Talk:Terri Irwin/Archive 1

blurb for Did You Know

Did You Know

...that Terri Irwin co-owner of the Australia Zoo and costar of the The Crocodile Hunter series on television began as a child caring for injured wildlife brought home by her father and ran her own rehab facility for 5 years before she met Steve Irwin?

Terri's picture

I saw a nice picture[1] of Terri, though it might need to be resized a bit.

Its a very nice picutre. I'd sure love to see it on here. My heart goes out to her.

Vandalism Protection?

Perhaps this article should go under lockdown like Steve Irwin's article to avoid vandalism, particularly in this time of grief surrounding these two individuals.

That might be wise given the situation. If his page is protected, hers should be, too. Michael 16:36, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

It definetly should be.Dexter111344 20:54, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

Yeah. Michael 02:00, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

I agree Snowbound 02:38, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

• Page has been semi-protected. — ERcheck (talk) 03:26, 5 September 2006 (UTC)
  • Thanks. Michael 03:30, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

Do we really need this "widow" stuff??

Really, was there any need to leap in and change "wife" to "widow"? Terri is still Steve's wife. I can imagine how pleased she would be to find out that her WP entry had been changed from wife to widow in record time. Doesn't WP have some policy on how to handle breaking news? There must be a better way. Leeborkman 23:56, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

Quite. Let's not fall over ourselves trying to wrap up this entry with lyrically conclusive quotes. There will be more to write. Rogerborg 01:13, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

I agree with leeborkman. It's quite distrubing the amount of contributers who are so obssessed with wikipedia that they want to be the first to add info on things like this, air disasters etc. Snowbound 02:36, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

I do not see what is wrong with widow. Is it actually incorrect, no, other than that, it "may" be seen as insensitive according to WP:LIVING. Ansell 03:30, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

I agree with Leeborkman it wouldnt be right just to wipe steves face out of wikipedia and just label her a widow. leave this article alone for a bit. -Crion

I disagree.... She is not his wife at this time. The relationship is specifically framed "till death do you part".. and so their marriage is complete... a complete success. They honored each other and loved each other, and their marriage vows have now been consummated in every term (which can only happen once someone has died... cause that's one of the terms of the marriage contract). If you really hate the rapid use of the term widow, then you can simply reframe her as "A celebrated naturalist/conservationist, she was the wife and business partner of the Late Steve Irwin"... I don't know if that's the best phrasing, but you can get the gist of it... She is not a wife, and will not become one until she takes a new husband. But think of it gladly,... even a golden anniversary can be followed by a divorce.. and thus even a marriage of 55 years can end in failure. But in contrast, a marriage of 14 years that was unblemished and ended in death... that and that alone is a successsful marriage. Sugarboogy phalanx 23:33, 6 September 2006 (UTC)

Order of Australia — "honorary" member??

The article currently says Terri was made "an honorary Member of the Order of Australia". I question the use of the word "honorary" here, since (to me) this implies a symbolic award, not the same as actually being given it for real (compare an "honorary degree" vs. a real academic degree). As best I can tell from the reference given in the article, Terri was made a Member, not just an "honorary" member. Richwales 06:22, 6 September 2006 (UTC)

I think these awards are normally only to Australians and maybe as am American they made a special exception. Although if she was an Australian citizen, I don't see why she couldn't win it normally.

Is any info available regarding whether or not Terri has Australian citizenship? Please note that, under both Australian and US law, she could very easily have become an Australian citizen without losing her US citizenship. Richwales 14:42, 6 September 2006 (UTC)

Apparently she really did get an "honorary" Order of Australia membership after all. I did a search for her name on the Aussie government's "It's an Honour" web site (http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au), and her page came up with an [H] notation (letter H in square brackets), which the page said was an indication of an honorary award (the kind normally given to non-citizens). Unfortunately, it doesn't appear possible to capture the link to this search result for inclusion in the article; the search terms don't appear to be reflected in the URL at all.

I also found a Google hit for a page on the Australia Zoo web site (http://www.crocodilehunter.com/australia_zoo/press_releases/2006/?news=95), in which it's said that Terri's award was honorary because she's an American citizen, but that she said the award made her feel like a "true Aussie". This really, really doesn't sound like something a naturalized citizen would say; rather, it strongly suggests to me that she has not in fact acquired Australian citizenship.

If Terri hasn't become a citizen, even after all the time she's been in Australia, I really don't know why — though one possible explanation (just my speculation for right now) could be that she doesn't realize that dual US/Oz citizenship is possible; many people are still absolutely convinced (albeit erroneously) that the US forbids or severely restricts dual citizenship. I find it difficult, though, to imagine that someone hasn't managed to set her straight on this issue, given the 14 years she's spent living Down Under. Richwales 07:16, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

If that is the case, Then the phrase "American-born Australian naturalist" in the first line is incorrect. I had a quick look through Google for any solid evidence of her being a non-Australian resident, but could not discover anything concrete. I have to agree with previous comments that suggest she is a US citizen only. --Crx2gen 06:50, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

I added references to two news stories on the Australia Zoo web site that talk about Terri's receiving the Order of Australia. These stories explicitly mention that she was made an "honorary" member, and one of them (see my earlier comment) says that this was because she's a US citizen (and presumably, by implication, not an Australian citizen). Richwales 20:38, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

I also changed "American-born Australian naturalist" to "American naturalist". Strictly speaking, Terri is not an "Australian naturalist" because she apparently is not, and never has been, a citizen of Australia. Richwales 20:43, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

Agreed - I have also removed the category link at the very bottom regarding "Australian-Americans". I left the link regarding Australian Television Presenters as I think there needs to be a consensus on the exact meaning of 'Australian' in that particular context, be it Australian (nationality) or Australian (Australian Television). I for the record think it should remain, with my interpretation of the context being Australian (Australian Television).Crx2gen 07:17, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

American-Australian sounds nicer. She did state on the interview last nbight with Ray Martin that Australia is home for her now. She looked so upset. Be brave Terri, we love you like we loved Steve.

Improper links

The links to the children's names are not proper.

I have removed the links to the children's names for the aforementioned reason - although Bob is a little young and irrelevant to require his own wikipedia entry, there may be ground for a Bindi Sue Irwin page as she is becoming more and more involved in her parents line of work. Crx2gen 07:21, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

Popular article

12181 people have read this article since the start of the month! -- Zanimum 20:44, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

Factual error on Terri's bio

Terri's "official" bio on the australia zoo - croc hunter site says her father ran a construction (not trucking) business.70.57.119.232 13:03, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Sequence

Right now, the account of her children is before the account of her meeting and marrying her husband (which came first). AnonMoos 23:29, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

Inconsistent spelling of middle name

So is her maiden name Rains or Raines? Both spellings are present in the article. --Joe Sewell 16:27, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

Hey Joe. I changed the spelling to Raines. Terri's page of the Crocodile Hunter site spells it as Raines. [2] As well, Google News has 511 hits for Terri Raines Irwin [3] and no relevant hits for Teri Rains Irwin. [4] Cheers, Sarah Ewart (Talk) 17:01, 3 October 2006 (UTC)