If these sound reasonably harmless, there are also recurrent instances of drugging wild species, like spiders or beetles, for controlled shooting of lizards feeding. Fateh recalls one incident when a foreign crew starved a leopard and then released it near a python. The desperate leopard — which would have never attacked a python in his senses — pounced on the snake, a mortal battle for happy filming.

Arranged or not, such stunts — or the more spectacular ones involving human elements like Irwin’s one-month-old son dangling tantalisingly close to a giant croc’s teeth in 2003 — may gain incredible TRPs but don’t help wild animals.

Secondly, animals have a right to exist even if they are not human friendly. Irwin’s professed attempt to dispel unreasonable fear among the lay public about certain species is commendable. But films of his genre have already kicked off a disturbing trend. Dozens of youngsters in India idolise him and call themselves “green”. Most of them believe that the first thing they must learn to become a wildlifer is to catch snakes.

Now handling the wild has its obvious charm. This spring, I carried a wounded wolf snake we found outside our Ranthambhore hotel to my room for necessary first-aid so that it could be released the next day. A group of young IT professionals accompanying me were initially terrified but soon gathered courage to gently touch the semi-poisonous beauty with their fingertips. But imagine hundreds of budding ‘wildlifers’ exploring the bushes for snakes!

Beyond every scrutiny, though, what redeemed Irwin was his passion. He was a great showman, a convincing orator and a great professional. But the fact that he kept returning to his stunts even after he became an icon and made enough money, qualifies him as more than an ace performer.

... contd.