Kerala crocodile park named after Steve Irwin

Tuesday, May 15, 2007 21:33 IST
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A crocodile research centre in Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary near here was on Tuesday named by the Kerala government after late Steve Irwin, the Australian animal expert known to TV viewers as the 'crocodile hunter'.

The state's forest and wildlife department is perhaps the first government body in the world to name a memorial after Irwin, whose documentaries on wildlife and reptiles endeared him to thousands of viewers.

The centre was thrown open to the public by Forest Minister Benoy Viswom at a function in Neyyar oin Tuesday.

Viswom had announced that the centre would be named after Irwin soon after he died when a stringray pierced a barb into his heart while he was filming at sea. It is called the Steve Irwin Crocodile Rehabilitation and Research Centre, an official release said.

Set up on 2.5 hectares at a cost of Rs five lakh, the centre will have marsh and mugger crocodiles found in the marshlands of the subcontinent. The park was started in 1977 as part of a national programme to conserve crocodiles