If you can reach out and touch and love and be with wildlife, you

"If you can reach out and touch and love and be with wildlife, you will forever be changed, and you will want to make the world a better place." — thus spoke Terri Irwin, guardian of the wild and torchbearer of a sacred bond between humankind and nature. In these words lies a truth older than civilization itself — the ancient covenant between the human heart and the living earth. Terri, who shared her life and mission with the legendary Steve Irwin, speaks not merely of affection for animals, but of transformation. For to truly encounter wildlife — not from a distance, but in closeness, with love and reverence — is to awaken something primal and holy within us. It is to remember that we, too, are part of the wild.

To reach out and touch a creature of the earth is to touch a mystery. It humbles the heart and dissolves the illusion that man stands apart from nature. The ancients knew this well — that the divine could be found not only in temples or stars, but in the eyes of a beast, the movement of water, the breath of the wind. Terri’s words call us back to that sacred understanding. She reminds us that when we allow ourselves to love the natural world, we are no longer conquerors, but stewards; no longer consumers, but guardians. The wild becomes not something to tame, but something to cherish — and in that reverence, we ourselves are tamed, made gentle, made wise.

The origin of this quote springs from Terri’s life among creatures untamed — from crocodiles and kangaroos to the wounded and the endangered. Alongside her husband, she lived in daily intimacy with the wild, not as a scientist detached, but as a mother, a friend, a believer. She witnessed that every creature, no matter how fierce, responds to love when it is given freely. To her, wildlife was not an exhibit — it was a sacred family. And through this bond, she came to understand what many forget: that when one looks into the eyes of another living being — a creature of fur, feather, or scale — one sees reflected the pulse of the same life that beats within oneself. Love for wildlife thus becomes love for life itself.

Consider the story of Saint Francis of Assisi, who walked among birds and wolves, calling them brothers and sisters. It is said that he once tamed a wild wolf not by chain or weapon, but by kindness alone. The beast, once feared, became a protector of the village, proving that compassion is stronger than fear. In Francis, as in Terri, the boundary between human and animal vanished — replaced by the deeper truth that all living things are threads in the same divine tapestry. Both souls saw that when love flows between species, the soul of the world is healed.

To be with wildlife — truly be with it — is to learn a different rhythm of being. The eagle teaches freedom; the elephant teaches memory and family; the wolf teaches loyalty; the ant teaches purpose. Every creature carries a lesson, and those who live close to them become students of eternity. Terri’s message is a call to awaken that forgotten wisdom — to see that our survival and happiness are bound to the earth’s wellbeing. Those who have loved the wild cannot look upon a wounded forest or a polluted sea and feel nothing. Love awakens responsibility; it demands action. Thus, the one who has touched the wild cannot remain still — they are called to make the world a better place.

This change that Terri speaks of is not small or sentimental; it is revolutionary. It transforms apathy into empathy, and greed into gratitude. It changes the way one eats, consumes, builds, and lives. The man who once hunted for pleasure now protects; the child who once feared snakes now rescues them; the woman who once passed by the broken-winged bird now stops to cradle it. Such is the power of love — it does not remain feeling; it becomes action, it becomes change, it becomes the heartbeat of the planet itself.

So let this be the teaching: Reach out. Do not let the wild remain a stranger to you. Walk in the forest and listen; look into the eyes of the creatures you share this earth with, and recognize the kinship there. Teach your children to see the sacred in the smallest bug and the mightiest whale. Love the world not as a possession, but as a living family. For when you open your heart to the wild, you will be transformed — and in that transformation lies the healing of the earth.

Thus, remember the wisdom of Terri Irwin: love for wildlife is love for life. To touch the wild is to touch the eternal. To cherish it is to become part of something greater than yourself. And when that love takes root in your heart, you will find that you no longer ask what you can take from the world — but what you can give back to it. For in loving creation, we awaken the creator within us — and through that awakening, we make the world whole again.