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.