Bindi Irwin to star in wildlife series

Bindi Irwin, daughter of Australian environmentalist and television personality Steve Irwin reads out her speech for her father at a memorial service for her father at Australia Zoo in Beerwah, Australia, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2006. (AP Photo/Steve Holland, POOL, FILE)

NEW YORK - Like father, like daughter. Bindi Irwin, the 8-year-old daughter of the late "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin, will star in a wildlife series to air on the Discovery Kids network early next year. The show's working title: "Bindi, The Jungle Girl."

Her father, animal lover and conservationist Steve Irwin, died from the poisonous jab of a stingray Sept. 4. Besides Bindi, he left behind her mother, Terri, and 2-year-old brother, Bob.

The show, now in the early stages of production, was originally "going to be a father-daughter thing," starring the nature-loving duo, Discovery publicist Annie Howell told the Associated Press on Monday. "Steve and Bindi were very enthusiastic about doing the show together."

Irwin will appear with Bindi in scenes filmed before his death, his manager, John Stainton, said in an interview on People magazine's Web site.

"Some people think that I would be afraid of them, but I'm never ever afraid of an animal," Bindi said in an interview Monday on ABC's "Australian Story."

"I just get excited and some that are dangerous I just think, `Oooh! What's going to happen?' and things like that."