Australia Zoo founder Bob Irwin breaks the silence over a family feud involving Terri and Bindi

Conservationist Bob Irwin has broken his silence to make a rare public statement amid a long-running family feud involving daughter-in-law Terri and granddaughter Bindi.

The founder of the Australia Zoo and father of the late conservationist Steve Irwin has lived a quiet, secluded life for the past 15 years, away from the public eye, estranged from his son’s wife and children.

Friends say Mr Irwin, now 84, has had no contact with his extended family since 2008 when he cut ties with Australia Zoo over fears that the Sunshine Coast tourist attraction he founded 38 years earlier was ‘too commercial’ would become.

The walkout came less than 18 months after his famous son Steve was tragically killed by a stingray while filming on the Great Barrier Reef, just six years after his wife Lyn was killed in a car accident.

This week Mr Irwin broke his silence to call on the Queensland government to close a loophole allowing social media influencers to enter crocodile habitats for online content.

The proposed changes would be an insult to those who recklessly use a crocodile habitat, along with punishments for those who disturb crocodiles for social media.

Mr. Irwin, the father of the late ‘Crocodile Hunter’ Steve Irwin, has engaged the Environmental Defenders Office to draft the amendments to the Wildlife Conservation Act.

He said the social media creators were only endangering themselves and the crocodiles by entering the habitats.

“The government says these idiots don’t break any laws. Well, I say change the law!’ Mr Irwin said in a statement.

More than 40 traditional owners, conservationists, scientists, entrepreneurs and community members have supported the changes.

It comes a month after a Queensland man was fined $12,000 for illegally catching freshwater crocodiles in hopes of becoming a social media star.

In February, a 4.2-metre crocodile was shot dead by conservationists after attacking a man and eating a dog in far north Queensland.

The man was swimming in Bloomfield River, a well-known crocodile habitat.

It is a rare public statement from Mr Irwin following his 2008 spat with daughter-in-law Terri.

The Irwin family’s feud began 13 years ago when Bob Snr left Australia Zoo because he feared that the game reserve he founded in 1970 was becoming a ‘circus’.

Several reports from the time of Bob’s departure claim that he was concerned that the Sunshine Coast tourist attraction would become “too commercial” – and even feared that the then nine-year-old Bindi would be pushed into child stardom.

When Bob left the zoo for good in 2008 – two years after the death of his famous son, Steve ‘The Crocodile Hunter’ Irwin – his daughter-in-law Terri was planning a five-year expansion ‘to make it the zoo of Australia’. top tourist destination with a Disneyland feel’.

This plan apparently did not go down well with Bob, who felt that Australia Zoo should focus on conservation rather than follow a commercial path and become a ‘circus’.

In his own words, Bob felt he had become an unwelcome presence at Australia Zoo as the business grew into a major attraction aimed at American tourists.

“It’s a strange feeling to spend half your life building something and then walk away from it,” he told ABC’s Australian Story in April 2008.

“I started to become a disruptive influence, not in the way I intended.”

When he left the family business in 2008, he did not refer to his daughter-in-law in his farewell statement.

He also said he wanted to ‘carry on Steve’s dream of conservation on his own reserve in Kingaroy – with the implication that Terri’s new vision for Australia Zoo was not what his son would have wanted.

At the time, Terri denied rumors that a personal rift was behind Bob’s decision to leave.

“I can assure everyone that I love Bob dearly…he has been so sad to lose his [first] wife and his only son that I respectfully leave it at that,” she said.

Meanwhile, several reports suggested that Bob – a former plumber turned conservationist after moving to Queensland in the 1970s – was also “angry” by Bindi’s growing media profile in the years following Steve’s death.

Despite these concerns, Terri has always maintained that her daughter willingly embarked on a media career as a child because of her natural talent for performing.

Tensions flared again in 2021 after Bindi posted a heartwarming tribute to her husband, father-in-law and late father.

When a fan asked why she hadn’t included her grandfather, Bindi gave an unusually raw account of their relationship, claiming he had ignored her since she was a “little girl.”

“I really wish my whole family could spend time with [my daughter] Elegance. Unfortunately, my grandfather Bob has shown no interest in spending time with me or my family,” she began.

Family friend Amanda French admitted at the time that it was “difficult” for Mr. Irwin, who is still grieving the loss of his son 17 years later.

“Steve’s burial place is at the zoo… It’s hard for him, not being able to return to his son’s resting place. He hasn’t been to Australia Zoo since 2008,” she said.

She added that Mr. Irwin always says positive things about Bindi and grandson Robert,

“He says they’re always welcome if they ever show up. But I think it would be difficult for Bob to call Australia Zoo and say, can we fix this?” she said.