Four-year old Bob Irwin, son of the late Steve “Crocodile Hunter” Irwin, was shown filming scenes for a possible TV pilot on Australian news show 60 Minutes.  Little Bob was featured wrestling a pint-sized crocodile, handling various reptiles and playing up for the cameras.  His mother, Terri Irwin, proudly boasts “He’s a little Steve clone.”  Steve Irwin was killed by a stingray in a freak accident while filming a wildlife show for Discovery.

“I’m mister independence,” Bob says, refusing help from celebrity sister Bindi, 10 - who already has her own wildlife show on the Discovery Kids channel - to climb a tree.

[From New York Post]

And you thought Lynne Spears pushed her kids into show business early.

After Steve Irwins tragic death two years ago, Terri seems to be clinging to TV celebrity, first through her then 8-year old daughter, who has successfully become a brand all her own at the ripe old age of 10, and now through her barely speaking full sentences son, Bob.  I’m not sure if I think this is crappy or just plain sad.  Either Terri is the stage mom from hell, living vicariously through her kids, or she just can’t let go of that part of her life with Steve.

Hearing her description of a typical morning in the Irwin household make me think it might be the latter. 

Terri Irwin insists Bob and Bindi have normal childhoods and doesn’t believe it’s unusual that the family watches a Steve Irwin DVD each morning.

“It’s comforting and familiar,” she says. “It’s nice while we’re having breakfast to hear Steve’s voice in the background. It’s special.”

[From New York Post]

Bindi appears to be a well-adjusted kid with an adultlike dedication to the subject of her show, but there’s a pretty generous gap in marketability between a 10-year old and a 4-year old.  I’m hoping someone steps in and suggests that it might just be a bit premature to throw this kid in front of the cameras.

Bindi, Bob and Terri Irwin are shown promoting Bindi’s line of dolls at FAO Schwartz on 2/18/08. Credit: MLM/Fame Pictures

When a family member dies all sorts of issues can surface amongst the remaining family. It’s been 18 months since Steve Irwin died, and now his family members seem to be in conflict.

Bob Irwin, Steve’s father and the man who started his interest in wildlife, has left his role at Australia Zoo after 36 years. he will be moving to a new property he has purchased in Australia, separate from Australia Zoo, where Steve and Terri Irwin based their work from. Here is his statement.

Bob Irwin

Steve’s ultimate passion, even from a young boy, was always for the conservation of Australian wildlife and its habitat. When Judy and I move to our new property we intend to carry on with wildlife rehabilitation and conservation projects and therefore continue Steve’s and my dream.

I would like to thank Australia Zoo for their valuable assistance in acquiring our new property in SE Queensland. Australia Zoo has kindly offered to assist us in the relocation (to our new property) of animals needing special care.

I would like to sincerely thank all of the dedicated and hardworking staff at Australia Zoo, Wildlife Warriors and the Australian Wildlife Hospital for their kindness and support over many years.

To all of Steve’s friends out there, you may rest assured that Judy and I will continue with Steve’s dream, with the passion and commitment he would expect.

I would appreciate that my privacy be respected at this time. A more in-depth statement may be released at a later date, if necessary.

Courier Mail

Originally, only a brief statement was released by Australia Zoo suggesting that Bob was retiring. You can read the whole statement here – note that it doesn’t mention Terri Irwin, Steve’s wife and manager of his estate.

This follows quickly behind a family feud being reported in the Australian women’s magazines last week, which Terri’s managers were quick to comment on, but didn’t actually deny the reports.

It is a huge shame that Bob Irwin, who is credited by Steve with introducing him to wildlife conservation and who started the Australia Zoo in the 1970s, isn’t on good terms with his son’s wife and children following his son’s death. Bob’s statement seems to suggest that he is unhappy with the management of Australia Zoo, I suspect because it is now less about conservation and more about tourism.

Terri Irwin has never been particularly liked in Australia, mostly because of her grating accent and now for putting Bindi into the spotlight. Which is probably unfair as Bindi’s projects were in the works before her father died. Steve Irwin was never well-liked Down Under either, I think he embarrassed Australians. ‘Oh no, the whole world is going to think we’re like him!’ Which is probably a legitimate claim. I am Australian and when I was overseas I was asked what is was like to wear normal clothes, not khaki. I own no khaki, and never have. I do have a pet kangaroo though. She carries me in her pouch.

Some childhood rites of passage are awesome. Like the first ice cream cone, the first dip in a swimming pool, and the first trip to Disneyland. Some of the traditional rites of passage suck, like the first bee sting, the first broken bone, and the first boa constrictor bite. What? Yeah, I said the first boa constrictor bite. You didn’t have one of those? Then you weren’t a real kid, because that’s totally one of the most important rites of passage. At least if you’re a member of the late “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin’s family. Steve’s four-year-old son Bob just got his first snake bite, and apparently that’s considered a pretty normal event in the life of an Irwin child.

The 4-year-old son of “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin wasn’t at all alarmed when he was recently bitten by a baby boa constrictor, according to his mother.

“He picked one of them up and it bit him on the finger, and he was so proud to have copped his first hit,” Irwin’s widow, Terri, said Monday at FAO Schwarz, where she and her two kids promoted a new line of toys.

“He said, ‘I hope it wasn’t venomous,’ so I assured Robert I wouldn’t actually let him play with venomous snakes,” she added.

Irwin said 9-year-old daughter, Bindi, was first bitten by a snake when she was 18 months old.

[From the Associated Press]

Wow, that’s pretty freaking impressive. I faint if I so much as see a boa constrictor, and little Robert was chill when one opened it’s mouth and tried to see if he had a flavor. Thank God it was a baby boa. I’m pretty sure that the big ones eat people. I’m additionally creeped out/awed that Bindi had a snake noshing on her at less than two years old. It must be incredibly hard for the Irwin children’s friends to scare them like most little kids do. Hiding behind a curtain and then yelling boo? Who the hell cares, you were bitten by a snake yesterday. Telling the scariest ghost story you’ve ever heard? No big deal, a crocodile chased you through the outback last week. Then he teamed up with an insane mongoose and an uppity penguin and tried to lure you into a trap. That ghost story just isn’t going to cut it.

I’m glad Terri Irwin is sensible enough to keep her kids from playing with venomous snakes. I guess this is just one of those things that builds character in their family.

Here’s Bindi Irwin, Robert Irwin and Terri Irwin at the unveiling of Bindi’s new toy line at FAO Schwarz in New York City yesterday. Images thanks to WENN.

It’s almost a year since the Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin died, and his little girl is wasting no time growing up without him. Now she’s a model for her own range of clothing, Bindi International.

The nine-year-old wildlife warrior was joined on the runway by other young models.

The fashion line is dubbed clothing with a conscience and is designed for newborns to 10-year-olds.

Bindi, whose TV show Bindi the Jungle Girl has been a success in the US, is hoping to help spread her environmental message with the clothes.

The spring/summer 2008 line promotes koala conservation and also features crocodile camouflage prints.

news.com.au

Bindi isn’t the one designing the clothes, and it is nice to see the kid in something that isn’t khaki!

Meanwhile, Bindi is also presenting a documentary on Steve Irwin a year after the death, which is described as an uncomfortable trip through home videos and highlights of the croc-hunter’s life.

Terri Irwin is also rumoured to have found new love in the US tabloids, but this is being denied in Australian tabloids by close family friends.

Here’s what might be the scariest premonition of the future –
Bindi turning into Britney.

Little Bindi Irwin is all grown up – she’s got herself a job, some pop star friends and met the Dalai Lama. I guess she’s only a few months away from an arrest and stint in rehab…

Terri Irwin presented her daughter with her own hand-held walkie talkie, making her an official Australia Zoo staff member.

“Bindi always enjoys something new and different at the zoo, so this year I got her her own radio,” Mrs Irwin said.

“She is officially a zoo keeper at Australia Zoo, so in the morning before school she can radio to the cat feeders and find out where the tigers are walking, so she doesn’t bump into them accidentally.”

Daily Telegraph

Notables at Bindi’s birthday bash included an enormous crocodile, which is to be expected in a crocodile zoo, and Australian pop stars The Veronicas, Bindi calling them her ‘best friends’. Her mother Terri and brother Bob were there, and frequent mention was made of her father Steve. This all pales into nothingness next to the news that Bindi wasn’t wearing khaki!! She wore a cute pink top.

It’s been a busy year for the late Crocodile Hunter’s daughter, sparking criticism that her mother isn’t allowing her to grow up with a normal childhood.

One (US TV critic) suggested she “seemed to be affecting childhood rather than experiencing it”.

Few would doubt that Bindi is good TV.

She is a positive little poppet with swinging golden ponytails and her father’s broad and winsome smile.

But while she may win hearts and millions of viewers in the US and doubtless in Australia, Bindi’s stardom is potentially destructive.

As much as Bindi may seem to be a sophisticated performer with enviable aplomb in front of the TV cameras, or holding a conversation with the Dalai Lama, she does not appear to be a child at all.

This is cause for concern.

Bindi is a star with the expectation of being a huge celebrity in the US.

Therein rests the danger.

Smiling, joking, archetypal all-Aussie poster girl Bindi is the personification of bouncy, buoyant optimism.

But while she may be seen as some kind of cutesy Australian legend, following in her father’s footsteps, is this healthy?

news.com.au

She might not have a normal childhood, but the one she has seems pretty cool. Living at a zoo, on the sunny Australian coast. Her previous birthday party had The Wiggles perform. She’s got her own TV show, a walkie talkie – Terri Irwin isn’t a bad mother. I’d rather my kids were busy and distracted instead of sitting at home being depressed and missing dad. If she was keeping them at home and out of the public eye, she’d probably be criticised for not allowing Bindi to take advantage of opportunities on offer to her.

Thanks to News.com.au for these pictures.

Eight year-old Bindi Irwin has a busy schedule coming up. She just released a children’s exercise DVD that she made with her dad. She also announced that she’s going to tour with the Wiggles next month. Oh and she has a TV show coming out early next year.

Her mom was said to be worried that Bindi was carrying on so well after her famous father, Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin, died and took her to a therapist. The therapist said that was dealing with the grief in her own way and that she was well adjusted.

Here’s the promo for Bindi’s kid’s exercise DVD with moves inspired by animals. My son loves dancing and would probably jump around to it for a while.

It was announced this weekend that Bindi is going to take to the stage with The Wiggles in their upcoming tour next month. She will appear with them in LA and New York:

The eight-year-old daughter of the late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin, announced on US television overnight that she would perform the concerts in Los Angeles and New York.

The young wildlife warrior promised her high-energy show, called Bindi and The Crocmen, would have Americans on their feet.

The Crocmen are three men who will perform alongside her.

“We’re doing some dances which will be really fun because all the people get to get up and dance along with us,” Bindi told US morning TV show, Good Morning America, today. The concerts are part of the annual G’Day USA: Australia Week 2007 festivities being staged in Los Angeles and New York in January to promote Australia to Americans.

Bindi’s father had been a great supporter of the festival in past years.

With Bindi performing on the same bill as The Wiggles, the tickets, on sale for up to $US65, will be hot property.

Incorporated into Bindi’s act will be an animal show in which she will be joined on stage by her mum Terri and her dad’s “best mate” and Australia Zoo Director Wes Mannion.

Yellow Wiggle Greg is ill with orthostatic intolerance from an unknown disorder, which makes him light-headed and dizzy. He has bowed out of the famous Australian kids’ group, and is being replaced by his understudy.

Bindi also incredibly has a TV show coming out, Bindi the Jungle Girl, that will air in the states early in 2007.

I guess if eight year-old Bindi wants to do all this, more power to her. It just kind of screams cheesy to me for Bindi to put out an exercise video, to tour with the Wiggles, and to star in a TV show. Shouldn’t her mom be trying to balance her performance schedule so it’s not so hard on the elementary student? From what I understand she taped most of this when her dad was alive, but it still seems like too much for a little girl.