The death of the Crocodile Hunger, Steve Irwin, from a sting-ray barb in Far North Queensland last week has triggered a remarkable outpouring of grief across Australia and overseas.
This larger than life national identity was a passionate conservationist, and nobody could have ever accused him of being an armchair environmentalist.
As feminist and author Germaine Greer wrote: "There was no habitat, no matter how fragile or finely balanced, that Irwin hesitated to barge into, trumpeting his wonder and amazement to the skies".
He certainly liked to get up close and personal with wild animals.
He had apparently at various times been kicked by a cassowary, groped by a baby orangutan and learnt how to wrestle crocodiles when he took part in a Queensland government funded crocodile relocation program.
He only seemed to hold a grudge against parrots -- complaining that they tended to go for his nose.
This hands-on approach won him international recognition and acclaim, and it got people interested in wildlife and conservation.
Irwin also did a lot of good work behind the scenes with an animal hospital at his sunshine coast zoo, caring for animals and rearing them for people to look at and photograph. But he wasn't a fan of eating our native fauna; Steve Irwin was no farmer.
In January 2002, he protested against kangaroo being on the menu for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) at Coolum on the Sunshine coast.
He got the menu changed by clutching a Joey on national television and telling everybody that it would be un-Australian for the Queen to eat our precious native animals.
Steve Irwin also features on the Vegetarians International Voice for Animals (VIVA) website telling us that everybody can make a massive difference to global conservation by simply never purchasing wildlife -- including kangaroo -- products.
VIVA ran a campaign against British-born soccer hero, David Beckham, and his love affair with soccer boots made from kangaroo leather and eventually the soccer star switched to synthetic boots.
Irwin was also at odds with the Northern Territory Government and its plans to allow the big game hunting of crocodiles. He only believed in shooting animals with cameras.
At Irwin's advice, the Federal Government has repeatedly refused to approve the export of crocodile skins and, in this way, he thwarted the Northern Territory's plans to attack hunters from Europe and the US.
This somewhat romantic approach to wildlife conservation is increasingly opposed by some experts, who claim the best chance of saving many animal species is by legalising and regulating trade in accordance with strict quota systems.
There was nothing predictable or conventional about The Crocodile Hunter.
Born in Melbourne, he lived at a zoo in Queensland and traveled the world making documentaries about the animals he loved.
He was often at odds with the experts and more than once in trouble with the law for getting too close to animals.
A favourite memory of Irwin is of him on his belly sliding down an icy slope in Antarctica with penguins. Even then -- in the black wetsuit in the freezing cold -- he had his arms and mouth half open in anticipation of something. Crikey! It would have been cold.
His enthusiastic, close and personal approach got many people interested in saving the world's unique animals and his documentaries on wild animals will continue to amaze and amuse us.
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