Robert Irwin's Dangerous Stunt Reminded Fans Of His Daredevil Dad
Robert Irwin shares his late father’s passion for dangerous animals. Getting into an enclosure with a massive snake or huge crocodile is no problem whatsoever for him. But, despite Steve’s own love of croc-based stunts, he may not have been happy about a recent one of Robert’s. It could have gone very badly wrong indeed.
Generations
As the whole world knows, Steve passed away in 2006 after a stingray — an animal not generally considered to be dangerous — struck him in the heart. Even before that, the daredevil knew full well how perilous getting up close and personal with wild animals could be — and especially crocs. As a parent, then, we suspect he would have been uncomfortable watching Robert’s crocodile stunt.
Inheritance
But then again, a part of Steve may well have been happy to see his son following in his footsteps. Robert even looks just like his dad — and he’s absolutely inherited his love of animals as well. Though Robert was only two when his father died, scarcely old enough to remember him, he and his sister Bindi have continued Steve’s legacy and made the conservation and care of animals their lives’ work.
Passion
In 2021 Robert gave an interview to Esquire Middle East magazine about his life and the memories he had of his famous father. He could just about remember the first crocodile Steve let him hold and the teenager said that it’d been “an incredibly poignant moment… Getting to see first-hand this absolute dinosaur of an animal and see dad’s passion.”
Spark
“It’s still a vague memory, and not something that I can remember in its entirety,” Robert explained. “But it’s enough that I go, ‘That was it. That was the spark.’” And that spark’s led to great things. Even without Steve’s tragic death, Robert probably would’ve joined the rest of his family in their work at Australia Zoo — and that still would have led to this dangerous stunt.
