BRISBANE TIMES (Australia) 25 September 09 Croc victim's gran shown the door over saltie protest (Christine Kellett)
Bob Irwin has expressed sympathy for an Ipswich grandmother booted out of a suburban shopping centre for objecting to a live crocodile display.
Lynda Bennett, whose 11-year-old granddaughter was eaten by a crocodile in March, said she "flipped" when the handler of a juvenile saltwater crocodile told a crowd of children at Booval Fair shopping centre in Ipswich the predators were "unlikely to harm humans if left alone", The Queensland Times has reported.
She was asked to leave by security guards but questions have since been raised about the safety and ethics of taking live crocodiles into shopping centres.
Ms Bennett's granddaughter Briony Goodsell was snatched by a saltwater crocodile while swimming in Black Jungle Swamp in Darwin on March 15.
Ms Bennett said she became angry and began to voice her objections to the Cool Companions school holiday display on Tuesday because she felt the handler was peddling misinformation about the danger of crocodiles to children.
"This guy was holding a three or four year old croc - it was about 1.5m to 2m long - with its mouth taped shut and basically telling these kids it was cute and cuddly," she told The Queensland Times.
"Crocodiles are top-order predators, killers, and they won't shy away. They will kill.
"I really feel like a twit for what happened, but when you are trying to get the message out that crocodiles are killers it was worth it."
Northern Territory crocodile campaigner and director of the Gulpulul Marauwu Aboriginal Corporation Michaela Johnston told the newspaper taking a two-metre crocodile into a shopping centre was dangerous because the animals were large and powerful enough to break a child's leg.
The shopping centre's management has defended the Cool Companions display, saying it had an educational purpose and was done under controlled conditions.
But Bob Irwin, father of the late Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin, said crocodiles suffered badly from stress and taking one into a shopping centre with its mouth taped shut was a bad idea.
"I'd have to see the conditions they were operating in, but there are two ways to look at it: is [the handler] doing a good job by getting the message out there and would there be any distress caused to the croc. I believe there would be," he told brisbanetimes.com.au
"They are just not used to being handled by people. The thing with shopping centres is there is always a lot of noise and a lot of children around. My primary concern would be for the welfare of the animal."
He said he sympathised with Ms Bennett and her own distress at the display.
"I can understand how she feels. What happened to this woman's granddaughter is horrible. It's a terrible way to go, to lose a family member in that way."
RSPCA spokesman Michael Beattie said the display was fine as long at the animal was being handled humanely.
"It would depend on the sort of enclosure it was being kept in and if it was being well treated and was not in any distress," he said.
"If it is being done to explain to the general public how crocodiles react and interact with the environment, we wouldn't have a problem with it."
Croc victim's gran shown the door over saltie protest