Why 8-Year-Old Bindi Irwin Wanted to Deliver Her Father's Eulogy

In September 2006, Steve Irwin, the man known as the "Crocodile Hunter" to his legions of fans, was filming a new documentary when a shock to his heart by a stingray killed him instantly. He was just 44 years old.

His daughter, Bindi, was only 8 at the time. Somehow, Bindi recounts, she not only mustered up the courage to deliver a eulogy for her father in front of 5,000 fans and 300 million television viewers around the world--she asked to deliver the eulogy.

"At dad's memorial, before the event actually took place, I came to mom and said, 'I would like to do this for myself and for everyone else' and it was something where I personally wanted to say to the world, to anyone watching, to anyone who wanted to hear it that we would be carrying on," Bindi says.

Bindi says the optimism she evoked in that moment has helped the family honor her father to this day. "We dwell on the happiness in life and just try to remind ourselves of dad in every way possible, and I think that, in a way, you can still feel him here at the zoo."

Tune in Saturday, February 13, at 10/9c.