World | Australia
TV star's dad quits family animal park
The father of late television star Steve Irwin said he quit the family's Australian conservation park because he had become a "disrupting influence," although the widow of the khaki-clad "Crocodile Hunter" denies a rift in the clan.
- AP
- Published: 00:44 April 4, 2008
Canberra: The father of late television star Steve Irwin said he quit the family's Australian conservation park because he had become a "disrupting influence," although the widow of the khaki-clad "Crocodile Hunter" denies a rift in the clan.
Bob Irwin's comments on a widely speculated falling out with his US-born daughter-in-law, Terri Irwin, came as the manager of the dead star's multimillion dollar business claimed yesterday the zoo had been duped in a tax minimisation scam.
Australian media have speculated for months that Terri Irwin had fallen out with Bob Irwin following his son's death in a 2006 stingray attack.
In brief excerpts released on Thursday of Bob Irwin's first interview since he left the park earlier this year, he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation he "was becoming a disrupting influence, not that I meant to be." There was no elaboration.
Steve Irwin's parents established a reptile haven in the early 1970s in the Sunshine Coast region of Queensland state, and handed control of it to their son two decades later, just before his television career took off. The park, named Australia Zoo, became the centre of Steve Irwin's multimillion-dollar television, tourist and conservation operations.
"It's a strange feeling to spend half your lifetime building something up and walking away from it," Bob Irwin said in another interview excerpt.
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Terri Irwin has said she plans to expand the park to include a hotel and spa. She has also vowed to continue her late husband's conservation work. Their daughter Bindi is being groomed to follow her father into television.
Speculations
Terri Irwin has tried to dampen speculation that her father-in-law left the park because he disagreed with way his son's legacy was being handled.
"I just can assure everyone that I love Bob dearly," Terri Irwin said last month, noting that he was mourning not only his son but also his first wife. "He's gone through so much grief losing his wife and his only son that I will respectfully just leave it at that."
Separately, Terri Irwin faced legal problems. Australia Zoo and Terri Irwin are both being sued by a debt recovery agency for more than 2.5 million Australian dollars (Dh 8,45 million) allegedly owed to creditors. The case is in the preliminary stages before the courts.
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