Crikey! Steve Irwin portrait spears critic Greer

CANBERRA, Feb 16 (Reuters Life!) - Crikey! Australian "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin has had the last laugh over the woman who savaged his conservation record following his death last year from a sting-ray barb.
Australia's National Portrait Gallery in Canberra has hung a portrait of Irwin in place of a photo of outspoken feminist Germaine Greer, who said the animal world had "finally taken its revenge" on the khaki-clad naturalist for tormenting animals.
Gallery spokesman David Edghill said there was nothing political behind the change of face.
"It does look fabulously ironic, but there was no agenda behind it," he said.
Greer provoked anger from Irwin fans when she wrote an article critical of the Australian naturalist after his death, accusing him of tormenting animals and teaching children "to shout in the ears of animals with hearing 10 times more acute than theirs".
The photo of a relaxed Irwin, dressed in an open-neck green shirt and standing with his arm around the trunk of an elephant, was taken by Australian photographer Robin Sellick in 2005 and donated to the gallery after Irwin's death last September.
Greer's 1988 portrait showed the feminist author and academic dressed formally in a dark top. The portrait is one of two the gallery has of Greer, with another nude picture already in storage.
Edghill said portraits of both Greer and Irwin would eventually hang when the gallery moved to larger premises late next year.