Steve Irwin’s Family Has Saved More Than 100,000 Animals at Their Wildlife Hospital

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The Irwin family is known for its inspiring legacy of wildlife conservation and rescue, still championed passionately by the tight-knit tribe of self-dubbed Wildlife Warriors. As owners and operators of the Australia Zoo and its Wildlife Hospital, the family of the late beloved “Crocodile Hunter” has been responsible for helping thousands of animals brought to its center for life-saving treatment. Back in January of 2020, the wildlife rehabilitation facility made headlines for treating 90,000 animals since it was first opened in 2004, including thousands affected by the devastating Australian bushfires of 2019–2020. And in November of that same year, the organization reached another incredible milestone—treating its 100,000th patient, an adorable grey-headed flying fox named Isabelle.

Since his passing in 2006, Steve Irwin’s widow, Terri Irwin, and their two children Bindi and Robert have carried on his mission of saving wildlife, ceaselessly devoting their lives to caring for the native animals of Australia. “My parents’ dedication to making the world a better place has inspired me since I can remember,” Bindi shared in an Instagram post. “We have dedicated our lives to standing up for the planet. It’s up to all of us to make a difference for the generations to come. The future is in our hands.”

While the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital regularly receives between 9,000 and 10,000 animals for treatment over the course of a year, its numbers drastically increased during the aftermath of the catastrophic fires two years ago. That influx of patients spurred a need to expand the hospital. And after an initial fundraising period, the Irwins were finally able to begin construction on a new ward that will accommodate all the wildlife affected by the wildfires, drought, and human impact. There will be a section of the ward dedicated specifically to flying foxes, whose admissions have skyrocketed since the 2020 fires. And they will also build a climate-controlled intensive care unit for their growing quantity of koala patients.

With an estimated 3 billion animals killed or displaced by the fires of 2019–2020 and an undetermined number still affected by the repercussions of the devastation, the Irwin family’s efforts have been indispensable. And although the number of patients they've treated is considerable, the real impact the family has made is truly immeasurable.