Cricky! Steve Irwin.

So for my new blog interview I got together with the one and only Steve Irwin. Unfortunately not that long ago Steve was taken away from us by a very freak accident that shocked the world, so I was very keen to get this interview with him to find out more about the man himself.

Steve Irwin February 1962 – September 2006.
Amanda: So Steve it’s a pleasure to meet you today thanks for your time, to start with I just wanted to know how you got into working so close with wildlife?

Steve: Well Amanda it’s a pleasure being here with you today thanks for wanting to meet me. It all started out when I was very young with my parents Lyn and Bob being involved with wild animals and actually for my 6th birthday I got a scrubpython which I was very happy with.

Amanda: When was your first handling of your favourite animal the Crock?

Steve: Cricky that was some time ago I reckon, it was probably around about when I was about 9 years old and at about the same time I think I had my first crock wrestle and from then I have never looked back and hopefully like me my young children will want to get involved with wild life when they are growing up.

Amanda: Why do you think you are so popular?

Steve: Nothing to do with my looks, that's for sure! [Laughing]. You know what I reckon it is? My belief is that what comes across on the television is a capture of my enthusiasm and my passion for wildlife. Since I was a boy, from this house, I was out rescuing crocodiles. So now what happens is the cameras follow me around and capture exactly what I've been doing since I was a boy. Only now we have a team of, you know, like 73 of us, and it's gone beyond that.

Amanda: We've met some Australians who are sceptical about what you're doing. They say that you may inspire kids to try to do too much of this kind of stuff on their own. Have you been accused of that before?

Steve: Yeah, I've been accused of that by everybody, in every country. However, several times a show--I don't know how often--but I'm continually saying, "I'm a professional" and "I've been doing this since I was born." I was born into it, and my apprenticeship's been 38 years.

Amanda: Your film, "The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course", is great family entertainment considering it involves so many fierce creatures. Was it so harmless when you filmed it?

Steve: No, I got busted up a lot doing the film. There was a lot of blood, my face got caved in by that female croc underwater, I had a cartilage operation in the middle of it all - so that all got edited down so that kids could watch it.
We had a heck of a job keeping the fear factor down during the main croc capture. Even my own daughter was intimidated by the croc stuff. When we watched it at the premiere a few weeks ago, she ran up and sat on my lap, just to keep in contact because she wasn't sure what was going to happen to me.

Amanda: Are there any animals you're frightened of?

Steve: I have a deep-seated respect for parrots. As gifted as I am with all other wildlife, parrots have this uncanny desire to kill me. I'm not sure why, but they're like my kryptonite!

Amanda: Oh Steve your making me laugh!! Well Steve that’s about all the questions I have for you but thanks very much for your time and it was an absolute pleasure to meet you.
And I really hope that all the work that you have done over the years continues with your team of wildlife experts and that the rest of the world does its bit as well. Cheers.Ax