The Steve Irwin Legacy

By Mary MacElveen

September 4, 2006

After hearing of the ‘Croc Hunter’, Steve Irwin’s untimely death doing what he did best which was to protect all wildlife, I have been grappling with how I felt all day long.  Upon hearing of his death, I feel the same way that I did upon learning of John F. Kennedy Jr’s death as well as Princess Diana’s.  I fully believe that John F. Kennedy Jr. would have gone onto to become a leader similar to his late father the late President John F. Kennedy and his uncle the late Senator Robert F. Kennedy.  I also believe that Princess Diana would have continued her work with those that were dying of Aids and would have kept up her fight against land mines.

As I was watching the Animal Planet today, I also watched “The Jeff Corwin Experience” and like Steve Irwin did, Jeff helps expose all of us to the wildlife that are very much in danger.  Jeff has his own style, but yet conservation and protection is at the very forefront of his presentations to us all.  Today, he was working with two Brazilian scientists who were describing the habits of the three toed sloth.  These slow but steady creatures are also endangered due to encroachment upon their habitat.  But, as I was watching him work with these two scientists, I thought, wouldn’t it be great if our focus as a species was conservation instead of consumerism and militarization.

I have seen pictures of the Brazilian rain forests, the mountains in Colorado and when I compare that to the photos of a devastated Iraq and Lebanon, I want to scream out.  I think that this is where I have more respect for conservationists, scientists that are trying to save this planet then I do politicians and corporate heads.  The lust for power and greed is bringing us ever so close to our own very destruction and animals such as frogs according to Steve Irwin are our very barometer.  This amphibian through changes to the color of their skin or how many appendages they have will tell all of us how pollutants are effecting the ecosystem.  But, sadly they are not being heard.

Speaking of pollutants, a friend of mine, John Schwam who operates the site TheLiberalPatriot.org has worked tirelessly in exposing to all that will pay attention to the destruction of the mountains in West Virginia through MTR (mountain top removal).  These mountains are literally being destroyed.  Due to this heinous practice pollutants are being leached into the soil effecting mankind.  One must wonder what does this do to the animals that once called this their home. While he may not be as famous as Steve Irwin was, he is very much the same kind of warrior.

I also think that his death hit me harder since coming back from The Rocky Mountain National Park in Estes Park, Colorado.  In that park, animals such as bears, elk, big horn sheep as well as hawks and eagles are given a habitat free to live out their life.  But sadly in many areas of the United States and the world for that matter, we are edging wildlife out of their natural habitats.

As I look at Long Island where I have lived all my life, each inch is being eaten up by over-development.  Communities are popping up all over and within them are large framed homes with numerous air condition systems.  These communities are replacing our once prized green space.  Contained within that green space are animals that will have no other place to go but to their very extinction.  One even wonders how much material is being consumed to build these homes that come from the rain forests of South America or the logging industry that is all but destroying our forests here in the United States.  I often wonder how many pass up pre-existing homes in lieu of these newer homes.

The animal world is trying to tell us all something and conservationists such as Steve Irwin have been telling their story, now it is up to all of us to listen to these animals.  Perhaps their message to us all is to start living a more simple life that respects the environment.  Perhaps they are telling us all to stop building arms, and to start reaching across borders.  I do think that the world would be a better place if we let conservationists, environmentalists and scientists lead the way.

In closing, many mock conservationists as being tree huggers, let us replace that with warriors for the environment.