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The Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin is a Moron!

The actions in regards to what just occurred was careless endangerment of thier own child. If any qualified handler wants to go in to his animals padock that is his risk and responcibility.

The problem now comes in that he took an infant in with him causing some distraction to what he was doing. When dealing with dangerous animals your complete consentration is needed. Steve himself has had many close calls by himself and has been bitten on more than one occasion.

Had that croc made a unexpected lunge and Steve tripped and fell and dropped the infant then that croc would most likely had a free neo snack.

Yes many private parties keep large animals or dangerous ones! But how many would be so foolish to place thier own child at risk when it is unwarranted? I have always had a major problem with his free handling of venomous reptiles and now he places his own son's life in potential danger. He is a representitive to the world of the reptile community. His actions on Tv and Film many people could preceive to be how we all conduct ourselves. This is a danger to our rights to keep our animals.

Understandably someone will try and bring up Corwin, O'Shea , Marvin, and say look what they do! Ok I will look they use the proper tools for working with dangerous animals. Nor do they place other people in danger on camera in the publics eye. Steve would be a far better ambassador to the reptile community if he would simply start showing the proper respect for correct handling practices and safety equiptment.
 
Scott, You beat me to my point. Steve Irwin and these other show-offs make us all look like a bunch of idiots. Just you wait! You'll see! City, county, and federal politicians and their toadies are going to use Steve the Narc as a justification for going after us.
 
Where were his brains!!!????

By the way, she loved the "nakey", and now that she's almost 2, she goes from enclosure to enclosure saying goodnight every single evening that she's here.
Click to expand...

That's so sweet! That is the kind of healthy exposure a young child needs. Not to be bounced around in a croc. cage.

Missy, Steve killing himself was an allusion as to his career.
Click to expand...

thanks, somethings elude me...

I have to agree with Mustangrde1 about this whole thing too. It's a personal risk we all take, but we shouldn't be needlessly risking children at the same time.

I worry that someone out there saw what Steve did and then they will go off and try to copy it with their croc and their child. I', pretty sure that if any child was ever needlessly harmed because of exposure to known dangerous reptiles they would be prosecuted for negligence...

This link has the video too if you've not yet seen it.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3859536/

I thought Steve looked a little vain, flaunting his talents with crocs through his child. Stupid stupid stupid... he should have seen this backlash coming.
 
Do I see TV movie coming on?

Irwin’s American wife, Terri, had handed the baby over to Irwin in the enclosure and giggled at the spectacle.

“It was a wonderful sensory experience for him (the baby). He dug it,” she said.

In response to media criticism, Terri likened her children’s experience with crocodiles to teaching youngsters to swim.

that's from http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3859536/

Youch! Seems like a dum and dummer thing to me. I do understand teaching children to be "savvy" (sounds like a pirate to me) around reptiles, but he's 1 month old!!! He won't remember this.

I've done educational shows for children before which were much safer and had just as much impact, without the hoop-la.
 
It still in headline news every hour. In my opinion it's not "overeaction" by the public. Scott and Bruce summarized very well why reckless behaviors such as that one damage the image of herp keepers all around the world. From the video it is clear Mr. Irwin is being very careful while he dangles the food in front of the crocodile's mouth. I'm pretty sure you all have seen the speed with which these animals can charge. In MHO it was very irresponsible from him.

Regards.
 
I just got home from buying feed for my tortoises. Do you know what the subject of the right-wing radio talk show host on my car stereo was? You guessed it! It was Steve the Narc and the reptile idiots who are now being compared like freaks to Michael Jackson! Now I'm really starting to get pissed off! We are all going to pay dearly for this one!
 
I am just curious to what the responce from the permitting department in Australia is to this. Oh wait a minute how forgetful of me they vie for Steve and his potential monetary income to them.

I know in FL there would be a few officer more then happy to cite him. I suppose being one of Australias favorite sons does have its priveldge but at what expense.

All the good he has brought to herp awareness would have been gone in a blink of an eye had an accident occured. All anyone would rember him for is killing his child for showing off. We all know that it would have caused a knee jerk reaction everyplace with officials looking to institute tougher new laws.

By the way I cant remember anything from when I was one month old . I think my earliest memory was around 4 that i can still recall. So Steve and Terri's thoughts are so far off to cover thier buts and look good it is not funny
 
(A)greed...

According to one news report I read this morning there will be no charges files against good ol' Steve-O.So that would amount to about less than 24 hours of investigation.

This afternoon,my wife and I took the kids to the state park for a little fun and a picnic.The temps were in the 70's,and sunny,so I decided to have a look around the river bank and some rock piles to see what I could see.Along the way I met some tourists,who took notice of my snake hook and t-shirt with an atrox on it.The subject came to yesterday's incident,amd one of the guys said that "It don't sound like no big deal,Irwin knows what he's doing".

Now I can't contest logic like that..or can I???Yes Steve Irwin has done alot for reptile conservation,and carries alot of knowledge of herps.Hell.he has a specie of turtle named after him!! Yes he can be called a professional,but so can:

Dale Earnhardt
Roy Horn
Joseph Slowinski
100 firefighters annually(on average)

All professional,all know their stuff,all making one little mistake that cost them their lives,or nearly cost them.Luckily Irwin didn't make his mistake.This time
 
It's different when it's someone just risking their life. But he endangered (to whatever extent of danger it was) his little baby. I just see it through the eyes of someone who is so eager to have a baby, and who's family members tried for years to have a baby and then couldn't. What I see is someone taking their baby into a risk that they didn't need too.

I guess I just wonder how much they understand that the baby that they have is a gift/privledge/responsibility which they need to protect and care for as best as they possibly can.

I know what you all mean about blowing things out of proportion. But just think what we would be saying if that baby was harmed.

(I hope I don't sound fanatical or wierd, I say these words above in a calm voice so don't think I'm going all nutso)
 
"his risk with HIS child is trivial"

I do not recall who it was that wrote the above, but it may rank up there in the top ten dumb things I have ever read here.

Just because you are blessed with offspring, and those children are called "yours," they are not "yours" in the sense of being "your" property to do with as "you" see fit. That child was in danger in a way that was completely unneccessary.

For anyone to say he "dug it" is almost as stupid as the above cited quotation. A one month old child cannot easily focus his eyes on anything much beyond a few feet, and it certainly cannot move from one object to another quickly enough to have caught the movements of the croc or Irwin. Further, a one month old child's ability to hold its own head erect is limited, and if Irwin had needed to make a sideways jump away from the "controlled" croc ... irreperable damage to the boy's spinal cord could easily have taken place. Anyone ever heard of shaken baby syndrome?

Whatever. The fact is that the baby was in there as a publicity stunt and not for his own benefit. At least Michael Jackson was just a moron when he hung his son over a railing. Irwin is being a moron for profit!
 
Oversensitive

Ok, I'm going to show my age here (34) going on 85.

I was always taught that you did whatever it took to bring home the rent. Now, my father could probably be spending 15 - 30 years (half of a murder charge) for teaching me that you learn and work to make the money you make in the world

A person with experience in an arena will have no problem with what we (outside of the arena) have dealing with. A ton of people outside of the working arena would have a ton of problems with a kindergarten child sweeping floors and learning the basics of business.

One thing I will forever thank my father for is to teach me that fact that only through my own ability to out-work anyone hour-by-hour I can by-pass the fact that others where born with more money than me and I can over acheive. Today, this would have been abuse.

This kid has the ability to achieve more due to advanced knowledge that the rest of us serious lack. Good that we can decide what is best for them (him) from our sofas. (that was sarcasm )
 
I am asking any of the senior herpers out there if this is true:
I heard that Bill Haas closed The Miami Serpentarium after this happened:

Haas had the largest American Crocodile in captivity, a real monster, in a nice landscaped sunken enclosure surrounded by a six foot high fence. A father held up his toddler up and over the fence so the child could see better. The toddler slipped out of the father's hands directly into the huge crocodile's jaws and was eaten immediately in front of an audience.

I was told this by some friends, but could never verify the truthfulness of the story. Can any of you older hands comment on this?
 
Before I get into this thread, let me say I think that what Steve did may not have been the smartest thing he has done. I think it could have had some awful repercussions had something gone wrong. By the same token I have seen many adults teach their children to race various vehicles at very young ages. There was recently a special on Speed week about a 6 year old driving motocross motorcycles in competition. At that age a child could easily be killed in an accident. Just yesterday I watched a show where some parents had taught a child under 2 to water ski. I can think of many things that could have gone wrong causing the child to be seriously harmed or even killed. It seems as parents we get so caught up in the things we love and want to share them with our children, that sometimes we forget they are children. I have always wanted my kids to share my love of reptiles but it doesn't look like that is going to happen. I wonder if I had introduced them to rattlers at an early age if they would now love them like I do. I must say this about Steve, he has often times handled dangerous animals in a manner that I feel is not the way I would want to teach someone to do it, but he has been successful. I will say that he has brought more attention to our hobby (profession) than any other person since I can remember. Prior to Steve and his show reptiles in general and snakes in particular were always presented as evil man killing animals that hunt us so they can kill us. Most movies show snakes in a way that generates fear of them. I have been doing talks at schools for many years and remember when I would get a snake out and they were all cobras or rattle snakes to the kids. Now most kids know a carpet python or a redtail boa when I get it out. This they tell me comes form the Croc Hunter show. That is a good thing he has done. I have to say maybe the good outweighs the bad with him. I just hope he now sees that what he did was not a responsible thing and doesn't do that sort of stunt again. As herpers we don't need the bad PR.

These are just my thoughts and are not intended to upset anyone.

Thank you
 
Earlier today CNN broadcasted an interview to Irwin. He stated that if he would have to do it again he would probably do it differently. He also said something along the lines that children in that part of the world are exposed to that type of danger every now and then (??).
 
Alvaro

I think your last post about his comments were meaning that there are SEVERAL rivers where "salties" live and thrive and do attack , kill & mame many each year. I agree that maybe his actions were not 100% thought out and that yes something could have gone wrong ... but then again things go wrong everyday in the world...i think what he did was really no more irresponsible then any one that shows young school kids a 10+ fot snake and have them pet it or even line up to hold the big snake. I have done some shows to school age kids where i would have them come to the front to line up with a 18 ft burmese i had but i didnt let them near the head ... however i will say that that didnt mean alot considering that a snake that size could react and constrict a kid w/o having to bite it them .... so i think steve's response you noted was accurate in saying that kids are exposed at young ages there , so with that could it not be said that every parent that goes to the river for a " family day" and lets them swim to have fun could or should be subjected to the same scrutinty that he is ??? i mean just be cause that river doesnt have a sign that says NO SWIMMING SALT WATER CROS IN WATER....... i know for sure if i was in AU i dont think i would swim in the water there to many stories of people man & child being drug off into the rivers to be eaten ... same as parents here that allow there kids to go swimming at the beaches on our coasts ... the east coast alone has had MANY shark attacks in the last 3-4 yrs ... so should it be said that any parent that allows there kids to swim even in 2 foot of Ocean water is being irresponsible ? just beacuse you dont see a Cros sign in that river doesnt mean that one is not there waiting to take advantage of a free unsupecting meal .... or just because the shark that attacked that surfer was 5-10 miles from you that he isnt swimming on your beach today ... just beacuse that copperhead bit the kid across town doesnt mean his cousin isnt in your back yard today sunning .... just because that cute lil toy poodle wouldnt bite his own fleas he wont bite you or your kid .....Just because that drunk driver killed a family in South carolina doesnt mean one isnt crossing the line in your lane tonight ... the world is full of things that if someone wanted to could have a valid argument for any & everything humans do and make it all a bad situation...


So i think that if bad press will come its going to come for more then what steve did ... i mean how many stupid things do americans do each day? we can sit here and speculate the "WHAT IF" factor all day long and make some very good horror stories with it the fact is what if didnt happen.
any way these are all just my thoughts and rants for today

lol here is my best one ... what if my brother didnt come over to my house this weekend and try to swap around all the routers from his house to ours i would be able to use my computer right now to check emails and work on my website .... i sure wish he would get home to fix this mess ... i miss my computer :angry:
 
The hast croc incident

bruce,
I am 41 and rember the incident pretty clear I might be off a bit over the years but here it is to my version.

The father of the kid was holding him over the barrier so he could throw objects at the croc below.
The little wildman slipped into the crocs jaws and was paid back for his actions.
Bill was quick and jumped in and capped the croc with his pistol.
But it was too late croc chow.
They later close up and moved to the desert them came on back to florida.
Now punta gorda is his home.
 
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