Steve Irwin - The Crocodile Hunter

Late last year, I think it was either October or November, I was having a really great day one week and later that day, when Mum came home from picking my brother, Aaron, up from school, I had found out some very sad news; Steve Irwin, The Crocodile Hunter and owner of Australia Zoo was killed by a stingray while filming a documentary. Mum got home and said that she had heard from some other mums at the school that Steve had died. Later that day, I watched the news with Mum and my brothers and felt very shocked. I used to always watch his Crocodile Hunter series since I was a kid in the early 90s. After watching the news of Steve's death, I walked around feeling shocked all night.

Who ever thought that Steve Irwin would die in such a way? I certainly didn't think so. I can still remember certain episodes of The Crocodile Hunter series from when I was little. Unfortunately, I've noticed that the series I used to watch isn't on DVD yet, that really annoys me. A Crocodile Hunter box set for each series would be nice. The only ones that I've seen that have been put on DVD are the ones made from 2000 on. I remember the episode where Steve and Terri followed the dingo fence from one place to another, finding all different kinds of wild animals who either died on the fence or are around the fence. I can't remember the entire Crocodile Hunter series that we don't have on DVD, that is why it would be nice for the earlier series to be put on DVD; on single DVD or a box set.

A few days later, Mum, my youngest brother Aaron, and I went to the local shopping center and got Steve's first ever movie (and obviously his one and only movie too), we brought it home and watched it. It was a very good movie, but to be honest, I like the Crocodile Hunter series the most as they are solely about Steve. When they had the Steve Irwin Memorial, it was broadcast live throughout Australia, even all the schools were watching as well. During the Memorial broadcast, Mum cried and I just felt all sad. It didn't really hit me that Steve Irwin had died until later that day. After watching several cut-down versions of the Memorial service (obviously, being live, the morning broadcast was the full version, nothing edited at all), it began to really sink into me. I just cried and cried and still couldn't believe that he had died.

Not long after that, we got all the episodes of The Crocodile Hunter from 2000 onwards, there are six in the set. I've been watching one DVD a night and you can really tell that Steve had pride in his job at Australia Zoo, but also as enthusiastic animal lover, reptiles or not. You see how he was emotionally upset by the fire on the way up to the Cape York Peninsula at the very top of Queensland (Australia's Wild Frontier) and the episode where Steve had a mother Orangutan bringing her baby down to Steve (Faces of The Jungle). I feel The Crocodile Hunter series are a fantastic way to educate kids and adults about reptiles and other animals, even though they don't go into as much detail about each animal as a book would. I so wish I could have gone to Australia Zoo before Steve died. My sister, Michelle, and her boyfriend went there a few months ago and they really enjoyed it, they did lots of things there that would have been great fun.