Pixies Place Forums - Croc Crap!

Quote:

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.