Brisbane, Mar 1 : The alleged family feud between naturalist Terry
Irwin and father-in-law Bob Irwin at Australia Zoo, has taken a new
twist, with Bob claiming that the zoo management did not release his
full statement about a rift that he asked them to make public.

It has reportedly been said that Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin’s widow
Terri had been entangled in a major fall-out with the family patriarch
and Bob had been banned from the zoo.

The situation turned grim after Bob questioned about the whereabouts of
his press release. He said that the three-sentence statement released
by the zoo's marketing manager, Frank Muscillo, for explaining the
alleged rift was not his.

"I wrote 1½ pages and spent a lot of time on it. I made it clear there
were to be no alterations to it. I wanted to say it how it was,” The
Courier-Mail quoted Bob, as saying.

The statement from the zoo read: "Bob is a gentleman of retirement age
and we fully support and love him dearly. He has been through so much
grief with the loss of his first wife Lyn and only son. These rumours
need to end in respect to (sic) the Irwin family."

However, Bob completely denied that the statement belonged to him,
saying: "No, that's not my statement," adding tongue-in-cheek "everyone
knows I'm not a gentleman. I didn't know anything about it (the other
statement), but that's par for the course."

He said that that the original statement he wanted released had "sort
of put the matter to rest, but not (exactly) puts it to bed" and now he
doesn’t want to reveal the contents of the original release. In fact,
Bob could not even get anyone at the zoo to reply to his messages.

"I'd like to get it sorted. I rang him (Muscillo) this morning and left
a message and got no reply, which is a surprise in itself. If Frank
gives me the okay I'll give it to you (The Courier-Mail. If there's one
thing I am it's honest. I don't tell lies like others do around the
place,” he said.

Though, rumours of a family-feud have been circulating since January,
the issue became serious after New Idea Magazine came up with details
without naming a source.

But an angry zoo employee has now revealed that the Irwin family feud
had happened after an argument regarding the treatment of zoo staff and
also involved the management of Wildlife Warriors and animal welfare
issues. (ANI)