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He has put a lot of money into acquiring heaps of land to use as wildlife reserves but he has retained ownership of the land


It's probably not that simple. The wildlife reserve land is likely under a special low- or no-tax status, and converting it to any other use might be very difficult and expensive (think a decade of tax claw-back all at once).

The zoo/wildlife park knows how to operate and put on shows without him from all the time he's spent filming so the park ought to be OK, perhaps with some adjustments if he's been subsidizing operations with the TV income.

Discovery has the harder problem. You can find people who can be entertaining in wildlife shows - Nigel Marven is a poor man's version - and you can find fearless idiots willing to go hand-to-fang with the animals. Finding someone who can survive to try a second time, and is entertaining, is another matter altogether.

It's worth noting that he had been capturing crocs and snakes by hand for 20 years at the time they first filmed him. Finding someone who is experienced enough to pull it off, and willing to try, and able to entertain kids and their parents while doing so ... Discovery probably can't replace him.
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"If they can't picture me with a knife, forcing them to strip in an alley, I don't want any part of it. It's humiliating." - windsock