The Animals Will Miss You, Steve!

As I'm sure everyone has heard by now, the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin died on Labor Day. While filming some footage in Australia's Great Barrier Reef, Steve was killed when he unknowingly swam over a stingray and the frightened animal stung him in the chest.

This truly is a horrible loss for any lover of nature. Steve was a world reknown star whose show reached over 200 million viewers. I always will think of him as the Jane Goodall of crocodiles. His detractors will say that his his "aggressive" attitude towards the animals he filmed was the wrong approach. They would say that this stressed the animals out while attracting more viewers who wanted to see daredevil antics than those interested in nature.

In principle, these criticisms are right. But, anyone who watched more than a couple of episodes of the show has to realize that this was a man with a passion for animals and conservation. I remember an episode, I believe it was on elephants, where Steve got so emotional that he broke down on camera. This stuff just can't be faked. He truly cared deeply, down to his very soul, about these animals. And he was able to channel this passion and harness it for good. He brought the natural world into everyone's living room. He introduced people of all ages, but especially children, to the animal world. And (I'm paraphrasing a quote that I can't place)

We conserve what we love.
We love what we understand.
We understand what were are taught.

Steve was an educator with unconventional methods. But, the world is a much sadder place without him. My deepest condolences to Terri, Bindy, Bob and the rest of the Irwin family.