VEGAS VISIT BY FAMILY OF ‘CROCODILE HUNTER’ TRIGGERS ZOO SPECULATION

A Las Vegas visit by the family of Australia’s TV crocodile hunter Steve Irwin raised questions Thursday about whether they were following through on his plans to open a zoo here. Irwin’s widow Terri and their children Bindi and Robert were guests of The Mirage on Thursday during the family’s tour of Siegfried & Roy’s Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat.

Before he was killed while filming a stingray in September 2006, Steve Irwin, who became an international TV personality for his show "The Crocodile Hunter," had plans to open a Las Vegas offshoot of the Australia Zoo founded by his parents near Brisbane, according to published reports.

Terri Irwin told an Australian newspaper three years ago that hundreds of Australians would be among 900 people employed at the wildlife showcase in Las Vegas.

Asked if the family was in town for talks about the zoo, a public relations rep for MGM Resorts International said she was not aware of that. She indicated the Irwins were vacationing in Las Vegas.

--NORM CLARKE, Vegas Confidential