeles's Pauley Pavilion as part of America's Australia Week celebrations. He was also active in Australian politics - a vocal supporter of the right-of-centre Liberal Party and prime minister John Howard.
Irwin spent his life dividing opinion, and it is unlikely to change following his death. He had a huge following among conservationists, with his vocal opposition to plans by the Australian Government to allow tourists to kill crocodiles for sport.
Whatever one' s opinion of the man, no-one can dispute that he has raised the profile of wildlife conservation.
Mr O'Shea, an associate curator at West Midlands Safari Park near Kidderminster presenter of Channel 4's O'Shea's Adventures, added that Irwin had quietly used his own money to buy areas of rainforest to protect them from development.
"TV naturalism is a fairly small pond, and one of its biggest fishes is gone. It is a tragedy."
By Mark Andrews
