Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Sheesh...

I didn't know which forum to post my disgust on, but since the majority of us seem to be in agreement that Steve Irwin's antics are ridiculous, today's "newsflash" takes the cake, with me! If you're on AOL, you may have seen the clip of Steve taking his "one month old" son to feed a croc, and THEN holds the kid down beside the croc (as it's walking away.) This is done DELIBERATELY! Michael Jackson was not doing anything on purpose, just not as carefully as he might have. I have now lost any shred of respect I might have had for Irwin. His wife needs her head examined too, but being married to a millionaire probably makes some of this nonsense worthwhile!

Saw the clip. I'm sure Steve and his wife were certain that all was under control....But that is not the point. It is one thing to put yourself in harms way, quite another to put an infant in danger.
If he had found it necessary to jump back suddenly, or had sliped, he could easily have caused trauma to the infant the same as shaking would have caused.
Plus, it contributes to his image of reckless behavior. Not a smart move.......He is being investigated for possible child abuse by Australian authorities.
Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

I rember watching one of the Croc hunter programmes and they were dealing with Venomous Snakes. He had his heavily pregant wife sitting right close to them if the snake had striked i dread to think what would have happened crazy. I prefer Mark o'shea to steve irwin anyway he is more entertaining imo.

He HAS to relaize he's a role model (as scary as that sounds)
people can and DO imitate him. He's the most reckless individual I've ever seen in the public eye.

...and he say's "don't try this at home"

Great...but he's not superman, so if he can do it I can do it right ???

He's off his freaking rocker.
I think he's starting to believe he's invincible.
He's going to get a relality check. It's just a matter of time.

Your right he's not superman. He did somthing he thought was ok
but every one else dosnt. Everyone makes mistakes.

He's my role model and I will always respect him

Trevor Mcgill

I used to stick up for him a lot.

I've contested that he had turned a lot of people on to herps. I share the enthusiasm he has as well. The "spin off" shows from his success (Crowin, Nigel, O'Shey) have also done a lot to get people interested in reptiles.

but...he's utterly reckless. I'm talking about things like "free handling" rattle snakes, putting your face INCHES (intentionally) from a brown snake while crawling under a house in Austrailia...and all the other crazy things
I've seen him done.

I understand he's trying to create excitement...but he breaks every rule of safe handling of hot snakes in the process.

I have always taught that only time you put your hands on a hot snake is when you NEED to. (ie milking, sexing, medical reasons, etc). He picks them up and free handles them for "enjoyment" and showman ship. To me, that shows a complete disregard for safety. That's his choice if he wants to do that on his
own time,but I HATE that he does it on TV.

We are ultimately responsible for our own actions, and I
don't think that violence on TV typically leads to real life violence. (I'm not for censorship)

But in this case, he presents himslef as an expert. So...people are going to think this is how the experts do it.

I have a big problem with that.
He's in a huge position of responsibility the way I see it.

Agreed 100%.

Very well said Dean.

Frank
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"The luxury of not getting involved departed with the last lifeboat Skipper..."

http://www.bobclark.com/bcforums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=19209&FORUM_ID=1&CAT_ID=1&Topic_Title=Steve Irwin : Jackass&Forum_Title=Bob Clark Main

This was discussed on Bob Clark's forum.