Can’t we all just get along?
There is a major disturbance going on in the Australian zoo created by the late Steve “Crocodile Hunter” Irwin… only it doesn’t involve feisty animals.
According to Australian TV reports, Irwin’s father, Bob, said he quit the family’s Australian conservation park because he had become a “disrupting influence.”
That’s his story anyway.
The Australian media have their own take on what really went down behind the zoo’s gates. Rumor has it Terri Irwin, Steve’s wife and mother of his two children, had fallen out with Bob Irwin following his son’s death in a 2006 stingray attack, and his departure from the park was “a long time coming.”
Interestingly, Irwin’s widow denies there is (or ever has been) any tension between her and her father-in-law.
However, if you watch the interview Bob Irwin did with the Australian Broadcasting Corp. a couple of days ago it appears that Terri’s view on their relationship is a bit rosier than her father-in-law’s.
During the broadcast Bob Irwin cryptically told the TV reporter, “I was becoming a disrupting influence, not that I meant to be.” He then added, “It’s a strange feeling to spend half your lifetime building something up and walking away from it.”
People unfamiliar with the animal park–which Steve Irwin named Australia Zoo—-might not know that it was actually the brainchild of Irwin’s parents. The elder Irwin’s established the park in the early 1970s (though back then it was strictly a reptile haven) and handed control of it to Steve two decade later. The park quickly became the center of Steve Irwin’s multimillion-dollar television empire and his conservation operations. It is also considered one of the country’s top tourist spots.
Terri Irwin has long maintained that she plans to continue her late husband’s conservation work and is in the process of trying to expand the park to include hotel accommodations and a spa. In addition, the couple’s young daughter Bindi is doing her part to carry on her father’s legacy.
As for how Terri Irwin is handing growing speculation that her father-in-law left the park because he disagreed with the way his son’s memory was being handled, the khaki-clad American-born conservationist had this to say to reporters:
“I just can assure everyone that I love Bob dearly. He’s gone through so much grief losing his wife and his only son that I will respectfully just leave it at that.”
So what do you think? Do you believe Bob got the boot from the zoo or left willingly?