Crocodile Hunter - Steve Irwin is Dead

Youre absolutely right.. Money.. nothing else.. crap like that sells.. it wouldnt have sold if she had died either.. dammit.. Oh well what can you do...
It's still sad that someone would dare say something about someone who left behind a great career.. and she's a sticky beaked opinionated nobody

Of course, Ox, we could go even deeper into that sort of thing and ask....

Why does controversy sell ?

Hmmm, are the rumour mongers and sensationalists only giving the public what they want. Must be, otherwise they wouldn't sell more that way.

Like the saying that a country's people get the government that they deserve (probably only applicable to a democracy), perhaps we get what we deserve with regard to the media. And then, gullible as we are, we believe them! Truly a sad indictment on the world.

I'd say controversay sells intrigue... Intrigue leads us to to buy, unfortunately it knows no bounds

Originally posted by PisTonZOR

Not showing respect? What the hell are you smoking?

He did show respect, he didn't use tranq on Crocs, that can easily kill them,

I was specifically talking about snakes and I was using a different meaning. Is it a smart idea to walk up to Mike Tyson, call him a n...... and punch him in the face? No. Is it a smart idea to pick up a venemous snake by the tail? No.

as for holding a snake by it's tale, he only did it by himself and when he said they were really angry, he almost always walked away.

Only by himself? On camera for millions to see and emulate. Jeez-us! Which part of this can't you get?

The baby thing wasn't as dangerous as publicised.

Given camera angles, no, it probably was not. But what it showed was an incredible lack of judgement.

If you die I won't care because you show no respect to people who've given there lives to animals.

Fine, whatever. That's your opinion and you're entitled to it. Dian Fossey literally gave her life for animals, her I respect. Jane Goodall also has my respect.

I found him as a nice person,

Again, you are entitled to your opinion.

who put his own life at risk rescuing animals.

and needlessly when demonstrating them also.

Some of the things he did were stupid

I'm sure we all remember Forest Gump's words...

but he made us respect the animals while making it fun to watch.

I don't believe this statement to be true. I didn't find any enjoyment in watching him (my opinion) and I don't believe he imparted "healthy respect" for dangerous animals.

sidebar: I have watched how my son has imitated what he has seen on WWE, which other family members were watching. "Monkey see, monkey do" and Steve was setting one of the worst examples I have ever seen.

Seriously, do you think most people will watch a boring Doco about Crocs, or rather watch Steve educate us while making it fun to watch?

Few of his programmes were docos about crocs. And those programmes that were about crocs were hardly documentaries. What did I learn about crocs? Very little, but I did get an eyeful and an earful of Steve telling us how dangerous this was and how brave his crew was. Marvellous self-promotion, but educational?

Originally posted by HowlrunnerIV
Is it a smart idea to pick up a venemous snake by the tail? No.

How many times was he bit throughout his life?I`d say he`s smart enough to know what he did.No?

Only by himself? On camera for millions to see and emulate. Jeez-us! Which part of this can't you get?

Brockie analogy,why cant you also see that in Peters case also? monkey see monkey do,but both Peter and Steve would always talk of saftey.

Given camera angles, no, it probably was not. But what it showed was an incredible lack of judgement.

Agreed and i`m sure he learnt a large lesson from it all.

sidebar: I have watched how my son has imitated what he has seen on WWE, which other family members were watching. "Monkey see, monkey do" and Steve was setting one of the worst examples I have ever seen.

What? in your oppinion Steve is even worse than those wrestlers on tv yeah these guys have done a great deal for the world.

What did I learn about crocs? Very little, but I did get an eyeful and an earful of Steve telling us how dangerous this was and how brave his crew was. Marvellous self-promotion, but educational?

At least you learned a little,what did you learn from Brockie?not that i`m disrespecting him i loved watching him race(Go Holden!)one was a sportsman one a conservationist who got his money for conservation through his chacacter which was entertaining to most and he used it to buy land for conservation of animals and educationing people with his Aussie Zoo.

Ok, besides the on going debate.. I've made ANOTHER tribute to Steve Irwin... Which can be seen here.. I hope this one is enjoyed as the first and I think I may have topped the first one...

Youtube.com

Let me know what you think please..

Wombat... I think I might make you a Brockie Tribute..

Originally posted by gps777

Originally posted by HowlrunnerIV
Only by himself? On camera for millions to see and emulate. Jeez-us! Which part of this can't you get?

Brockie analogy,why cant you also see that in Peters case also? monkey see monkey do,but both Peter and Steve would always talk of saftey.

How many times did I see Brockie climb into a race car without a helmet, flame-proof racing suit, six-point harness and race? Never.

How many times did I see Brockie driving a car without a seatbelt on? Never.

Brockie didn't simply talk about safety, he practiced it on camera.

How many times did I see Steve holding a venemous snake by the tail? Once is too often.

How many times did I see Steve annoy a venemous snake specifically to demonstrate its strike response? At least twice (with non-Australian snakes). Once is too often. One of those snakes was a black mamba, rated as the most dangerous snake on earth by most experts. It will always strike and it is the fastest snake across ground on earth. I was not impressed by Steve's performance.

I've been watching Sir David Attenborough all my life, I've learnt more from him about animals and more respect for animals than I ever did from Steve and Sir David never once had to jump out of the way and yell "Strewth, did you see that? I tell youse, these are one dangerous animal."

Originally posted by HowlrunnerIV
How many times did I see Steve holding a venemous snake by the tail? Once is too often

As i said in an earlier post it is not that dangerous for someone who knows what their doing to handle a snake that way. I have seen on numerous occasions csiro field snake handlers pick up snakes this way as did my grandfather who was an experienced bushman.

Originally posted by HowlrunnerIV

Brockie analogy,why cant you also see that in Peters case also? monkey see monkey do,but both Peter and Steve would always talk of saftey.

How many times did I see Brockie climb into a race car without a helmet, flame-proof racing suit, six-point harness and race? Never.

How many times did I see Brockie driving a car without a seatbelt on? Never.

Brockie didn't simply talk about safety, he practiced it on camera.


Thats not what i`m saying and you know it imo,you have called Steve a bad influence because in your opinion kids will do like wise as per Steves example.

Dont tell me you believe P platers or rev heads use all these saftey features Peter had after they have watched Pete tearing around a track and go out on the streets and do like wise.If your going to use negative logic towards Steve do it in the same way with Peter.

I`m not telling you that you have to like anyone,but if your going to judge people the way you do be fair across the board.

Originally posted by gps777
Thats not what i`m saying and you know it imo,you have called Steve a bad influence because in your opinion kids will do like wise as per Steves example.

iyo.

Yes, I have called Steve a bad example and for that reason.

Dont tell me you believe P platers or rev heads use all these saftey features...

I'm saying nothing of the kind.

If your going to use negative logic towards Steve do it in the same way with Peter.

I`m not telling you that you have to like anyone,but if your going to judge people the way you do be fair across the board.

I am being fair. Peter Brock worked in an incredibly dangerous industry that not too long before he started would see a minimum of a fatality a season. As safety awareness grew inuries and fatalaties dropped. To the point where we were actually shocked by the deaths of Ratzenberger and Senna in a single weekend. Shocked. That's how good safety had become. Despite speeds in excess of 300 kph.

Peter didn't just preach, he practised. He knew what young men in VK Commodores would do. He made it his job to try and prevent that. He consistently spoke in favour of road safety and was seen to practise it.

There's the difference.

Sure, he put himself in harms way all the time, knowing the risks, and some would judge that as foolish. Maybe so, but I see him as doing it for a very important cause. He wanted to share what he had learned by growing up around these animals, namely that it is better to try to learn about them than to just avoid them. I know a woman who has approached and petted wolves in the wild, and found them to be non-aggressive. The media teaches us to fear nature, which is a very bad message. We tend to kill that which we fear.
As for snakes, they are the second deadliest animal on earth to humans, only one animal kills more people each year. Know what animal it is? A clue... these animals kill ten times as many people annually than snakes do. Of course the animal is us. Did you know ostriches kill more people each year than sharks? That is an example of the irrational fear most people have. How many people are terrified of ostriches?
Good on ya, Steve.

Originally posted by BlackGuardXIII
I know a woman who has approached and petted wolves in the wild, and found them to be non-aggressive.

Hmm. Tell me more..

I wasn't there, though I have seen wolves in the wild fairly close, about 400 yards away. I started yelling and they took off, so I don't know what they would have done if they had kept running towards us. My friend is a Native American from Texas, and she had this encounter up north, Alaska I think. It's worth mentioning that she feels a strong connection to wolves for some reason, and that she felt that way long before this happened. She was out in the wilds when she saw a small pack of wolves that were not travelling. She very slowly approached them until she was right there with them. She said she felt no fear, and that at least one of them let her pat it gently when she attempted to do so. I believe her, but know that many would not. She is an amazing woman, and I do know from personal experience that she does have some kind of an empathic ability which I cannot explain. There are many similar cases recounted in books on the subject, where wild animals and people have had encounters like hers. Of course I also know of the other kind, where the person is killed by the wild animal. That is to be expected, I would think, when someone meets up with a predator such as a grizzly, etc.

Interesting stuff. Thanks for that!

I'd like to revive this thread a little... Last night I went out and bought Steve's movie Collision Course.. It wasnt that bad really. It's more of a big episode of the Croc Hunter.. And I know there was huge debate in this thread about kids emulating Steve and what he did.. But of course they wouldnt do what Peter Brock did.. uh huh.. anyway.. What was Steve's big tag line when handling a vemonmous snake.. or spider.. or near and dangerous animal? It was "DANGER DANGER DANGER".. Now you tell me which kid in the world doesnt understand the word Danger??? Exactly.. Kids are smart.. and believing that they would go and emulate Steve's actions is really quite stupid to think.

Originally posted by The Winged Wombat

I don't think Steve Irwin ever put himself within reach of a crocodile, so why did he put himself in a situation where a stingray could kill him - error of judgement, lack of knowledge of how lethal a stingray could be?

But the fact remains that he did put himself into a situation from which there was no retreat.

Because 99.9 times out of 100 a stingray will swim away or find another way to escape if people swim near it. In this particular case it saw the cameraman in front of it, and him above it and it lashed out. Yes, Steve probably could have put himself in a better position, but all it takes is one mistake or error in judgement (as a driver or with animals) and you're going to get hurt. A lot of cases you'll survive and learn your lesson. In this case, sadly, the lesson was learned with the loss of a good man who taught a lot about animals. You could say this was his final lesson for us all.

he was begging for it

I dont think he was begging for it.. I think he was doing something he had done many times before and this time, an accident occured.. The unpredictability of nature struck and killed, it's a sad thing.. But as Steve would have said.. It's natures way.. doesnt make it any less sad though

Originally posted by Ox
I dont think he was begging for it.. I think he was doing something he had done many times before and this time, an accident occured.. The unpredictability of nature struck and killed, it's a sad thing.. But as Steve would have said.. It's natures way.. doesnt make it any less sad though

i agree that it is sad, but he should have known that someday, somehting was going to go wrong.....not to mention, he endangered the life of his child for entertainment....so maybe it was karma

Originally posted by what_if_we_could
i agree that it is sad, but he should have known that someday, somehting was going to go wrong.....not to mention, he endangered the life of his child for entertainment....so maybe it was karma

We should all know that at some time in our lives something will go wrong. Should Sir Edmund Hillary have never climbed Everest because it was dangerous, should the American pioneers have stayed at home because it was dangerous, could go on forever. How boring our lives it would be without these people with adventerous spirits to lift us up throughout history.
As for endangering his child, it was nowhere near as dangerous as the footage showed, as most Australians would acknowledge, it was done to death in the media here and explained by Steve and the cameraman that the camera angle caused the croc to look at lot closer than it was. That said Steve acknowledged that if he'd had his time again he may not have done it.
To say his death was karma is almost as daft as saying he was begging for it.

Btw Ox will be watching the box today, i think the memorial is being televised live from Australia zoo, loved your tribute. Have a good one.