Grace Warrior grows up surrounded by animals, but even she has new nature experiences every day with her parents Bindi Irwin and Chandler Powell. The CEO of Australia Zoo shared a new ‘first’ she had with her 3-year-old daughter – and the amazing photos will blow your mind.
“The most remarkable day,” Irwin captioned a new post on Instagram, sharing photos of the moment the zoo reintroduced a sea turtle named Aurora to the wild. “This beautiful old sea turtle was in our care at the #AustraliaZooWildlifeHospital for a long time and she was finally allowed to go home. She was so big we had to do a beach release. She weighed over 160 kg (360 pounds)!” Irwin explained. And the huge turtle has a big part of Grace’s heart.
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CRICKEY! IT’S THE IRWINS, (aka THE IRWINS), from left: Terri Irwin, Bindi Irwin, Robert Irwin, (Season 1, premiered October 28, 2018. photo: ©Animal Planet / Courtesy: Everett Collection
“Grace had spent a lot of time feeding her in the rehabilitation pool at the Wildlife Hospital,” Irwin wrote. She was very happy to see Aurora go home and then got super emotional because she wanted to go into the ocean with her. She turned to us and said, ‘Is everyone sad?’” We’re crying now because her little heart is so big!
Irwin continued to reflect on Grace’s heart in the caption. “I am in awe of Grace’s enormous heart and her empathy for all animals,” she wrote. “It made me cry when I saw how much she loved that big old sea turtle. It was the first time Grace was really involved in the nature work we do.”
Aww, she’s getting big! And while she has always seen how cool animals are, she now sees the bittersweet reality of helping animals and sending them back home where they will be happy (even though she will miss them!). In the photos, Grace looks so tiny as she stands with her mother next to the enormous sea turtle, cuddling and laughing with the animal. At the end, Irwin holds Grace close as the little girl snuggles into her mother’s neck and stares at the ocean beyond.
“Awww my heart, I’m crying too 😢 what a beautiful example you set 💗 after seeing the first photo I immediately thought of your father 💙 oh how proud he would be of the legacy continuing 🐢💚 #gracewarriors” someone wrote, referring to Irwin’s father Steve Irwin. Someone else wrote: “The love and empathy you all have for wildlife is so amazing and beautiful 😍”
Last month the Tickle! It’s the Irwins star shared a video of the special moment with Grace, explaining that it was “a very emotional time” for everyone there. “You know, when you take care of an animal for so long and bring it back to full health… It’s exciting and special, but it’s also very difficult to let go and say goodbye after such a long time,” says them in the clip. Irwin adds, “And especially for Grace, her emotion when she said goodbye to Aurora was so great, and she’s only three. And it will make me cry. She became very emotional when she said goodbye to Aurora.
“She agrees that we released her back into the wild,” Irwin continues. “And she turned to all of us and said, ‘Are we all sad?’ And it’s true. We are all sad to say goodbye to such a beautiful large sea turtle, because we cannot protect her in the wild. But we all did our best to give her a second chance at life, and I am so proud of our team. And I’m so proud of Grace. Seeing her empathy, her emotion, her love and care for all animals is simply beautiful. And I am so happy that as her mother I could share this moment with her.”
Before you go, see all the ways Bindi Irwin’s daughter Grace is following in her mother’s footsteps.
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