I know that there has been brief discussions here on "In Steve's Footsteps" which airs on Animal Planet in the US this weekend...and unfortunately not in the UK at the present time, unless that has changed. We can still all share the articles and videos and our thoughts here and share the show with you after this weekend.

http://animal.discovery.com/fansites/crochunter/ontv/in-steves-footsteps.html

Croc hunter's daughter following in Steve Irwin's footsteps
John Rogers, AP

LOS ANGELES— At an age when many girls are still playing with their Barbie dolls, Bindi Irwin has moved on to something a bit more challenging.
"I have Blackie my black-headed python. I also have Corny the corn snake. He sleeps with me at night," the 8-year-old-daughter of the late crocodile hunter, Steve Irwin, says proudly as she rattles off the names of the menagerie she keeps back home in Queensland, Australia.

It's a group she hopes to introduce to the rest of the world through her new television show, "Bindi the Jungle Girl," airing Saturdays on the Discovery Kids Channel (5 p.m. ET).

"I also have Jaffa my koala and Ocker, my favorite cockatoo. And I have other birds that stay with me. And Candy, my pet rat, sometimes stays with me," the blonde-haired, pigtailed bundle of energy continues until her enthusiasm gets the better of her and her words begin to run together, finally tripping over one another in a heap.

"Sorry," she offers with a giggle as she comes up for air.

Then, a moment later, she's on a roll again, passionately recounting the horror stories her father would come home with about the way he saw exotic animals mistreated in shows around the world. He witnessed cobras in India, he told her, that had their teeth yanked out before they were put in baskets for snake charmers with flutes to coax them out of. He saw monkeys that had their young taken away as an incentive to perform.

"They take their babies away until the monkey does the trick, and then they give the baby back," he told her.

"It's terrible what people are doing," she says, her voice rising. "And they're just doing it for a living because they don't know any better. They've just grown up like that. I think we really need to teach all people, big or little, they should all know the message of conservation."

Her effort to teach them is "Bindi The Jungle Girl," which takes viewers around the worldto see animals in their natural habitat while Bindi discusses things like the status of those in danger of extinction.
"There are only a few thousand left in the wild and they could all be gone by the time I'm old enough to drive," she says of tigers and cheetahs.

As her father did, she also frequently makes pitches not to use products that result in the needless deaths of animals.

Each show also returns home to Bindi's two-story tree house in Queensland, Australia, where the little girl with the soft Aussie accent interacts naturally with her exotic animals and where, Bindi says, she is always happiest.

"I love it in my tree house. It's the best place to be, pretty much," she says by phone. "I just go there to sleep over sometimes. My brother comes to visit me for a little sleepover as well. He has his own little snake, Basil. Basil is actually a girl. I know, that's a strange name for a girl," she says, letting loose with another giggle.

She also keeps a supply of videos of her father there.

"I'm ever so lucky because I have so much footage of my dad in the tree house with me," she says. Then she adds softly, "Which is very nice to have because some people only have like one or two pictures of their father or the one who died."

She was barely 8 when her father was killed by a stingray while filming an underwater documentary at Australia's Great Barrier Reef last September.

The two already had begun working together on what would become "Bindi The Jungle Girl," and Irwin is featured prominently in early episodes doing things like climbing trees to visit the nests of endangered orangutans. In one comical moment, a nest's startled resident briefly shakes a fist in Irwin's face before deciding he's all right.

Almost from the day Bindi was born, says her mother, Terri Irwin, she has embraced exotic animals with the same passion her father had.

"Steve was so excited," she recalls. "He kept saying, `I'm really looking forward to the day when Bindi takes over for me and I can just kick back."'

Still, in many ways, she adds, her daughter is just a typical kid, one who keeps busy with school and pesters her family from time to time for a pony to go with Peru the iguana and the other exotic animals.

As for taking up her famous father's legacy at such a tender age, Bindi doesn't see it as a big deal. She began accompanying him on film shoots when she was just 6 days old and learned early on, she says, what her life's work would be.

"I've always wanted to teach people about animal conservation," she said. "I want to follow in my father's footsteps. I loved him so very, very much."

http://animal.discovery.com/fansites/crochunter/ontv/in-steves-footsteps.html

This show is wonderful. Terri is so unbelievable. She is so determined to carry on and with Steve's Dad by her side...Bindi and Robert will continue to learn and carry on Steve's legacy. There were some difficult moments....but your heart will feel the love and pride as Terri goes on to do everything that Steve has taught her. I hope everyone will at some point be able to watch this show. (Come on UK...just what does it take!) Bindi is her as always amazing...her Steveisms seem to come out more and more. She has such a cute sense of humor! And little Robert...what a cutie! He is right in there learning and carrying on too! The only specific I will tell you...well two things!...Terri meets her goal in catching 30 crocs in 30 days (and these are new ones, not previously caught and tracked last year)....and she gives a very special one a big kiss!

Oh well I just read the back page!!....

I do hope us Brits get chance to see this programmes soon, from the clips that I have seen and what I have read it is a special programme. Come on AP don't let us down!

Ohhhhhhhh, how exciting, I can't wait to see this. Is the croc that gets a special kiss called Trevor by any chance??

quote:

Originally posted by Can't get enough of the Irwins:
Ohhhhhhhh, how exciting, I can't wait to see this. Is the croc that gets a special kiss called Trevor by any chance??

lol, now that is funny

Sounds like a great show. I hope we get it here one day too.

G'Day Snickals! "In Steve's Footsteps" is an wonderful show. It is a true testament to Steve's Legacy. Steve's presence and his spirit is everywhere! I am thankful that we get all these shows here....but it seems so unfair that Australia and the UK ...and who knows where else has to wait. But...all good things come to those who wait!...Hopefully it will be soon!