PETA, the People for Ethical Treatment of Animals, recently commentated on Steve Irwin’s legacy on what would have been his 57th birthday. Their tweet stated, “#SteveIrwin was killed while harassing a ray; he dangled his baby while feeding a crocodile & wrestled wild animals who were minding their own business. Today’s #GoogleDoodle sends a dangerous, fawning message. Wild animals are entitled to be left alone in their natural habitats.” In my opinion, this was absolutely unnecessary and quite unprofessional, especially being said on a social media platform.

This tweet had two other tweet replies from PETA, where they continued to state the irrational and cruel way that Steve Irwin “harassed” exotic animals. The twitter platform blew the tweet up with 80,000 replies, 3,300 retweets, and 15,000 likes. Aside from the numerous amount of interactions, this tweet was a subject of discussion for about a week and a half, which of course in this day and age is a very long period of time.

After the incident, many articles were published stating that the organization is not as innocent as it may appear. They have euthanized 80% of their “rescued animals,” and killed over 3,000 in 2014 alone according to the Washington Post. On the opposite hand, Steve Irwin frequently went out of his way to remove nuisance crocodiles at the beginning of his career, where he then went on to host an informative television show.

The duel between the late actor’s fan base and PETA did not end there though; there were numerous harsh replies. One reply from award-winning baseball blogger Dan Clark, says, “Steve Irwin saved the lives of countless animals in his sanctuaries. He helped educate millions globally about animals’ needs and ways of life. He loved animals and cared for them greatly. You do some good work helping animals PETA, but how about some balance and more respect…”

Overall, PETA was extremely out of place and quite frankly being hypocrites for saying Steve Irwin harassed animals. They should take a look at their own facilities and comply with their mission statement before they comment on anyone else’s legacy. Especially since it was, in fact, Steve Irwin’s birthday, and he passed away 13 years ago. Finally, the last quote that must be shared was from Irwin himself: “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.”