When Bindi Irwin and her husband, Chandler Powell, announced they were expecting their first child, they called their unborn daughter “Baby Wildlife Warrior.”
“Baby Wildlife Warrior due 2021,” Bindi wrote in her announcement. “Chandler and I are proud to announce that we’re expecting! It’s an honour to share this special moment in our lives with you.”
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The nickname stuck. In a recent interview with The Bump, Bindi said she and Chandler are waiting to pick a name for their daughter until after she’s born.
“We are waiting to meet her before we decide on a name,” she said. “We want to hold her and make sure the name that we choose fits her perfectly.”
Bindi said she and Chandler have been looking through family names on both sides to find inspiration there. It turns out their daughter’s nickname, “Baby Wildlife Warrior,” was actually inspired by Bindi’s late father, Steve.
“My dad was the first person to create the term ‘Wildlife Warrior,'” she said. “Being a Wildlife Warrior means to stand up and speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. We’ve been referring to our daughter as our Baby Wildlife Warrior. I know in my heart that she will forge her own path to make our planet a better place through her connections with the gorgeous animals that we protect here at Australia Zoo and the conservation work we do with animal species around the globe.”
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Speaking of Steve, Bindi described how he “would have been the best grandfather.”
“I always joke that if he was still here we’d never see our baby because he’d take her on all kinds of adventures!” she said. “I want to make sure our baby girl gets to know my dad and thankfully we have many documentaries and photos we can share with her. I think she’ll love getting to watch footage of Dad working with all kinds of animals and learning about his legacy.”
Steve loved being a father, and it showed.
“I can’t dwell on her for too long or I start bawling my eyes out,” Steve once said in an old interview after Bindi was born. You can see that interview in the video below.
We have full faith that Steve would have loved his granddaughter just as much…