These Little-Known Facts About Steve Irwin’s Life Reveal An Even Wilder Side To The Crocodile Hunter
Crikey, mate! We all knew Steve Irwin was a bit of a wild one. You don’t earn the nickname Crocodile Hunter for nothing! But with all that craziness going down on his shows, you may at least have expected him to have a relatively subdued home like. Well, think again. Behind the scenes, Steve and his family were even more complex than they appeared — and arguably even madder than their on-screen personas.
1. Steve never carried antivenom
Rather shockingly, considering what his job entailed, Steve didn’t carry antivenom with him. In 1998 he told Reptiles magazine, “I take great pride in telling you, the world… everyone, I don’t get envenomated. I don’t carry [antivenom], never have, never will.” Instead, he said, “Karma exudes through my fingertips into the animal, and they feel a lot more comfortable, and I don’t get bitten.” But maybe don't try this at home, folks!
2. Steve approved of tiger shows
Long before Tiger King hit our screens, showmen Siegfried Fischbacher and Roy Horn had a tiger show in Las Vegas. It ended in 2003 after a tiger gripped Roy by the neck and mutilated him. The following year Larry King asked Steve about both this incident and tiger shows in general. And Steve said he supported them, saying, “I believe that the time has come where if we don’t get animals into people’s hearts, they’re going to go extinct.” We wonder what he would have thought of Joe Exotic and the gang!
3. Terri Irwin thought people wanted to see Steve get hurt
Steve’s wife, Terri, had an idea about why The Crocodile Hunter shows were so popular. In 2001 she told Scientific American magazine, “[Audiences] tune in because they want to see this guy die or get badly hurt.” But, she added, “Instead, they get a message about wildlife. And they get [to] see a guy who says, ‘Isn’t this rattlesnake beautiful?’ Who else says that?”
4. Steve was slammed for holding his baby near a crocodile
Babies and crocodiles shouldn’t mix, as Steve found out in 2004. That year, some footage of him holding his baby son as he fed a crocodile was circulated around the media — and there was utter outrage. Politicians and audiences alike condemned him. And another crocodile farmer named Keith Cook told the Courier-Mail newspaper, “I think he’s a bloody idiot.”
