Why? How is that any different from reading “The Fountainhead” and becoming interested in architecture (which happened to a friend of mine), having a really cool physics teacher and wanting to do that (another friend), or discovering a subject which one really loves (which happened to me).
:rolleyes:
I think you’ve got a totally wrong perspective on this.
I remember watching Marty Stouffer’s Wild America every week on PBS. I couldn’t recite a single fact I learned from the show (there are probably a few in my brain somewhere), but I do remember cool footage, some exciting and dramatic scenes, and Marty’s tone and attitude.
Any tidbits that may or may not be questionable are irrelevant; the seven to twelve year olds who spend a few years watching The Crocodile Hunter religiously will not become transmitters of bad science. They will be animal lovers, and nature lovers, and maybe more engaged in their biology and earth science courses.
He never fought ignorance, he spread his fascination and passion for animals; wildlife documentaries are fonts of accurate knowledge second, and promoters of awe and love of nature first and foremost.
That was Steve Irwin’s goal, and he achieved it. If folks want to look for quantifiable metrics for the ‘truth vs. inaccuracies’ he spread, have a field day, but I think you miss the entire point of his program.
I am a professional ornithologist and tropical biologist, and work extensively in the conservation of tropical forests and other habitats. I spent three years working with the New Zealand Wildlife Service, and have headed the ornithology team on large-scale biodiversity inventories in Panama, Peru, and Gabon.
My herpeotological colleagues on these surveys regularly have handled or collected some very dangerous animals, including Bushmasters, cobras, and crocodiles. I personally know someone who lost an arm to a Nile Croc (mentioned by Cecil here), and another who lost a leg to a Bushmaster. I know several others who have been bitten by crocs and snakes. (None of these were professional herpetologists, though.) These animals have to be treated with the utmost respect - something that Irwin didn’t do.
As I said in my second post in my thread, I don’t deny that Irwin had some positive effects. However, as Blake notes, he had some negative effects as well. Other hosts of nature shows, such as David Attenborough, Jaques Costeau, and even Marlin Perkins had the same kind of positive effects while still showing much more respect for the facts and for the animals they dealt with.
I agree with Blake that this is not really a debatable issue, and a matter of fact rather than opinion. Sustainable harvest of wildlife can unequivocally be a positive tool for conservation. While it can be debated whether sustainable harvest is appropriate for a particular species, or whether a particular level of harvest is sustainable, it is clear that controlled hunting can have a positive effect on some species, as in Blake’s European examples above, and in the case of Ducks Unlimited in the US.
I am not familiar with Irwin’s position on the matter, but if his position was that sustainable harvest should never be permitted, then I would question his effectiveness as a conservationist.
Before his health declined, Jimmy Doohan used to just show up at companies and ask for tours, which he always got. Seems the engineering staff all found him to be a big inspiration and were more than happy to show their idol around.
Lovely thought full of flowers and rainbows, except the animals Erwin was most famous for molesting are the ones you are SUPPOSED to be afraid of. Slinging about a taipan by its tail and dancing to keep away from its fangs, as he was doing the first time I saw him, is really fucking stupid. So is carrying his baby and hopping around a muddy bank while taunting a crocodile. He made a career of abusing and terrifying wild animals that should be left alone. And, regardless of your opinion of his antics, his on-screen manner was not “slightly annoying.” It was EXTREMELY annoying. Hot wife, though.
One thing I remember from Marty Stouffer’s “Wild America” was that he filmed the animals from blinds, working hard to not intrude on their lives. He captured real behavior, not just anger and fear.
All in all, I am simply surprised this is a Big Deal. I say this as a non-US-living, non TV-owning, old person.
I suspect that many many people on this board, and all over the internet grew up watching SI on TV and felt close to him. I really did not expect that.
There is a reason that he was not killed by an agressive animal like a snake, gator and hippo but instead a docile creature like a stingray- a lot of precautions are taken when dealing with the vicious animals. My guess is that no precaution was taken with the stingray because it would be like being attacked by a bunny rabbit- unthinkable at the time.
Glad this opened up because I didn’t want to shit in the other thread.
Yes, it is sad that a man died so young leaving behind a wife and two small children. And yes, he did what he could for conservation but. . . Steve Irwin spent a great deal of time antagonizing, irritating and provoking wild animals for the benefit of TV cameras-- going as far as teasing a crocodile with his infant son before throwing a dead chicken at it (the croc, not the infant son).
So excuse me if I find his death at the sting of a mostly benign stingray ironic and kind of comical. Ya know what else I found ironic and kind of comical? When Roy got his face ripped off by a tiger. Because I’m just that mean.
And if I get electricuted while surfing the 'net during a thunderstorm, feel free to laugh your fool heads off.
That might happen.
I find the posts amounting to “He had it coming” a tad strange, given the circumstances of his death. Imagine there was a guy who liked to walk a tightrope between skyscrapers on windy days without a net. One day he trips on the uncluttered carpeted floor in the ground level of his own house and lethally breaks his own neck. Crowds jeer “He had it coming!” Well, no, he didn’t. It’s a freak accident that could have happened to anyone, and is completely independent of his line of work. If he fell off the tightrope, sure. But that’s not what happened. What happened to Steve Irwin is probably many times more unlikely than a highly trained athelete tripping on level ground and killing himself. Again, a very freakish accident. That he might get a nasty flesh wound and a painful sting maybe wouldn’t have been so utterly weird. But a perfect shot to the heart and near-instant death? Beyond one-in-a-billion.
I dunno. If I’ve learned anything from “My Name is Earl” it’s that Karma’s a bitch who will use whatever means she wants to make her point and she’s got a nasty sense of humor.
Remember what happened to the first guy to survive going over Niagara Falls in a barrell? Slipped on a banana peel, bit his tongue, and died of gangrene.
You assume that people will be smart enough to realize that there’s more profit in keeping the other two alive. Would I be crazy to suggest that the hunter kills all three, buys better guns, hires a couple of guys, pays off an official or two and kills past the licensed quota?
Not saying your way isn’t realistic, however I think we need to be honest and admit that substainable management will automatically mean those two leopards will be left alive to breed.
Should be…
The answer in both cases is “three,” since leopards are really bad at miding propery lines, and your neighbors are going to take as many as he can.
Y’know what? Say what you will about Mr. Irwin, but such comments are both unnecessary and inaccurate.
He was NOT " carrying his baby and hopping around a muddy bank while taunting a crocodile." He was feeding the croc, not taunting it, and he wasn’t just hopping around. I’m not saying he was without blame, but let’s not exaggerate the nature of his offense.
He most certainly was NOT “teasing a crocodile with his infant son.” How do such rumors get started anyway?
Karma shmarma. Weird shit happens, it’s not part of some “plan”. Please.
well one piece of footage I saw this am had him holding his infant (3 month?) old son by the arms, so that he dangled, with his feet just about touching the ground, ‘walking/running’ away from the croc who was a few feet away.
Pretty much like I would ‘bounce’ a feather on the end of a stick a few feet away from my kitty to taunt/tease the kitty. Of course, in that scenario, the whole point is to let the kitty get the feather.
I remember that footage – I think Mr. Irwin was having a “My Dick’s Bigger” moment, showing off for his son. Not that it was a good idea, actually I think it was a profoundly BAD idea, but I don’t really think he meant to offer his son as an alligator snack.
I didn’t say that he did. But he did “dangle” something the size of croc food pretty damn close to said croc.
What if the bunny rabbit had a razor-sharp, highly poisonous barb sticking out of its ass, still unthinkable?