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I miss Steve Irwin....

MikeCurtin

MikeCurtin

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I just got done flipping channels, and had a hard time watching Animal Planet tonight. Shows like "Weird, true, and freaky", "Untamed and uncut", and "Headline attacks" must have Steve Irwin turning in his grave.

A man puts his head in a 10' gator's mouth, and when he get's bitten, it's called an attack. The grizzly man spends countless summers invading the space of grizzlies, and when he and his girlfriend get killed, they explain very littl about the role his carelessness played. An Aussie croc re-locator moves a rather large croc, while the commentator refers to it as a "dangerous beast". I've seen many of these same clips on "Spike TV".

While these programs made the attempt to inform and explain the role human encroachment and harassment played in each "attack", and the nature of each animal in question, they lack the class and dedication to the cause of conservation which personified Steve Irwin. It has seemed to me lately, that AP has begun to place sensationalism over the values and beliefs of the man who helped to build it.

I just felt I needed to share tonight. Thanks for reading. Rest in peace, Steve Irwin...you are an inspiration and will be missed.:unhappy:
 
I disagree with your retrospective view of Steve Irwin.

While he was alive I found his antics, violations of various laws, handling techniques, misinformation, sensationalism and ratings driven garbage to be the antithesis of what I would expect out of an intelligent spokesperson for wildlife and conservation issues.

If anything, sensationalism and over the top whacky ratings driven garbage is the epitome of what Irwin stood for and Animal Planet is just continuing to uphold his legacy. In fact, until they show someone else stickingtheir thumb inside a penguin or killing a sea snake by jamming it's skull into a pane of glass, I'd say they have toned things down from the standards he set.
 
Seamus Haley said:
I disagree with your retrospective view of Steve Irwin.

While he was alive I found his antics, violations of various laws, handling techniques, misinformation, sensationalism and ratings driven garbage to be the antithesis of what I would expect out of an intelligent spokesperson for wildlife and conservation issues.

If anything, sensationalism and over the top whacky ratings driven garbage is the epitome of what Irwin stood for and Animal Planet is just continuing to uphold his legacy. In fact, until they show someone else stickingtheir thumb inside a penguin or killing a sea snake by jamming it's skull into a pane of glass, I'd say they have toned things down from the standards he set.
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While I respect your opinion, I still feel that he did alot for the reptile community insofar as education. His handling techniques weren't always the best (where the animal is concerned), but at the same time, he always made it very clear that any "aggression" shown by the animals was an attempt for that animal to protect itself. Never saw him kill that see snake, though.

I feel that his shomanship (which was done for ratings and viewers), was a means to an end. When all was said and done, his message was one of respect and conservation. If it took some antics to get that message out there, so be it. The recent shows I've seen have continued his legacy of showmanship (and yes, sensationalism at times), but have lost the message that went with it.
 
I.. both liked and disliked him. (well not HIM. I never met the guy)

although yes, I loved that he was trying to educate people, in a fun way, etc.

the stress he put oh most of those animals was rediculous. I guess I always worried how many of those animals were so stressed they would stop eating etc. Not sure if that would happen.. but I always wondered..

*shrugs*
 
I don't think you'd find that in wild animals due to the fact that once the stressor is no longer present, the animal generally goes back to normal. Anorexia in captive animals is, in many cases, due to constant stress.
 
You should have spoken with him just once. He had more passion for reptiles than anyone I've ever talked to. His handling seemed to be less stressful to me than most programs. Catching a snake by tailing is better in my opinion than squashing it in a set of tongs until you can see the crease. Or by pinning it and holding it behind the head tight enough to deform it's face.
His zoo has several successful breeding programs of endangered reptiles. He bought a huge tracks of land for conservation, and hand planted eucalyptis trees to reforest the area so it would be returned to how it was supposed to be.
His show was theatric, but it got people to watch, and his personality was over the top, because that was his passion.
I never heard of the sea snake incident either. Must have missed that in the many hours of watching the several different programs he did.
 
I truly wish i could have met him. I grew up watching him, and every time i see him on TV, or hear about him somewhere, it makes me sad. I dont think i ever felt quite as bad about a person i never actually knew.... someone that i saw only on TV. He is greatly missed by me.
 
His approach was not of my liking initially, but that was until I understood what he was trying to accomplish, and in all honesty I think he did (and big time!). The proof is that we are still talking about him. You could agree or disagree with him, you just couldn't ignore him.

Best
 
I absolutely loved him. Could he have left all of those animals alone, instead of stressing them out to put them on TV? Absolutely...and the public would be just as ignorant about them as they were before he was around.

This man's infectious enthusiasm and LOVE for the animals he worked with led countless other people around the globe to fall in love with scaley, slithery, deadly animals--animals that people only wanted to run over with a car or shoot in the head, prior to that. He shouted his respect for the natural behavior of predatory reptiles like crocodiles, even as they tried to eat him. Yes, he took risks, and the animals got upset--that was what made ordinary people WATCH. And keep watching...first to see him get killed, and then out of increasing interest, until they too loved crocodiles.

Who else has ever done a thing like that?
You can argue with his methods until the cows come home, but you can't argue with the fact that he led millions of people to love reptiles. He never told anyone to do what he did--he told them not to, and he always released those wild-found animals gently back where they had come from, to continue living out their lives.

Sensationalistic? Highly--he often put himself in harm's way, took unnecessary risks, and made things look more dangerous than they were--and people watched.
And they listened as he talked about conservation.

That's a far cry from watching some twit stick his head in a gator's mouth, and get bitten (I laughed really hard at that).
 
The sea snake incident aired, as far as I know, only once and was then pulled from the rerun rotation by the network. Sea snakes tend to be able to open their mouth to a wider angle than many other species and can envenomate with the jaw wide open and the fangs forward against broader surfaces as a result. Irwin held one behind the head, coaxed the mouth open and then pressed the snake against a piece of glass (maybe plexiglass) and pushed forward until the jaw was open 180 degrees against this flat unyeilding surface. The blood was a pretty good indicator that he broke it as a result.

Kingetula said:
Steve was the spark who started it all. Many have followed but none will be Steve Irwin!
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Fowler? Perkins? Attenborough?
 
Fowler and Perkins were okay, if the critter had fur. They were more of the "Look at the evil snake waiting for the innocent bunny" type, but you did get to see some animals.
Attenborough is dry dry dry. Magnificent camerawork, with a boring onscreen presence. There's a reason most have never heard of him. I'm sure he likes the animals.. but his shows are not that exciting to watch, so people don't watch, so people aren't exposed to the animals.

And I'd like to point out.. you saw once a sea snake on screen, saw a bit of blood.. so you say the snake died? That's a reach. With the media frenzy out there spearheaded by PETA, I'm pretty sure if there was proof it would be out there. Practically everything Irwin did was on film, should be easy to find.
 
Wolfy-hound said:
Attenborough is dry dry dry. Magnificent camerawork, with a boring onscreen presence. There's a reason most have never heard of him. I'm sure he likes the animals.. but his shows are not that exciting to watch, so people don't watch, so people aren't exposed to the animals.
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That's... pretty much the exact opposite of my opinion of him and his work. He's rocking the accent and the soft spoken tones which I suppose would be considered "boring" relative to Irwin shouting over-the-top moronic australian catch phrases for an international audience- but the volume, quality and scope of the information he'd present was staggering. I'd much rather have Attenborough spend five minutes detailing the environmental pressures that led to the development of a physical or behavioral trait than a jerk in shorts screaming and making completely inaccurate superlative claims.

And I'd like to point out.. you saw once a sea snake on screen, saw a bit of blood.. so you say the snake died? That's a reach. With the media frenzy out there spearheaded by PETA, I'm pretty sure if there was proof it would be out there. Practically everything Irwin did was on film, should be easy to find.
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I said "the blood was a pretty good indicator that he broke it as a result" I did not say "there was a bit of blood" or "there was a drop of blood" or anything else indicating the volume. There was more talk about it when it aired among herpers, some probably exists in the archives of various forum based websites. Without seeing it for yourself I suppose you can either trust in my experience and judgement in saying that the snake died as a result of the injuries is sustained diretly from the poor handling practices Irwin regularly displayed... or question my judgement and regard it as an unknown... or reject my judgement and believe the animal was in perfect health.

PETA was hardly the only segment of the population that objected to Irwin. I never liked his misinformation, his approach towards handling or the inaccuracies that arose from the superlative emphasis he (or the editing team or production manager or...) put on everything he did. I didn't like him violating a pile of laws by touching penguins. I didn't like the few reports that surfaced from australians who worked at the park he owned, although acknowledged that ex-employess aren't always the most straight shooting folks. I didn't like the kid dangling video... I had no respect for the man as a herpetologist, zoologist or naturalist while he was alive and that didn't miraculously change when he died as a direct result of the same asshattery I didn't respect while he was alive.
 
Mooing Tricycle said:
I truly wish i could have met him. I grew up watching him, and every time i see him on TV, or hear about him somewhere, it makes me sad. I dont think i ever felt quite as bad about a person i never actually knew.... someone that i saw only on TV. He is greatly missed by me.
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I'm with you Alicia, although I am too old to have grown up with him. My first real exposure to herps was through him and his programs. I am not going to argue the validity of Seamus' points because I am no where near educated enough on the wide variety of herp care to comment but I can say that I personally admired him and his excitment for the animals he was passionate about.
I still remember the day and time I heard of his passing and it will be with me forever.
 
Seamus Haley said:
Fowler? Perkins? Attenborough?
Click to expand...
lol - Wild Kingdom, fond memories...but so many variations of the same theme

"...and Jim is going to attempt to castrate the water buffalo with his Swiss Army knife" Camera goes to Jim - clad in safari shorts & hat - who trots bravely into battle. The skirmish ensues, Jim's hat comes off, there are clouds of dirt & grunting sounds....then the camera pans to Marlin - sitting calmly in the jeep, enjoying a ham sandwich. Back to Jim, walking (limping?) sullenly back to the jeep - his shirt untucked, clothes dirty, definitely looking the worse for his experience.
"That one got away...but there's always next time on Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom"
 
Wolfy-hound said:
Attenborough is dry dry dry. Magnificent camerawork, with a boring onscreen presence. There's a reason most have never heard of him. I'm sure he likes the animals.. but his shows are not that exciting to watch, so people don't watch, so people aren't exposed to the animals.
Click to expand...


David Attenborough was my introduction to all sorts of Wildlife that I could only dream existed. I grew up watching his nature programs. While some people think of him as dry and boring, I thought his voice was hypnotizing, he is passionate about the animals he films. Though his passion is softly spoken and not screaming and in your face like Irwin.

I watched Steve Irwin shows and was sad to hear he died but I have to admit, his death wasn't a surprise. In my opinion, he manhandled the animals and stepped over the line once too often.
 
Maybe his death wouldn't have been a surprise if he'd been eaten by a crocodile or tagged by a venomous snake...but come on...a stingray barb to the heart? How on earth is that not a surprise? He wasn't even messing with that animal, just swimming over it--though plenty of people do play with stingrays, and getting barbed at all is pretty rare.

It wasn't stepping over the line that killed him.
 
Don't get me wrong. *I* enjoy the Attenborough programs, but most don't because he's just dry. He tends to find neat things I haven't seen before, as opposed to yet another bufo, or yet another saltwater croc, or nile croc. But as someone to get the common person to love reptiles, he doesn't have a good draw. The camerawork on his programs is 'hands down' some of the best.
 
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