Theresa Penelope "Terri" Irwin AM (née Raines; born July 20, 1964) is an American-Australian naturalist and author, and the owner of Australia Zoo in Beerwah, Queensland. She is the widow of naturalist and television personality Steve Irwin. Terri Irwin co-starred with her husband on The Crocodile Hunter, their unconventional television nature documentary series and its spin-off series, Croc Files and The Crocodile Hunter Diaries. She has lived in Australia since 1992, when she married Irwin.
Theresa Penelope Raines was born in Eugene, Oregon, the youngest of three daughters of Clarence and Judy Raines. Her family was in the trucking business. During her childhood, her father constantly brought home injured animals from the highways on which his trucks travelled; this eventually instilled in her an ongoing commitment to saving and rehabilitating wild animals. While working in the family business in 1986, she started a rehabilitation facility called "Cougar Country" to re-educate and release predator mammals such as foxes, raccoons, bears, bobcats, and cougars back into the wild. Soon she was handling 300 animals each year.