Bindi Irwin’s Daughter Grace Had an ‘Emotional’ Reaction To Letting a Rehabilitated Animal Go Home: ‘Are We All Sad?’

If you really love someone, you have to let them go — a concept even adults struggle to grasp sometimes. Bindi Irwin’s 3-year-old daughter Grace Warrior experienced this lesson in real-time when she helped send a rehabilitated animal home, and her emotional reaction reveals her tender heart already has a huge capacity for love.

The Australia Zoo CEO shared a video of the experience on YouTube, where her daughter helped the zoo crew return Aurora back to the wild. “Today is an amazing day. We are releasing one of the biggest sea turtles we have ever gotten to the Wildlife Hospital,” Irwin says in the video. Several volunteers help Aurora out of the back of a truck as Irwin crouches down to watch with Grace.

“It’s really special because Grace is coming along for this really beautiful release,” Grace continued. “Grace actually has spent a lot of time with Aurora, feeding her squid, spending time with her, watching her swimming around in her rehabilitation pool at our Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital. So this is a really meaningful, full-circle moment for Grace as well getting to watch Aurora head home again after a long, long time in our care.”

Grace spends some time talking to her mom and petting Aurora’s shell, then leans over to give the giant animal a kiss. Later, Grace points to the water and asks the turtle, “Do you want to go there?”

Irwin encourages Grace to show Aurora “where to go,” so the toddler points with both hands and moves her whole body saying, “this way!” to help the turtle out. “This way, this way, this way!” she continues, just full of joy and enthusiasm.

“Now she knows!” Irwin’s brother Robert Irwin says, as their mom Terri Irwin laughs. She’s such a cutie. Grace helps the crew push Aurora into the water. “Once she was in the water, she could feel that beautiful cool salt on her, she was like, ‘Let’s go!’” Irwin says, adding that the turtle “immediately started to perk up and get so excited” when she got in the water. Aww!

It was a little bittersweet for Grace, though. Irwin encourages Grace to wave bye to Aurora, which she does, then asks her mom, “Can I go with her?” Our hearts are officially broken!

“I know, I want to go with her too,” Irwin comforts her little girl, picking her up while standing knee-deep in the water. Grace leans into her mom’s neck, so sad about the turtle leaving. “It’s OK, this is a good thing,” Irwin reassures her.

“It’s also a really emotional time for all of us,” Irwin explains later in a voice-over. “You know, when you take care of an animal for such a long time, rehabilitating it back to full health … It’s exciting and special, but it’s also really hard to let go and say goodbye after so long.”

“And for Grace especially,” Irwin adds, “her emotion as she said goodbye to Aurora was so big, and she’s only three. And it’s going to make me cry,” Irwin says with tears in her eyes. “She got really emotional saying goodbye to Aurora.”

The good thing is, this will teach her a valuable life lesson. “She is coming to terms with the fact that we let her go back to the wild,” Irwin continues. “And she turned to all of us and said, ‘Are we all sad?’ And it is true. We all are sad saying goodbye to such a beautiful big sea turtle, not being able to protect her out in the wild. But we have all done the best that we can to give her a second chance at life, and I am so proud of our team. And I am so proud of Grace.”

“Seeing her empathy, her emotion, her love and care for all animals is just beyond beautiful,” Irwin says. “And I’m so glad that as her Mum, I got to share this moment with her.” We are crying full tears now because this is so sweet!

Fans wear feeling misty-eyed too. “I am so happy for Aurora and for Grace as well!!! Definitely big emotions for a 3 year old!! You would swear she was older given the way she speaks,” one person wrote. Someone else commented, “Oh im so tearied eyed thank you for keeping this legacy going and teaching Grace all about wildlife she is gonna make the biggest impact in the animal world when shes older shes already doing so much now!”

Earlier this month, Grace went with her uncle Robert and her dad Chandler Powell to feed Aurora and other sea turtles at the Wildlife Hospital, which was shared on YouTube. She grabbed squid with her bare hands to drop in the tubs for the turtles to eat, clearly fearless!

At one point, Powell asks his daughter, “Are you an expert turtle keeper?” And she has the best response: “I’m an expert. I’m an animal expert!” She added, “I’m a human that takes care of animals.”

In an interview with SheKnows in May, Irwin revealed that while they encourage Grace “to do whatever she wants in life,” the toddler seem set on wildlife. “Her thing is just animals,” Bindi told us. “She likes to become an expert on animals. So her new thing is facts. So, she’ll say something like, ‘Koalas eat eucalyptus. That’s a fact,’” Irwin continued, showing how Grace does a finger motion to emphasize her point. “And it’s so cute, ‘cause it’s like, you know what? You can’t teach that. That is just who she is.”

“She is definitely the ruler of our universe,” Irwin added. “She is so wonderful because she’s such a kind and beautiful soul, while also having so much strength within her. She runs the zoo.”

Before you go, check out all the ways Bindi Irwin’s daughter Grace is following in her mama’s footsteps.