Memorable remarks from the late ‘Crocodile Hunter’

[Cannikin]

CAIRNS, Australia - A selection of quotes from television star and wildlife enthusiast Steve Irwin, who died Monday after being fatally stabbed in the chest with a stingray barb.

—“Crikey!” — his catch phrase, exclaimed repeatedly during his television show.

—“Crikey, mate. You’re far safer dealing with crocodiles and western diamondback rattlesnakes than the executives and the producers and all those sharks in the big MGM building.”

—“I get called an adrenaline junkie every other minute, and I’m just fine with that.”

—“I have no fear of losing my life — if I have to save a koala or a crocodile or a kangaroo or a snake, mate, I will save it.”

—“I’ve worked with more dangerous snakes than anyone in the world and I’ve never been bitten. It’s a gift.”

—“Crocodiles. I’ve been catching them since I was nine. No problem.”

—“Fear helps me from making mistakes, but I make lot of mistakes.”

—“It is all about perceived danger. In front of that crocodile I was in complete control. Absolute and complete control. That is my profession. I would be considered a bad parent if I didn’t teach my children to be crocodile savvy because they live here, they live in crocodile territory.” — On the 2004 controversy in which he was filmed holding his infant son while feeding a snapping crocodile:

—“To hear people say that it was a publicity stunt, that I’m just like Michael Jackson, well, it just tears me up. It makes me sick to my stomach to be compared in that way.” — On the same incident.