SYDNEY: Australian "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin will get a final send-off in the "Crocoseum" of his beloved family zoo next week, his widow revealed on Wednesday in her first comments since his death.
Irwin's US wife Terri, his eight-year-old daughter Bindi and his friend, manager and television producer John Stainton will all speak at the public public memorial service to be held at the Irwins' Australia Zoo.
While much larger venues, including a 52,000-seat stadium, had been mooted for the service, Terri Irwin said her iconic reptile wrangler husband would have wanted it at the zoo started by his father more than 35 years ago.
"I cannot see how a memorial service would work in any other place other than the Crocoseum which he built here at the zoo and of which he was so proud," she said of the 5,500-seater auditorium.
"I would therefore ask that everyone please bear with me in this wish and help me to make this happen," she said, thanking fans across the world for their support and sympathy following the death of the man she described as her "soul mate".
Fans of the wildlife daredevil killed in a stingray attack last week will be asked to make a donation to Irwin's Wildlife Warriors fund to gain admission to the service that will start at 9:00 am (2300 GMT Tuesday).
The event will be broadcast live on television across Australia, the United States and Asia and will also be cast onto large TV screens at venues in the city of Brisbane -- about 100 kilometers (60 miles) away and on the Sunshine Coast where Irwin's zoo is based.
The larger-than-life star of the popular "Crocodile Hunter" programme on the Discovery Channel was killed on September 4 when he was stabbed in the chest by a stingray tail barb while filming off the Great Barrier Reef.
The 44-year-old was laid to rest in a private ceremony at his Australia Zoo on Saturday after his family turned down the offer of a state funeral for the conservationist they describe as "just an ordinary bloke".
