PETA is facing negative backlash (again), this time for calling out Google and Steve Irwin on Friday.

The Google homepage featured an illustration of Irwin, the late Australian zookeeper and conservationist, holding a crocodile on what would have been his 57th birthday. It was an image that PETA referred to as "dangerous" and "fawning."

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SEE ALSO:Steve Irwin gets his own Google Doodle to commemorate his birthday

PETA quote tweeted Google about 12 hours after the graphic went up, which still fell squarely on Irwin's birthday (he died after being stung by a ray in 2006).

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Most replies were quick to put PETA in its place and enumerate Irwin and his family's many efforts to protect and conserve wildlife over the years. Wildlife conservationist Anneka Svenska told BBC Radio 1 that his work "has inspired the next generation of conservationists." The same BBC article details opposing interpretations of Irwin's career over the years.

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