Croc Crap!

[Catch22]

What is brown with little pink woollen boots?

A croc turd at Steve Erwins zoo.

[fenderchick]

LOL, so true! Poor kid!

[PantyFanatic]

LOL:) Didn't take long to get these going, LMAO

[Catch22]

lol You like that huh?

That guy is very popular in the US yes?

[fenderchick]

yes, his shows play daily here

[Catch22]

Wow. His zoo is getting bigger all the time. I have also noticed everyone out here with a zoo of some sort has crocs now. Like the way every had koala bears!

[Sharni]

:rolleyes:

I'm sick to death of hearing about the bloody idiot!!

[Grumble]

Me too totally sick of him

he is a caricature and no matter what his crocodile savvy an enclosure is no place for a month old infant

That is plain stupid

[Catch22]

That start to think they are what their PR says they are. A guy was taken by a croc up in NT only last week. Can not mess with things that kill. Even if you do think your expert.

[BIBI]

All I can think of when I see him is an immature, egotistical buffoon..........and a complete jackass for putting his month old child in such a situation!

[celticangel]

my daughter loves Steve's programmes~~~~~~~~~but using the wean as a "prop" just proves that muppets are alive and well!

[OzKristin]

lol it seems all aussies despise that man (just from my own accounts while i was down under)

[Catch22]

Originally posted by OzKristin
lol it seems all aussies despise that man (just from my own accounts while i was down under)


Paul Hogan is the same Kristin. We tend not to like the ocker sorts.

[Bardog]

I'm in the dark, What's happened?

[Catch22]

Originally posted by Bardog
I'm in the dark, What's happened?


21:25 AEDT Mon 5 Jan 2004


Croc hunter says he'd do it again


Crocodile hunter Steve Irwin said he would take his one-month-old son Bob back into the croc pen despite receiving worldwide criticism for the baby's first encounter with the reptile.

Last Friday, Irwin fed a four-metre crocodile with one hand while clutching his baby son in the other during a show at his Australia Zoo reptile park on the Sunshine Coast.

The demonstration has sparked an angry backlash from around Australia and overseas, with child welfare groups and parents concerned he had recklessly endangered his own child.

Irwin told Channel Nine he would take Bob back into the crocodile pen, but wouldn't do it publicly.

"What I would do differently is I would make sure there were no cameras around..," he said.

"I will continue to educate my children and the children of the world so they don't go into the water with crocs."

He said his own father took him into the crocodile pen when he was also a baby and it was important to educate his children about their surroundings.

"We live in the middle of Australia Zoo," he said.

"When I was a very small boy my dad did the same for me.

"In fact when I was nine-years-old he let me jump, restrained and capture my first crocodile."

Irwin said he had a tape from the Australia Zoo camera that would show the act was not as dangerous as the public believed.

" ... which will give you another angle so all that ugly stacked-up vision of me looking like I endangered my child will be put to bed very quickly," he said.

Meanwhile, Irwin's hopes of becoming Australian of the Year have taken a dive because of the controversy.

National Australia Day Council director Marjorie Turbayne said from her home in Canberra the council had yet to make a decision on who would take out the honour but she had deep personal misgivings about the way Irwin had acted.

"From my own personal point of view, and nothing to do with Australian of the Year, it's not something that should be encouraged," she said.

"He's a very nice young man and I'm sure very caring about his family but it's a bit strange."

The Queensland government stood by its decision to nominate Irwin as Australian of the Year.

"We still support his nomination but it is up to the Australia Day Council now to determine who is the Australian of the Year," a spokesman for Acting Premier Terry Mackenroth said.

Betting agency Centrebet put Irwin at 4-1 to win Australian of the Year, placing him second behind retiring Australian cricket captain Steve Waugh at 1-4.

Queensland's Tourism Minister Merri Rose and Ross Elliott, CEO of Brisbane Marketing, said the incident was unlikely to affect the image of Australia Zoo or Queensland as a tourism destination.

"He's very experienced at what he does, he's been great for the tourism industry in Queensland but it's certainly something that I wouldn't do," Ms Rose said.

"He is an icon in Queensland. You can't walk away from that and he's certainly done a lot for the tourism industry."

Mr Elliott said the incident was unlikely to hurt a new advertising campaign launched aimed at attracting more tourists to south-eastern Queensland, including Australia Zoo.

Meanwhile, the American website used to promote Irwin's television shows in the US has become a battleground for the crocodile hunter's critics and supporters.

Some croc hunter fans have sent messages of support for Irwin on the special message board set up on the Animal Planet website to discuss Irwin's controversial crocodile feeding stunt.

Others vented their anger, vowing never to watch Irwin's shows again.

[Ryan²]

Steve Irwin certainly shows no fear. I think he's bloomin' excellent.

[Scarecrow]

I wish a croc would bite him in the ass

[turbo_mmx]

personaly i didnt see a problem with it. He has been doing this kinda stuff his whole life. Surely he had done it with his first child. and hes know exactly what the crocs are going to do. If he didnt he wouldent be in there. As crazy as the man is he is actualy quite responsible when it comes to safty around them

[Summer]

Originally posted by Scarecrow
I wish a croc would bite him in the ass

I think one already has. *giggle*

[LixyChick]

Originally posted by Scarecrow
I wish a croc would bite him in the ass
And all those who like him too!

OMG! I get the feeling I should run out of this thread.....but.....I have something else to say!

I don't like Zoo's either! I hate the thought of animals caged and penned......and I don't want any PM's about this either....cause I know about the endangered ones and all....It's just that my heart aches to see an animal penned away from their natural habitat.....even if they were born at the zoo!

There...I said my piece......now

I'm

gonna

run..................

[musketeer]

Would he have been so keen to do it again with any future children if this one got eaten? I think not.

[Scarecrow]

So what else does Jacko and Steve have in common beside child endangerment??

[Sharni]

Originally posted by turbo_mmx
He has been doing this kinda stuff his whole life. Surely he had done it with his first child. and hes know exactly what the crocs are going to do. If he didnt he wouldent be in there.
As i'm sure did Roy think he knew the Tigers that he got on stage with night after night....but one ate him (or attempted to anyway)

Just because you have worked with wild animals all your life does not make you immune to being caught unawares by one....it only takes a split second and you are on the menu...

Crocs are not able to be domesticated....they have a primitive brain

While i believe Steve may know more than the average person and be able to judge a croc better than most.....he can still make a mistake...as is the lot of all humans

His excuse of teaching his kids to be croc savvy is a bunch of frogshit....what 1 month old child is able to consiously learn that that big critter there should be avoided and will eat me if i try to play with it.....i mean jeezzz

It was pure publicity as far as i'm concerned....a extremely stupid mistake on Steves behalf

[Oldfart]

Just got this one.

Pic is not for the faint-hearted.


You see people with children perched on motorbikes and

a thousand other things and think, ooh, that could be a bit

dangerous.

What Irwin did was probably only as dangerous, but they are

all not really neccessary.

[Lilith]

:spank: Oldfart :spank: lmfao

[Grumble]

ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OF that is a beauty, mate

[Southern Charm]

" 'I will continue to educate my children and the children of the world so they don't go into the water with crocs.'
He said his own father took him into the crocodile pen when he was also a baby...."

Thats kinda backwards logic isn't it?

[Catch22]

Originally posted by Southern Charm
" 'I will continue to educate my children and the children of the world so they don't go into the water with crocs.'
He said his own father took him into the crocodile pen when he was also a baby...."

Thats kinda backwards logic isn't it?

Yep, very.

[dancingrugger]

Originally posted by Sharniqua
As i'm sure did Roy think he knew the Tigers that he got on stage with night after night....but one ate him (or attempted to anyway)



Just thought I'd put my two cents in ... after investigation, it was found that Roy was having a seizure on stage, & the tiger was responding to that. ... Not that I'm condoning having wild animals, especially endangered ones, in any sort of performance like that. Cuz I certainly don't, I think its apalling.


If it sounds like I'm torn on the issue, I kind of am ... a mean who's to say any animals should be "domesticated"? Once you domesticate one type of animal a line has to be drawn somewhere, and people will never agree on where.

[kgb253]

Steve Irwin is a sexual mutant, he must have two dicks, as you can't that stupid playing with just one.
Most Aussies I know think he's an idiot and should be locked up for his childs safety.
You can't predict what all crocks will do, as every so often evem the most habitual of crocks will do something unpredictable.

[Catch22]

Well I am not domesticated and I am not even an animal.

[Sharni]

Originally posted by dancingrugger
after investigation, it was found that Roy was having a seizure on stage, & the tiger was responding to that. ...
Regardless of what made the tiger attack...it did

I guarantee Roy did not go on that stage expecting to have a seizure or for the tiger to do what it did...

Circumstances beyond his control were at work.....the tiger is a wild animal no matter how many times it has 'perfomed' and will react accordingly

Same as the croc at Steves zoo....it maybe more managable than a true wild croc...but it still has 'wild' in it and as such an unpredictable result can occur

All it takes is something beyond his control to happen...and his 1 month old son could have been seriously injured or dead

Many a handler has been caught unawares by the animals in his/her care

[Catch22]

A pet dog can turn on you at anytime as well. You just never know.

[Oldfart]

Yep!

[Southern Charm]

Originally posted by Catch22
A pet dog can turn on you at anytime as well. You just never know.

But a dog can't swallow your child in one bite either.

[Catch22]

CROCODILE TEARS




Steve Irwin may have bitten off more than he can chew by taking his infant son inside a crocodile enclosure. But as Anthony Hoy discovers, it's not just the issue of his son's safety that has turned the Crocodile Hunter into the hunted.

Crocodiles seem to inspire more awe and fascination in us than most creatures. Combine their cold, reptilian features and their ancient link with a world before the first human footprint appeared (not to mention an occasional preference for human flesh) and you have a creature that Hollywood was always going to embrace. Others came before him but none has ridden on the crocodile's back to greater fame or fortune than Steve Irwin.

The self-styled "Crocodile Hunter" has created an entertainment juggernaut centred around his ability to get up close and personal with one of the most lethal animals on Earth. Irwin has always argued that for those – like him – who understand these animals, their behaviour is, to a great degree, predictable. It is the unpredictable that seems to have ambushed him.

When a worldwide outcry accompanied the release of TV footagea showing Irwin holding his infant son in one arm while feeding a chicken carcass to a 4m saltwater croc called Murray with the other, he brazened: "I was in complete control of the crocodile."

The images caused enough of a stink in Australia but in the United States, where his caricatured Ocker image has generated an enormous following, the reaction was dire. His parental abilities were immediately compared with those of Michael Jackson (who once dangled his infant son over the balcony of a Berlin hotel), while The New York Daily News carried a front-page photo of Irwin accompanied by the headline: "Steve Irwin – Australian for stupid."

Yet the furore has obscured what many seasoned croc hunters and handlers feel is the real issue. Crocodiles and alligators are never predictable, they argue, and the real danger of the Irwin approach is that it just encourages imitators. There is ample evidence of the unpredictable. In 1994, Graham Freeman, an experienced Queensland croc handler, died after a crocodile turned on him and crushed his skull. More recently, and within the confines of Irwin's own Australia Zoo at Beerwah on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, a crocodile with the somewhat quaint name of Graham – notorious for having bitten Irwin in 1992 – attacked zoo manager Wes Mannion in 2001. Mannion, who was hospitalised for 12 days, needed 150 stitches and staples inserted into his thigh.


After having been turned on by a croc while he was using a technique that most in the industry believed safe, Broome crocodile farmer Malcolm Douglas is unequivocal: "They're unpredictable, simple as that."

As for the imitators, the members of Florida's Conservation Commission have a vivid reminder of the perils of that approach. Last May, an alligator strayed onto the verge of a public road in Polk County and, even though a licensed trapper was only minutes away, an onlooker took it upon himself to deal with the danger. He was lucky; his injuries could have been a lot worse than the large flap of skin that was left hanging from his left arm.

The imitation phenomenon has become such a problem, says one veteran croc handler, that there is now a concerted push among elements of the American legal profession to organise a class action on behalf of Irwin fans who have been bitten by snakes, alligators and other dangerous animals. This is in spite of the fact that Irwin's programs carry warnings not to imitate his conduct.

Says crocodile hunter John Lever, the Queenslander dispatched to Hong Kong in November to catch a rogue croc: "There is a fair amount of ill-feeling among the US alligator research fraternity towards Irwin over his animal containment practices, and the impact of his actions on the young and the easily impressionable. The same thing is happening in Australia. A child of one of my own crocodile park staffers was bitten by a snake, while trying to 'do a Steve'."

Irwin may have powerful supporters – Queensland Premier Peter Beattie's government nominated him for Australian of the Year, while PM John Howard once described him as "one of Australia's great conservation icons" – but, as far as the wildlife and conservation fraternity is concerned, opinion is polarised.

Lever, who runs the Koorana Crocodile Farm near Rockhampton, and other Queensland Wildlife Parks Association members have a code of practice that states: "Over-dramatisation and sensationalism of crocodile behaviour has a negative impact on community perceptions of crocodiles and is not to be undertaken. Park visitors should not be presented with examples of inappropriate behaviour that may be copied by some people."

So what does Irwin think? Inquiries by The Bulletin to his Beerwah zoo complex – which began life more modestly as the Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park when it was run by Irwin's parents Bob and Lyn – were directed to The Best Picture Show Company, producers of The Crocodile Hunter TV series. Irwin, reportedly, had beaten a retreat to his central Queensland property near St George.

The company's principal, Irwin's friend and TV director John Stainton, says Irwin is not fielding any unsolicited media queries. "It has been an absolute tragedy, a media beat-up," Stainton says. "Unfortunately, it came at a time that was very light-on for news. It has been a feeding frenzy, absolutely irresponsible."

Stainton dismisses claims that Irwin's antics are responsible for injuries to fans or imitators. "There are a million people into alligators in Florida," he says. "They've been jumping on animals for centuries, long before we came [on the scene]."

While Stainton says he is not aware of any injuries to fans or imitators in Australia, "these things happen. We can't stop that, just as we can't stop road accidents. We can't be big brother to the world. TV generally is right out there. MTV's Wild Boys walk through crocodile-infested swamps on stilts. They wanted to do it at Steve's park, and we wouldn't let them. We constantly include messages saying: 'Do not try to do this at home.' "

There's a lot at stake for both men but for Irwin, who was given a python for his sixth birthday and was catching crocodiles under his father's supervision by the age of nine, it has been a particularly heady journey. By the time he'd reached adulthood, Irwin was catching rogue crocs for a living under contract to the state government. Then his father suggested he take a video camera along and things were destined never to be the same.

When Stainton – who happened to be shooting an ad at Australia Zoo one day during the early 1990s – saw some of Irwin's footage, he realised he had a unique TV animal on his hands. US cable operator Discovery Channel bought the show in 1996 and it rapidly brought Irwin a level of popularity well beyond his wildest dreams.

In 2002, when Irwin was the most noteworthy newcomer on BRW's list of highest-earning Australian entertainers, Irwin and Stainton were listed as having estimated gross earnings of $16.3m for the year, based on the show being screened in 130 countries and on Irwin's advertising endorsements.

No wonder Irwin was quick to apologise to the president of Discovery Network, which through its Animal Planet subsidiary carries Irwin's programs to 200 million subscribers. So far the network is standing by their man, as is car manufacturer Toyota, for whom Irwin endorses four-wheel-drive vehicles. When you consider the $175,000 Irwin was paid for one day's filming for the federal government's "Quarantine Matters" ad campaign, it's clear that this income stream is crucial not just to Irwin and Stainton but also to the 200-plus employees of Australia Zoo.

Such a successful business operation needs to watch more than just the crocs. Accordingly, The Best Picture Show Company, which owns "The Crocodile Hunter" name, foreshadowed legal action against northern Australia identity "Crocodile Mick" Pitman, in an attempt to prevent Pitman's long-term use of the description "crocodile hunter".

But Pitman, who trained under the late, renowned Weipa croc hunter "German Jack" in the early 1970s, isn't budging, claiming his use of the description predates any claim to copyright or trademark and that because the name is technically a generic term in common use, it is therefore not able to be registered.

While confirming his company's approaches to "Crocodile Mick" Pitman, Stainton claimed it was "a very friendly, standard letter" and a process the company has to go through up to 200 times a year with various operations. "I wouldn't know whether or not 'crocodile hunter' is a generic term," Stainton says. "We are not interested in pursuing the matter."

But the real domestic heat in the Crocodile Hunter's camp emanates from Irwin's long-running philosophical brawl on conservation issues with the advocates of sustainable crocodile farm production. "I believe sustainable use is the greatest propaganda in wildlife conservation at the moment," Irwin said in a recent interview.

Irwin has used his web site to mount what he calls his so-called "Millennium Resolution" attack on crocodile farming and other forms of sustainable animal management programs. He claims credible and powerful players are "using the camouflage of science to make money out of animals. So, whenever they're killing our animals and calling it sustainable use, I'll fight it."

Noted crocodile researcher and Darwin crocodile park operator Dr Grahame Webb is among those described by Irwin as being the "Hitlers of wildlife" in Irwin's "Millennium Resolution". "I find Irwin's attacks offensive, and quite off the rails," Webb says.

Webb, who pioneered crocodile husbandry practices used by Irwin and other park operators, is vice-chairman of the Switzerland-based World Conservation Union, which operates under the auspices of the United Nations. He also heads the WCU's Crocodile Specialist Management Group.

"Australia's sustainable crocodile farming program during the last 20 years has certainly been a success, with the wild population increasing at the same time as thousands of eggs and a small number of wild animals are harvested by permit each year throughout northern Australia," Webb says.

"Irwin appears to be totally opposed to anyone who uses crocodiles in any way other than the way in which he uses them. The linkage between conservation and sustainable use is to find a way to draw upon wild populations of animals to generate the commercial incentives needed to look after and conserve these animals. But it can't work in the real world with just one value system – Steve Irwin's – because people get eaten when the wild crocodile population is uncontrolled. And that upsets some people.

"Irwin doesn't seem to understand that conservation is the sum total of actions taken to preserve and maintain items to which we attribute a positive value. Most agricultural production is about conflicting values, and adopting different value systems to suit different people."

For Stainton, the continuation of the sustainability versus conservation debate is a case of people "trying to dredge up everything they can find". While he says he is not aware if Irwin's views on the issue have been tempered in recent times, "people do change". However, as the consequences of Irwin's TV footage continue to reverberate among animal handling professionals and the general public alike, only time will tell if Irwin is prepared to change what up until now has been a lucrative formula.

[Oldfart]

You realise Steve Irwin's done it all before.

[Oldfart]

Prior 2

[Oldfart]

Prior 3

[Oldfart]

Prior4

[Oldfart]

Lastly but not leastly.

[Lilith]

MJ makes Steve look down right tasty :spin: