Chapter 7
Fame and Fortune
Australia’s Channel Ten began showing the ten episodes in 1992. They called the program The Crocodile Hunter. Five years later, in 1997, the Animal Planet network aired the first episode in the United States.
It wasn’t long before The Crocodile Hunter was being watched all around the world. Eventually, the audience would rise to five hundred million viewers in more than one hundred countries.
Steve and Terri were famous. Steve wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He had never been interested in fame. Sometimes he missed his privacy. All Steve had ever wanted was to help people understand the wildlife he loved. But there were good things about fame. He could learn and teach as he traveled the world in search of exciting new wildlife. He could introduce viewers to endangered species. He could help them understand why caring for wildlife was so important.
Maybe he could take them to one of the tiny Komodo National Park islands in Indonesia. He could introduce viewers to the largest, most dangerous lizards in the world. Komodo dragons are huge. Many grow to be almost ten feet long. Komodo dragons look like dinosaurs but are actually lizards. They will eat almost anything. They have lurked around Indonesia for millions of years.
Steve arranged to travel to Komodo National Park to shoot an episode of The Crocodile Hunter. As the boat approached, a Komodo dragon on the dock greeted the team.
Visitors to the park must travel around with park rangers for their own safety. But Steve and his crew were allowed to roam and film on their own. Gigantic Komodo dragons were everywhere. Strutting. Nipping. Whipping their tails at Steve. Strolling through the mangroves. Hunting for wild pigs.
A Komodo dragon with a fishhook in his throat thought Steve was dinner as he tried to remove it. “Danger, danger, danger,” Steve announced as he scrambled up a tree. The lizard tried to get to him, but Steve escaped.
Another dragon was swimming toward a nearby island in search of goats. “Commotion in the ocean!” Steve said.
The episode, “Steve and the Dragon,” aired on the Animal Planet network in 1999.
As Steve’s reputation grew, it seemed like more and more people needed him. One day a call came in from Florida. The United States Air Force had a problem. Could Steve help?
Eglin Air Force Base is in northern Florida. The training ground was crawling with rattlesnakes. How could rangers practice parachuting when the place was filled with pygmy rattlers, water moccasins, and other dangerous snakes? The officers had heard that Steve Irwin knew more about snakes than almost anyone.
Steve couldn’t wait to go. There were so many things that excited him about visiting Florida. He could tell the rangers and viewers all the things he’d learned from Bob.
How to tell the difference between poisonous and nonpoisonous snakes.
How to spot them before they spot you. Why the venom in a rattlesnake’s fangs might kill you. How to keep yourself, and the snakes, safe. Maybe he would spot some of Florida’s gorgeous endangered species, like the tiny, silent burrowing owl and the gopher tortoise.
The rangers didn’t just have to worry about snakes. They’d had to deal with alligators, too. Steve would teach them how to capture and move the gators to a safe place outside of the training area.
Steve and the rangers worked hard to move the dangerous snakes. The rangers were careful to protect the habitat. Finally, the rattlers and alligators had been moved. It was time to go home.
Steve was excited to get back to the zoo. Steve and Terri’s family was growing. Their first child had been born on July 24, 1998. Her name was Bindi Sue Irwin. Bindi after one of Steve’s favorite crocodiles. Sue after Sui, his favorite dog.
