For a Legend - The Croc Hunter

Este es un dibujo de Steve que hize en los días que estuve reposando por el golpe en la cabeza. Para los que no tuvieron el privilegio de conocerlo (y para los que no sabían su nombre completo) Steve Irwin era un zoologo australiano conocido en todo el mundo como el "Cazador de cocodrilos" (o "crocodile Hunter" en inglés) por su anema serie de documentales animales de gran calidad "The crocodile Hunter", donde Steve mostraba a la gente la belleza de la naturaleza más allá de lo inimaginable, de una manera tan apasionada e interesante, compartió la emoción y el conocimiento del mundo natural, tanto que hasta la gente que acostumbraban decir que siempre se aburrían con los documentales, se olvidaron de que era un documental, vieron la serie y lo conocían! Incluso los que no veían sus serie regularmente decían que les caía bien, y es que el tenía un alma hermosa, y se reflejaba en su trabajo.
El 4 de septiembre de 2006, el sufrió una accidente, una raya le atravesó el corazón, y no sobrevivió. Aqui tienen una cita de un articulo que escribí ese día que vi las noticias.
"El era un grán hombre, tenía una personalidad encantadora y cálida, siempre alegre, carismático, siempre dispuesto a ayudar, inteligente, honesto, modesto, sencillo, valiente y temerario, le encantaba el contacto con la naturaleza, se metía en cualquier lugar y arriesgaba su vida con tal de presentarnos los comportamientos de los animales en estado salvaje, siempre estaba lleno de sorpresas! Era un padre devoto y tenia (y tiene) dos hijos con su esposa Terri, Bindi y Bob. Una de las características más interesantes de sus documentales es que nunca eran los mismos, siempre eran amenos y divertidos y en todos ponía el mismo empeño y dedicación, uno tras otro, y una de las cosas que más me gustaban era la forma en que daba a conocer a los animales, pues no se conformaba solo con verlos y admirarlos desde una distancia lejana (como en muchos otros documentales), no, el tenía que acercarse, y atraparlos, y tocarlos, para luego decirnos como era la textura de su piel, o abrirles la boca (en el caso de los lagartos) para mostrarnos como tenía los dientes! Recuerdo una vez que en un capítulo de su serie cuando estaba el una región desertica (no me acuerdo donde) y corrió a perseguir una mamba negra por varios kilómetros mientras su esposa terri esperaba en un jeep, solo para agarrarla (con un sujetador) y tocarla y decirnos cuan suave era su piel! En otro de sus documentales agarró una sepiente no venenosa e hizo lo mismo, dijo que su piel se sentia tersa pero no mojada, como lo ha creido mucha gente, y yo realmente apreciaba eso porque siempre me preguntaba como se sentía la piel o los dientes de algunos animales, y cuando veía sus documentales era como si los estuviera tocando yo!
Cuando tenía como 11 o 12 años vi la serie y me impresionó, para mí fue increíble y después de eso pasé a verlo por diferentes canales como Animal planet, Discovery channel, y hasta por el cana 13 de TV azteca, admiraba mucho su espíritu aventurero, la energía y alegría que reflejaba en su serie, su capacidad para improvisar, la grán dedicación que mostraba y que transmitia a millones de personas, y como es que realmente disfrutaba el contacto con la natulaleza más que otra cosa, a pesar de que las condiciones no daban para dormir ni comer bien. Yo lo se porque había ido de campamento con mi familia, pero solo algunas veces, pues a mi papá no le gustan los campamentos, pues dormir a la interperie (aún en tienda de campaña) no es muy cómodo que digamos, y nos picaban los moscos, las hormigas, y a mi papá no le gustaban, ni los dias de campo le gustaban! porque cada vez que ibamos en lugár de picnic haciamos piki niki, piki de hormigas, piki de arañas, de avispas, bueno de todo. Y yo me asombraba de como Steve pasaba largos ratos en las selvas y en los bosques para el rodaje de sus documentales, incluso hubiera querido estar ahí para ayudarle con la cámara o a meter a las serpientes en bolsas como hacía Terri, cuando el necesitaba transportarlas de un lugar que tenia poblacion para llevarlas a su habitat natural, o algo así, y pasar un rato con el, porque mi familia (más mi papá) prefería más las comodidades de la casa que el contacto con la naturaleza.
Admiraba mucho su paciencia para acercarse a los animales y esperar a que salieran de sus escondites para filmarlos, y creo que una de las cosas que más me gustaba ver era la forma en que se relacionaba con ellos; siempre que se acercaba a un animal en sus documentales, se acercaba a ellos y les decia amigos! Los trataba como si fueran una parte de nosotros, como tu que estás leyendo esto, no como bestias peligrosas y desconocidas, también me gustaba ver cuando se disculpaba con ellos, y es que cuando un animal le mordía o le picaba él se disculpaba con ellos porque decía que era su culpa, por acercarse demasiado y no darles su espacio, incluso el mismo nos decía que no debemos acercarnos mucho a los animales porque pueden sentirse amenazados y hacernos daño, era un gesto muy noble de su parte y algo chistoso, aunque muchas personas, incluyendo mi papá creían que por eso estaba loco. El siempre estuvo en buena forma, era muy agil, me impresionaba como corría (y hacía correr al camarógrafo) mientras filmaba sus documentales y perseguía cocodrilos, serpientes y lagarlos por varios metros antes de alcanzarlos, y en particular me asombraba la forma en que los sujetaba, fuerte pero sin lastimarlos, porque el tenía mucha experiencia, yo jamás hubiera podido agarrar ni una vivora sin veneno, ni nigún lagarto! Incluso el mismo nos decía, no hagan esto en casa! Su pasión siempre fueron los reptiles, en especial los cocodrilos, y a veces hasta le llamaban de las casas para que sacara animales como serpientes y lagartos, a mi me tocó una vez ver como él y su esposa Terri (aunque a ella si le daban miedo algunos animales) sacaban de las una casa a un cocodrilo bebé, es que la casa quedaba cerca del territorio salvaje de los cocodrilos, y Steve dijo a la familia que vivía allí que fue muy bueno que lo llamaran y no intentaran sacar al animal ellos solos.
Otra de las cosas que más lo carterizaron fue su famosa frase "Crikey", que usaba cuando se acercaba a los animales salvajes. Esa frase siempre me gustó, no se, era una frase muy suya, tenía su estilo, saben?, era una frase como de asombro, pero solo la oí una o dos veces cuando el audio traducido falló y se oyó la voz de Steve en inglés! En inglés!!, porque aquí en mexico un actor de doblaje hacía su voz, (también tenía bonita voz por cierto) y creo que era así porque para eso no había traduccion. Cuando mi familia vió la serie por primera vez, mi papá y mis hermanos no creían que Steve realmente disfrutara tanto de hacer sus documentales, por lo del doblaje, pero después se dieron cuenta que si! Además, el era el único naturalista que yo conozco que besaba a los animales y se acercaba a ellos de una manera especial, y nos permitía apreciar la belleza de la naturaleza a través de sus ojos, con una admiración inimaginable!
En ese entonces, cuando conocí la serie "el cazador de cocodrilos" estaba pasando por la dura etapa de la pubertad, y todavía en mi adolescencia mi pásatiempo favorito era ir a los parques a buscar animales para verlos y a veces fotografiarlos, también iba para encontrar insectos, entre ellos orugas (que eran los únicos animales que se dejaban agarrar) y las llevaba a mi casa para criarlas, y que cuando salieran de su crisalida supiera que clase de mariposa era (yo se que había libros pero para mi era más divertido verlas salir y volar), incluso un día crié una oruga que estaba en un elote que mi mamá había comprado y que sale una polilla gorda después de un tiempo, lo cual le dió mucha risa a mamá, y otro día una polilla se poso una pantalon que traía y puso huevos en el. Cuando mi familia conoció la serie de Steve mi papá decía que él era un gringo loco, y como a el no le gustaba que estuviera investigando los animales (sobre todo las orugas) porque decía que eso no era de una jovencita, me decía mexicana loca! Eventualmente deje de hacerlo, en parte por los prejuicios de mi papá y de las otras personas, y en parte porque quería ganarme un lugar en la sociedad y eso, ya saben. Pero de todos modos, cuando conocí a Steve, ya no me preocupó tanto pues sabía que había otra persona que amaba la naturaleza como yo, y siempre que veía sus documentales de una manera extraña, yo lo sabía, no estaba loca!"
Ahora que conozco a Wildo, me di cuenta que se parece mucho a Steve, porque ambos son inteligentes, tienen una personalidad alegre, y un corazón noble y sincero. Pero tambien porque, como Steve, a Wildo le gusta la naturaleza y los deportes al aire libre, es muy saludable, y claro, también por algunos de sus gestos; Steve hacía esa misma señal de "Bien" que hace Wildo, con el pulgar en alto! Steve tenía la misma manera maravillosa de disfrutar las cosas que tiene Wildo, ese contagioso entusiasmo y alegría por la vida, y sus prioridades eran lo que realmente importaba (familia, sus amigos, la naturaleza y el medio ambiente!) era una de esas personas que siempre están ahi para ti, que saben apreciar las muestras de amistad y respeto, de esas a las que quiseras como amigo, compañero, guia!! El era un gran lider, y Wildo también...Incluso se disculpaba también...bueno, no con la gente pero si con los animales! Es cierto que Wilt esta basado en Wilt Chamberlain, pero yo le veo ciertamente MUCHO mas parecido con Steve!!
Steve fue mi mentor desde que vi su serie, mi guía, y con el aprendí mucho, no solo sobre la naturaleza sino también sobre la vida, por eso cada año siempre hago algo en honor a el! Y este, este es un dibujo muy modesto, pero espero que les guste. Me hubiera gustado mucho buscar videos de sus documentales en la web, pero realmente no he tenido el valor para hacerlo porque, desde aquel día la gente ha estado haciendo videos de broma donde acusan a los que buscan videos de "Morbosos" porque dicen que uno solo quiere ver su muerte por chismoso, y la verdad eso me destroza el corazón...y siento que estan ahí, aun, acechando!! Se que no es personal pero, prefieron no enterarme....Cuando pasaron en las noticias el anuncio del accidente, yo quería ver el video porque quería cumplir la voluntad de el, el dijo que si le pasaba algo no dejaran de grabar, pues quería que la gente viera hasta el ultimo momento de su documental.
Bueno, este es uno de los pocos dibujos a color que he hecho, para honrar a una leyenda, porque el fue una leyenda que vivirá por siempre en nuestros corazones!!


--------------------------------------------------------------- English -------------------------------------------------------------

This is a drawing I made in these days that I was resting by the hit I had on the head. For those who didn't have the privilege to know him (and for those who did not know by name) Steve Irwin was an Australian naturalist, better known as the "Crocodile Hunter" for his wonderful documentary series of high-quality "The Crocodile Hunter".
In that series Steve showed people the beauty of nature beyond the unimaginable, in so passionate and interesting way, he shared the excitement and knowledge of the natural world with people.
Even some people who always used to say documentaries were boring, they forgot his show was a documentary when they knew him! He had a beautiful soul, and this all was reflected in his work!

On September 4, 2006, he suffered an accident, a sting ray's tail hit him on his heart, and even if he received medical attention, he couldn't survive. Here is something I wrote the day I saw the news, originally wrote in spanish but I dubbed it here cos I would like to share:

"He was a great man, he had a lovely personality, he was always nice, happy, charismatic, always get ready to help! Intelligent, honest, modest, brave, he enjoyed the contact with the nature, he went to any place and risked his life to save an animal in danger, and present to us the Wild animals behaviors is a so enthusiastic and fun way, he always was full of surprises! He was a dedicated father and had (and has) two children with his wife Terri, Bindi and Bob.

One of the most interesting features of his series is that the episodes were always different, they were always pleasant and unique and original,  and in each of them he put the same joy and dedication, one after another!
One of the things that I liked more from him was the form in which he presented the animals, because he was not satisfied only to seeing them and admiring them from a far far distance, like in other documentary shows people do.
No. He had to approach, and catch them, and touch them, and then telling us how the texture of their skin felt like, or to open their mouth (in the case of the lizards) to show their amazing teeth! I remember in a chapter of his show when he was in a desert region with Terri (I don't remember where right now ) and he ran quickly several kilometers to catch one black mamba, just o take it in his hands and touch it and to tell us how smooth its skin was!
In another one, he took a nonpoisonous snake and he did the same, he said that it's skin felt smooth but not wet, as many people might think. And I really appreciated that cos I always wondered how the skin or teeth of some animals felt like. When I watched his series I was so excited and happy to hear his descriptions of the animals because when he did that I always felt like if I was there, living the experience!

I started to watch the series when I was 10 and it was amazing to me , it was incredible and after the first episode  I started to watch him by different channels like Animal planet, Discovery channel, and even Azteca 13! A mexican channel.
I admired a lot his adventurous spirit, the energy and joy that were reflected in his series, his stills to improvise when being in camera, the great dedication that he showed and transmitted to million people, and the way in which he really enjoyed the contact with nature, and that how his dedication to  teach people about animals was so strong to be there, even in those conditions where it's not posible to sleep neither to eat well, like in a sleeping bag, in the cold of the night in the ground!
I know it because I had gone to camping with my family (just a few times, because my father doesn't like camping), sleep at the open camp can be very hard. My father didn't like even the picnics! because of spiders, ants, mosquitoes and other animals that bite and sting But to steve, that wasn't a problem. Because he knew the effort worths it!
And I was always amazed by way in which Steve were long time in forests and jungles and places like these for running his show.
He had a great love to animals, and whenever I watched his show, it was so interesting and exciting, so much that I wished to be there to help him with the camera or to put to the snakes in bags when he needed to transport them of a urban place to take them to back to their natural habitat, or something like that.  And to be a while hanging out with him that way, because my family (mostly my father) preferred the comforts of the house more than the contact with the nature.

I've always admired so much his patience to get close to animals and to wait until they left their hiding places so they could film them, and I think one of the things that I loved to see the most, was his interaction with animals:
When he approached to the animals in his show he said: "Come on buddy!" He treated them as a part of us, like his friends or family....like you who are reading this! Not like unknown and dangerous beasts as many people think they are.
Also, it was so cute to see when he apologized with animals. When an animal had bitted or stung him, he apologized with them because he said it was his fault, by get too close and don't give their space to them, he even said us that we don't have to approach too close to the animals because they can misinterpret this as that we want to hurt them or damage them.  I think itt was a very noble and kind detail of him to say so, and something funny.
Although many people (including my father) thought that for that reason he was crazy, but he knew what he did, he showed that the animals need their space and he made sure that the people did not approach too much.

Always he was in good form, he was very healthy and agile. It's amazing to me the way he ran (and made Terry and their buddies and  camera guy run too ) when he was doing his series and he was chasing for crocodiles, snakes and lizards by several meters before reaching them.
And specially it's amazing his way to take them. It was a strong, firm hold,  but not as strong like to hurt them. Because he had much experience, I never had been able to take hold a croc or snake like he does!  And probably never will...
And I wouldn't like to try either cos, he even said "don't try this in house!" Maybe one day if I can become a scientist, after many years of study.
Their passion always was the reptiles, in special the crocodiles. And sometimes people even called him to come to their houses because they wanted him to take off their houses animals like snakes and lizards.
I remember how one time Steve and his wife Terri removed from a house a baby croc. The house was near the wild territory of the crocodiles, and Steve said to the family who lived there it was very good that they called to him and they didn't try to remove to the animal by themselves.


Other thing that distinguished him was his famous phrase "Crikey" he used it when he approached to wild animals. I always loved that phrase! I know it's a malagasy common phrase but....I can't explain why, but for me that always was HIS OWN phrase!, He endorsed that phrase! cos he had such a cool style saying it!
I heard it just a few times when I had the chance to see his show in English, or when the translated audio failed and Steve's voice in English was on! In English!
Because in Mexico an actor made his voice in spanish (the dubbing actor had a pretty cool voice as well) and I think they never translated it in Spanish because for that phrase there was no translation. When me and my family watched the series for the first time, my father and brothers didn't think that Steve really enjoyed so much to do his documentary show, by the dubbing, but later when they watched it in english after his death, they realized that yes, he did it!

Also, he was the only one naturalist I know who actually has kissed animals, and I think that's so cute ^^ He approached to them of a very, verty special way, and allowed us to appreciate the beauty of the nature through his eyes, with truly overwhelming admiration and respect!
when I knew the series "The Crocodile Hunter" it helped me a lot to develop my self-steem, to accept myself and to love myself for who I am.
Cos in the hard age of puberty, and still in my adolescence, my favorite hobby was to go to the parks or bald lands to look for animals to observe them and and study them, and sometimes photograph them.
I went to look for insects, among them caterpillars (that were the only animals that were quiet enough to be photographed for me at that time ) and I used to look for them to feed them, and go to the same place again to observe them and take photos of their process of growing. And when they left their crisalys one day I knew what butterfly kind they were. I know there was books for that, but it was more interesting to me to see them leave and fly.
Once, I even raised a caterpillar that was in a corn that my mother had bought, which became one fat moth after a while. And that made my mom laugh a ot, because it was beautiful to me even than for her it was such an ugly thing
And another day one buterfly flew to my jeans I was weraring and layed eggs in it.
When my family knew Steve's series my dad said I was crazy like him, my father never like the idea of me "grabbing animals" because he said that it was not for a lady todo so, that is was a shameful behavior.  And I used to torture myself worrying about if that was true....
But when I knew Steve and his show, I realized that wasn't a bad thing. And I was happy and I didn't worry very much about what my dad said, because I knew there was another person who loved nature las much as me, and whenever I watched his series, in a wonderful way, I knew it! And it was a magic thing!

Now I know Wilt, I was noticed that Wilt and Steve are very similar, because both are smart, have a enthusiastic and cheerful personality, and a heart of gold. As Wilt, Steve loved nature and outdoor sports Two, both are very healthy! and they are very similar by some of their gestures too; for example, Steve made the same signal with the hand like "GREAT!" that Wilt makes, with the thumb up! He had the same wonderful way to enjoy things that Wilt has, that wonderfully contagious enthusiasm and joy for life, and their priorities were what really mattered (family, friends, nature) He was the kind people who are always there for you, he really appreciated friendship and respect people gives to him, he was the kind of person to whom one would like to give displays of affection at all times, because he always appreciated it! (it's the same with Wilt) He was the kind of people everyone wanted as a friend, a father, a partner, a mentor! He was born to be a leader, as Wilt... He even apologized too!... well, not with people but with animals! I know Wilt is based on Wilt Chamberlain, but definitively I find a lot resemblance to Steve!

Steve was my mentor since I knew his series, my hero, my role model, the person I always looked up to be like. And with him I learned a lot, not only about nature but also about life, people, about the world arround me.
So that's why since he died I always make something each year as a tribute to him! This is a very modest picture, but I hope you like it.
I would have liked to find some of his documentary videos on the web, but I still don't have the courage to look for them, because since that day people have been doing videos to made fun, where accuse people to be "morbid" because they say that one people want it's to see his death, and it breaks my heart ...I think they're somewhere, even now, lurking! I know it is not personal but preferred not to hear .... When the news came in the announcement of the accident, I wanted to see the video because I just wanted to make his will, he said one time that if something happens not stop recording, because he would like that people see until the last moment of his documentary.
Well, this is one of the few color drawings I've made, this time, to make honor a legend, because he was a legend!!
G'day Steve! You will live forever in our hearts!