Crocodiles are easy. They try to kill and eat you. People are harder. Sometimes they pretend to be your friend first.
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.
My job, my mission, the reason I’ve been put onto this planet, is to save wildlife. And I thank you for comin’ with me. Yeah, let’s get 'em!
If we can teach people about wildlife, they will be touched. Share my wildlife with me. Because humans want to save things that they love.
We don’t own the planet Earth, we belong to it. And we must share it with our wildlife.
Where I live if someone gives you a hug it’s from the heart.
When I talk to the camera, mate, it's not like I'm talking to the camera, I'm talking to you because I want to whip you around and plunk you right there with me.
I get called an adrenaline junkie every other minute, and I'm just fine with that.
It never ceases to amaze me how cruel some people are. Do you think people would be so merciless and torturous if fish and sharks cried like babies when they felt pain?
You know, you can touch a stick of dynamite, but if you touch a venomous snake it’ll turn around and bite you and kill you so fast it’s not even funny.
If you can’t excite people about wildlife, how can you convince them to love, cherish, and protect our wildlife and the environment they live in?
If we save our wild places, we will ultimately save ourselves.
The message is simple: love and conserve our wildlife.
If we can get people excited about animals, then by crikey, it makes it a heck of a lot easier to save them.
The truth is that we will never save wildlife by killing it.
Yeah, for some reason parrots have to bite me. That's their job. I don't know why that is. They've nearly torn my nose off. I've had some really bad parrot bites.
We humans still have a long way to go with learning to live harmoniously with our environment and its wildlife.
Crikey means gee whiz, wow!
And I have stopped eating tuna until the tuna nets cease killing tens of thousands of dolphins every single year.
Statistically there’s only one crocodile-related human fatality per year in the whole of Australia.
I'm a proud Australian, a very, very proud Australian.
Yeah, I'm a thrill seeker, but crikey, education's the most important thing.
The first crocodile I ever caught was at nine years of age, and it was a rescue.
It causes me great pain and anxiety to inflict fear on this poor old croc, but without me, he and his wilderness would suffer.
Medieval attitudes such as “the only good croc is a dead one,” “the only good shark is a dead shark,” “there’s a snake—quick, kill it.
So now what happens is the cameras follow me around and capture exactly what I've been doing since I was a boy. Only now we have a team of, you know, like 73 of us, and it's gone beyond that.
You know, I'm Australian, and we have got the worst sense of humor. We are cruel to each other.
My dad taught me from my youngest childhood memories through these connections with Aboriginal and tribal people that you must always protect people's sacred status, regardless of the past.
I believe that education is all about being excited about something. Seeing passion and enthusiasm helps push an educational message.
Australia has one of the worst mammalian extinction rates in the world.
Now more than ever we are all becoming more aware about the need to conserve our precious living heritage.
There's a lot of research behind the scenes that you don't get to see, but I have an instinct that my dad nurtured from when I was born. I was very lucky then.
Because when they strike it can be that quick that if they're within range, you're dead, you're dead in your tracks. And his head weighs more than my body so it's WHACK!
No, snakes are no problem. I'd go to any country, anywhere, any snakes, not a problem.
The only animals I'm not comfortable with are parrots, but I'm learning as I go. I'm getting better and better at 'em. I really am.
So fear helps me from making mistakes, but I make lot of mistakes.
My belief is that what comes across on the television is a capture of my enthusiasm and my passion for wildlife.
Every single day of our lives involves wildlife education. We must teach, spread the word, the wildlife gospel.
There are still countries that kill dolphins for use as crab bait!
My field is with apex predators, hence your crocodiles, your snakes, your spiders.
Every cent we earn from Crocodile Hunter goes straight back into conservation. Every single cent.
I am optimistic globally. So many scientists are working frantically on the reparation of our planet.
Where I live if someone gives you a hug it's from the heart.
For example, as you’re reading this paragraph, our whales and dolphins are still dying painful lingering deaths.
Yeah, I think it's an absolute disaster that Australia, the government, allowed kangaroo culling.
I believe our biggest issue is the same biggest issue that the whole world is facing, and that's habitat destruction.
Take the crocodile, for example, my favorite animal. There are 23 species. Seventeen of those species are rare or endangered. They're on the way out, no matter what anyone does or says, you know.
You know, you can touch a stick of dynamite, but if you touch a venomous snake it'll turn around and bite you and kill you so fast it's not even funny.
Scientific whaling, and other lies will be exposed and become atrocities of the past.
I sincerely believe that there's room for cutting down trees for forestry and grazing, so as we all get to eat. Everyone has to compromise.
Herein lies our problem. If we level that much land to grow rice and whatever, then no other animal could live there except for some insect pest species. Which is very unfortunate.
That might have a lot to do with it, but you know, I probably don't show fear, but I suffer from fear like everyone else.
I've probably saved thousands of peoples' lives with my educational message on snake bites, how to get in around venomous anything.
We've evolved from sitting back on our tripods and shooting wildlife films like they have been shot historically, which doesn't work for us.
I bled a lot. I got hit across the face. We couldn't film for seven days. I got hit, whacked, underwater, across the face. I finished the shot, got into the boat and blood started coming out.
No matter where you go and what you do in America, you turn the tele on and you're confronted with violence.
So, my tactic with conservation of apex predators is to get people excited and take them to where they live.
Since I was a boy, from this house, I was out rescuing crocodiles and snakes. My mum and dad were very passionate about that and, I was lucky enough to go along.
Snakes are just very instinctive to me. I've been playing with snakes since before I could walk. It doesn't matter where or what it is, from the biggest to the most venomous.
I believe sustainable use is the greatest propaganda in wildlife conservation at the moment.
