QUEENSLAND TIMES (Ipswich, Australia) 26 September 09 Irwin joins objection to live crocs at shops (Andrew Korner)

Crocodile crusader Lynda Bennett has been backed by Bob Irwin in her opposition to a live reptile display at a Booval shopping centre.

Ms Bennett was ejected from Booval Fair on Tuesday, after voicing her objections to a croc handler who, while nursing a muzzled specimen of about 1.5m, told an audience of shoppers and children that saltwater crocodiles were shy and would avoid contact with humans.

The comment angered Ms Bennett, who lost her granddaughter to a crocodile attack near Darwin in March this year.

She claimed the shopping centre's Cool Companions school holiday exhibit was cruel on the animal and that the handler was feeding children misinformation about the prehistoric reptiles.

Mr Irwin, father of the late Australia Zoo founder Steve Irwin, said he had “some reservations” about the well-being of the crocodile involved.

“Crocodiles suffer from stress and shopping centres are noisy places with lots of people, and I think the noise alone would be unsettling to a croc that size,” Mr Irwin said.

“You've got to try to look at it from the handler's point of view as well; that they are trying to educate the public.”

Cool Companions founder and owner Tania Carter said the croc involved, “Snappy Tom”, was an eight-year-old salty who had been conditioned to deal with being handled in front of crowds of curious children and parents.

Ms Carter said the message she always sent out to children was that it was not okay to touch crocodiles in the wild.

Snappy Tom is one of 10 crocs exhibited by Cool Companions - a 15-year-old organisation which travels to shopping centres and schools across Queensland and NSW.

Ms Carter said she felt empathy for Ms Bennett, but that she felt Snappy Tom had an important role to play in the education of children.

Since losing grand-daughter Briony Goodsell to a crocodile attack in March, Ms Bennett and her family have devoted much of their time to raising public awareness of the risks crocodiles pose to humans.

Briony's mother, Charlene O'Sullivan, who still lives near Darwin, said she was equally appalled by the shopping centre crocodile exhibit.

“Crocs are not shy, they will stalk and they will kill and that's what we are trying to educate people about,” she said.
Irwin joins objection to live crocs at shops

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