ZEB,
I have 3 children.
Their safety is always my first concern.
The outrageous reaction, and demand for social control that this has elicited has got my dander up.
It kind of reminds me of gun control.
The time that the socialist spent worrying with the Irwins would have been better spent looking after a child that was “actually” being abused or neglected.
Overall, I just think it got blown out of proportion.
you guys realise that the laws are different in australia than the US?
Scott,
Let me get this straight, if I am a great infielder I can set my one month old on top of second base? A great race car driver can have his infant son ride along with him driving 200mph in competition? And it would be perfectly alright for an expert Fire Fighter to carry his one month old child up a two story ladder…for no reason…right? Dam the government let’s live free-Think again!
Like any media event you are going to have “extreme” reporting. That’s what the media does. I don’t like them anymore than I like a government that interferes in peoples lives for no reason. However, to say that all laws are bad because you do not like to many laws is a flaw in logic. You may not like a 55mph speed limit. Does that mean we should have no speed limit at all?
Most of those who have defended this ludicrous action did so on the basis of not liking government interference in peoples lives. I agree that there is to much government. We would not be having this debate if we were on almost any other subject. I am with you on that! However, when it comes to the welfare of a child, I cannot condone placing a child in harms way for no reason, other than cheap thrills. If there is ever a time for someone, anyone, to step in and say, hey this is wrong, it’s now!
This infant is totally dependent upon his parents for everything from food and shelter to his physical safety. He has no choice in the matter. Both parents, (mother for allowing it), are at fault for placing this child in a potentially catastrophic situation. Both parents have earned the negative attention that they have received!
Those who support this action, (which by the lastest poll are in a small minority-most of the public still has good child rearing sense),need to understand fully that this is not a pet Beagle, it’s a dangerous reptile who is capable of anything.
Ask a certain Vegas performer who has worked with actual trained Tigers raised from birth, for forty years! If you did ask him he would not be able to respond as he is still fighting for his life in a hospital bed! How many times did he go out on stage with those Tigers? It takes only one mistake. One mistake and Irwins child was crocodile food. One mistake! From tripping over a rock to an odd flash of sun in his eyes, almost anything could have happened to make that infants day his last on earth.
As long as you have people who are making foolish choices, such as Steve Irwin made, you will have justifiable government interference. And a media circus to follow.
“Crikey” that was close. What a dumb ASS!
ME SOLOMON GRUNDY
After thinking about this a bit, I have to agree with ZEB. The risk/reward quotient here is really high, mainly due to the infinitesimal nature of the potential reward. What was the point?
I don’t think Irwin is a bad guy, but I do think he got a little carried away.
Also, btw, that infant at the fair had 2nd degree burns on its face after that bitch of a mother strolled around with it exposed all day. So, I don’t really have a problem with her censure either.
Ask a certain Vegas performer who has worked with actual trained Tigers raised from birth, for forty years! If you did ask him he would not be able to respond as he is still fighting for his life in a hospital bed! How many times did he go out on stage with those Tigers? It takes only one mistake. One mistake and Irwins child was crocodile food. One mistake! From tripping over a rock to an odd flash of sun in his eyes, almost anything could have happened to make that infants day his last on earth.
Tigers and crocs have slightly different capabilities. A tiger can carry a cow that weighs more than it does over an 8 foot concrete wall for starters. They are pretty adept at moving in all three planes, unlike a croc. Tigers have a huge amount of mental capacity in comparision to a croc so they are less predictable. I’m pretty sure that gay performers are also high on a tiger’s snack food list (just kidding on that one, sorry Roy).
Look at the picture. See any rocks? It a smooth concrete slab. Sure, a meteor or a falling piece of airliner might have hit him and tripped him up but the surface otherwise was like…I was trying to think of someone with a clean garage floor…anyway if there was a clean garage floor that’s what the surface was like. He might have dropped the kid. What are the odds? We could do a survey and see who’s dropped a baby I suppose.
I wouldn’t have done it. I’m not him. I’m not motivated to hang out with large reptiles. I think they make fine leather and probably aren’t bad as an entree.
I took my kids hiking in a rather difficult piece of terrain once. Every other group we met said “I’ve never seen kids up here before”. We ended up on a rocky face on the way to a pass in the lightning storm. The shit was hitting so close you could hear the hiss before the boom and you could smell the ozone. We were not in control of the situation but we lived. I’m sure some of the group was afraid but my wife, my kids, and I weren’t.
There was risk there for sure but peeing your pants wasn’t going to do anything but give you a better ground. It was a great light show and it was over in a short time. Was it worth the risk? Well, we all still talk about that trip 11 years later. Not so much the storm part but seeing mountain goats at 12 feet away and spending time with a friend of ours who is now dead.
I don’t know why Steve Irwin did what he did but it must have been important to him. I’m pretty sure he knew the risks about as well as anyone on the planet. I am sure that he took every precaution to ensure the safety of the kid and you know what? The kid made it so apparently for that incident the odds of harm to the child were zero.
You think that’s bad? How this:
Donna Air (UK TV presenter) and her zoo-owner boyfriend Damian Aspinall intend to place their baby daughter in the care of a gorilla.The couple plan to put Freya, who was born in September, in the gorilla enclosure at Howletts Zoo near Canterbury, Kent.
They will then let her be carried off by the female of the group.
Neither parent has any qualms about letting their daughter be taken off despite five keepers being killed by animals at Howletts and its sister park, Port Lympne, since 1980.
Mr Aspinall told the Evening Standard: “It is a ritual. I’ll probably give her to the dominant female who will take her off and introduce her to the others.”
The multi-millionaire said his two other daughters, Clary, 11, and Tansy, 14, had also been introduced to the gorillas at the zoo in the same way.
Both he and Miss Air approve of the plan and do not believe their daughter will be in any danger.
He said: “Why would I not trust them? I know them, I grew up with them. They are my friends.”
WTF!!??
Since 1980 three keepers have been killed by tigers and two crushed to death by elephants at the two zoos, but gorillas are known for their gentle treatment of babies and children.
I believe that the police said they would prosecute Mr. Aspinall if he did.
what hte picture also fails to show is the multiple other handlers around steve. Due to the vantage point of the camera it also makes it look like the kid is a lot closer to the croc than it is.
Steve was also meant to do the same with his daughter at a similar age, but obviously without the media circus.
He still looked a tad strange doing that walking thing with his kid up to the water…
“Look at the picture, see any rocks? It’s a smooth concrete slab.” Well, gosh you are correct! Okay, then never mind. I guess since there are no rocks to trip over Irwin could never STUMBLE! And I am sure there is nothing else that could have happened. What the heck was I thinking? Erwin is a God and sun shines out of his ass. He could simply turn around quickly and blast a ray of light into the crocodiles eyes blinding the reptile.
“Tigers have a huge amount of mental capacity compared to a crocodile so they are less predictable.” Well, then that must mean that since Tigers are smarter than crocodiles that crocodiles are not one bit dangerous.
Let’s see, a gun fires faster and more effieciently than a bow and arrow so therefore a bow and arrow can’t harm you either. And heck, you can stab yourself all day with a knife and never hurt yourself because that is not nearly as a complex weapon as a bow and arrow. I got it thanks!
Okay, this thread is shot! It has degenerated into a series of illogical statements, and a “top the bad judgement” game.
“You think what Irwin did was dangerous? You should have seen me and my family dodging lightening bolts on the side of a mountain. Boy that was fun! We will never forget it so it must have been a good thing to expose my children to.”
“Oh yea? Well I know someone who leaves their baby in the care of a family of gorillas. Heck, they did it with their other kids and they didn’t get killed, must be safe.”
“Thats nothing, we use little Roscoe (he will turn 5 next month) for target practice by placing an apple on his head and letting go with the old bow and arrow. And he’s not even scared, usually.”
Just because there are others making bad parental choices does not make what Irwin did appropriate. You can site other bad decisions all day long, won’t help your case.
It’s not about how many chances that you can take with your small children and still have them come out alive. Have you ever noticed how smart and brave someone is up to the point where tragedy occurs? Then they don’t look so cool anymore.
I remember about ten years ago there was a big story in the press about a young girl piloting a small plane. I think she was 9 or 10 years old. Some of you may remember this.
The parents were very proud of this feat and bragged about how they took her up when she was much younger and taught her all about flying. The press loved it and the parents loved the noteriety.
One day they decided that she was so good she was old enough at the age of 9 or 10, to fly the plane a long distance (can’t remember how far). That day she encounterd some sort of tubulence. The plane crashed and she was killed.
Suddenly the parents didn’t look so good. The mother was on TV saying “she died doing something she loved.” However, a few months later I read an article where she was lamenting her loss. Words like “poor judgement” and “never forgive myself” came up. When the limelight passed reality hit her. Unfortuneately, her epiphany came to late to save her daughter.
When it came right down to it she was not so adventurous and smart. She was just another parent who made a very poor choice for her child!
I think Irwin is passionate about his work.And he doesn’t want his kids to be scared of his profession and stay away from it.He wants them to probably get used to it,cuz it’s his way of life.Maybe get another Croc Hunter in the makin.
“Oh yea? Well I know someone who leaves their baby in the care of a family of gorillas. Heck, they did it with their other kids and they didn’t get killed, must be safe.”
ZEB
In no way was i condoning Mr.Irwin or Mr. Aspinall!
I posted that just to show that he is not alone in being totally irresponsible, risking the life of his child (who doesn’t have a choice) for the sake of publicity or tradition. There are some bad parents out there.
Creed,
I understand completely! I was mocking the parents who thought this was a good idea. I could surmise from your post that you didn’t think that was good judgement.
ZEB
Cool 
But in this case the gorillas’ might do a better job.
Haha, agreed!
This has already been said by others but it seems to have been missed.
There’s a big difference between how it looked and how it really was. That’s pretty much what showbiz does: you film the trapeze but you don’t show the net underneath.
The camera angle made them look a lot closer than they were. There were also several other handlers there ready to jump in the second anything went awry.
The guy no doubt knows crocs. For all I know he knows them better than anyone else on the planet does. He knows they can’t “do anything” He knows what they are capable of doing.
I’ve never been a big fan of Steve Irwin - always seemed a bit of a knob perpetuating the ocker stereotype - but nothing I’ve seen of this incident suggests to me his kid was actually in any real danger.
OK, my guess here is that Steve Erwin’s MAX BENCH is far greater than that of the crocodiles. Therefore, it is evident to even laypersons such as yourselves that if push came to shove, literally, Steve Erwin could easily outmuscle this weak creature thus protecting his child from any dangerous situation that may arise.
“Tigers have a huge amount of mental capacity compared to a crocodile so they are less predictable.” Well, then that must mean that since Tigers are smarter than crocodiles that crocodiles are not one bit dangerous.
I said more predictable and maybe in a way they are less dangerous and you just about made my point with:
Let’s see, a gun fires faster and more effieciently than a bow and arrow so therefore a bow and arrow can’t harm you either. And heck, you can stab yourself all day with a knife and never hurt yourself because that is not nearly as a complex weapon as a bow and arrow. I got it thanks!
How often do you hear of accidental shootings with bows? You have to draw the damn thing back before it’s dangerous, you can see if it’s loaded, etc. Nobody ever shot themselves with a bow while “cleaning it”. You can’t say that about a gun. So I do think a tiger is more dangerous in a larger variety of situations than a croc is because like the gun it’s dangerous in more different situations.
The lightening storm thing was a fluke and it could have happened on a golf course. The thing that made it unusual to see kids there is because most parents don’t think their kids could do it pyhsically and most of them are wrong. People in this generation tend to molly coddle their kids and spend so much energy protecting them from any potential risk it’s no wonder every kid that gets off the school bus is a fat ass. It’s safer to sit at home and play video games than it is to ride their bike to their friends house or go run around the woods. After all they could get hit by a car or get abducted by some pervert.
I personally think Steve Irwin is bit off and always have. That doesn’t mean that what I saw in the video made me think that kid was at a very high risk of any real harm. How many kids do you suppose get to be up close and personal with killer whales? The COULD BE dangerous if they decide to eat you but they always eat the fish instead. I know I’ve seen pictures of kids petting and kissing them. You don’t see that with crocs or tigers or bears. It could be that different carnivorous animals pose different levels of risk to the handlers depending on the animal and the situtation. That’s probably why they don’t wade waist deep into the water to feed the chicken to the croc.
pretty soon kids are going to have to wear helmets to jerk off.
He is wrong. I love babies. Taste like chicken.
STEVENF: Or maybe just protective goggles. ;p