What Happened To Steve Irwin? Google Doodle Celebrates Crocodile Hunter’s 57th Birthday

On Friday, Google released a Doodle celebrating the legacy of wildlife conservationist Steve Irwin on the occasion of his 57th birthday.

“Today’s slideshow Doodle celebrates and explores the life and legacy of wildlife conservationist and television personality Steve Irwin, who inherited a love of large reptiles early on in life and shared it with the world through his work at the Australia Zoo and his popular TV series The Crocodile Hunter. Irwin and his family dedicated their lives to the preservation and appreciation of earth’s wildlife and wild places,” the Google Doodle blog post said.

The doodle featured Irwin in an animated slideshow where the animal lover was seen posing with a crocodile, hunting for deadly reptiles in the thick or forest, entertaining the crowd by showcasing crocodile stunts, and managing the Australia Zoo with his family by his side.

Irwin died on Sept. 4, 2006, while filming a documentary on the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia, when an eight-foot-wide stingray stabbed him multiple times. Cameraman Justin Lyons who accompanied Irwin and was recording at the time, spoke out in 2014 about the incident which was captured on video.

"I had the camera on, I thought this is going to be a great shot, and all of sudden it propped on its front and started stabbing wildly, hundreds of strikes in a few seconds," Lyons said, adding that the original idea was to capture the stingray swimming away from him, the Telegraph reported.

"I panned with the camera as the stingray swam away and I didn't know it had caused any damage. It was only when I panned the camera back that I saw Steve standing in a huge pool of blood that I realized something had gone wrong,” he said. The last thing that Irwin said to him was “I’m dying.” The footage of Irwin’s death was never made public and was destroyed.

Irwin is survived by his wife Terri Irwin, daughter Bindi Irwin and son, Robert Irwin, all of whom continued his legacy of doing animal conservation work, including fundraising events to benefit the Australia Zoo’s Wildlife Warriors program.

Steve became a household name after his show “The Crocodile Hunter” became a huge hit, and was seen in more than 100 countries by over 500 million people. People loved his enthusiasm for saving endangered animals like saltwater crocodiles and his catchphrase “Crickey!” which he said meant “gee, whiz, wow!”

“Steve Irwin was a loving father and husband who dedicated his life to protecting wildlife and wild places. He accomplished this life mission through his wildlife documentary series The Crocodile Hunter, his world famous Australia Zoo, and his charity Wildlife Warriors. He was best known for his rescue and research work with endangered saltwater crocodiles, the closest living relative of the dinosaurs, now the largest reptiles on earth. Today we continue his mission by working to overturn recent legislation in Queensland which allows crocodile egg harvesting from vulnerable crocs in the wild to support the commercial leather trade. Steve’s legacy will definitely live on,” Terri wrote on Google’s blog post.

Here are a few famous quotes by Steve, courtesy Brainy Quote:

“I have no fear of losing my life - if I have to save a koala or a crocodile or a kangaroo or a snake, mate, I will save it.”

“You know, you can touch a stick of dynamite, but if you touch a venomous snake it'll turn around and bite you and kill you so fast it's not even funny.”

“Snakes are just very instinctive to me. I've been playing with snakes since before I could walk. It doesn't matter where or what it is, from the biggest to the most venomous.”

“I sincerely believe that there's room for cutting down trees for forestry and grazing, so as we all get to eat. Everyone has to compromise.”

“Since I was a boy, from this house, I was out rescuing crocodiles and snakes. My mum and dad were very passionate about that and, I was lucky enough to go along.”