Steve was the kind of person many people laugh at or dismiss when they're alive, but miss when they are dead.
I was listening to a late night radio show last night, where the host spent the first hour apologizing for criticizing Steve and his documentaries on the day of his death. The reason he apologized was because he received 1000 emails the next day that were either death threats or well written arguments as to why he shouldn't have said what he said. He also said he’s had email in the past about the things he’s said on air, but nothing compared to this and he realized that he had made a mistake.
Later on in the show he asked people to call in and describe any experiences they might have had with Steve in the past and all of the phone calls were positive. The people said:
1) He always made time for ordinary people and their kids no matter how busy he was and would even stop his documentaries to talk to them and pose for pictures.
2) Whenever anyone found a sick or injured animal, he asked them to bring it to his zoo and he would pay for its medical costs and re-release it into the wild.
3) Any profits he made from his documentaries were put into buying huge tracts of land, so they could remain sanctuaries for wild life. In Australia we have one of the highest rates of wildlife extinction in the world so this was important.
4) He didn't have an education and did the best he could with what he had.
5) He made unpaid appearances all over the state talking about animals and promoting wild life conservation.
6) He didn't have a mean bone in his body and was enthusiastic about preserving Australian wild life.
From what I understand his family has been offered a state funeral.
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