"What is this based on? Are we watching the same shows?"

Apparently not!!


"But many posters here do seem to buy into the idea that Steve Irwin's TV shows were educational in some way - can you?"

Absolutely!

"Human interaction makes wild animals dependendent on humans (or not wary enough) and places them at risk."

You are correct. The shows that I have seen had him feeding animals that were in captivity (due to a variety of issues) but I do not recall seeing him feeding animals in the wild. The shows I watched pointed out the danger in that.