How sad is this....

[Solutions Maximus]

I've been talking with people I know about this, and we're all generally bummed, but we've determined one thing:

Steve Irwin will always take animals to heart.

...



I'm going to some australian hell now.

Whoop! Lol!

[Nosajimiki]

...Seriously, his show was totally proof of god. I mean, how els do you think he could but his hand inside a crokidiles mouth and not have it choped off.

Well if that man proved God, then I guess that God fellow has one hell of a since or humor...

...He has been bitten by snakes and sharks, and chased up trees by komodo dragons...

Let's the man get way with all that stuff and decides to take him out with a stingray.

All joking aside , I though his show was awesome, and I'll miss it. Crying aside I kinda had kinvoya's sintements for the man. Sincier, amazingly long lived, good father, and totally affected my charies outlook on wildlife... makes me want to jump on the most dangerious animal within arms reach (sorry to many good jokes concerning the man)

[formerly known as hf]

I know I'll annoy people by saying what I think. I'm gonna say it anyway.

Stever Iriwn may have been a conservationist, and did some good in bringing that to a wider audience, but that's about it.

Putting his own life in danger is down to him, but treating the wild and captive animals the way he did was beyond what was required in order to complete what he was trying to do - He put a large number of animals through unrequired stress and discomfort. For seemingly little other reason than showing off, and for tv 'wow' factor. He was a circus ring leader with the face of the good guy. His death was a particularly dark form of poetic justice.

[mtm21]

Peter Brook the racing car driver has also died today (another Australian Icon).... One more famous person and this will freak me out. People die in threes...

[Phalynx]

He put a large number of animals through unrequired stress and discomfort. For seemingly little other reason than showing off, and for tv 'wow' factor. He was a circus ring leader with the face of the good guy. His death was a particularly dark form of poetic justice.

Why are you anthropomorphising these beasts. The nature of the animals he tended to work with was of the predator type. You can argue he was raising the awareness of crocodiles and snakes and working towards conservation or that he was a ratings hunter seeking out excitement for the cameras. I tend to think the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

Either way these animals tend to deal out death and suffering as part of their survival and to suggest they are so fragile that arrousing their defense responses was in some way deeply distressing and harmful to them is frankly a joke. I think oversentimental crap about fluffy bunnies is bad enough but now the guy gets a hard time for upsetting a croc? Humans may have become so enfeebled and weak that stress causes our world to cave in but lets not try and pretend animals are made that way.

Go and release some mink somewhere or something!

[formerly known as hf]

?
Stress and discomfort aren't 'human' feelings - animals can feel them, they don't require anthropomorhpisation (kudos for the word though)

The last thing I am is one of those animal rights people, in any terms. I am pro testing on them, and if I had my way, dogs and their owners would be shipped off to an island somewhere, with all other smelly people such as smokers and fatties.

What annoys me is abusing wild animals for nothing than sheer spectacle, and that's what it was. Rarely was it educational.

[Phalynx]

?
Stress and discomfort aren't 'human' feelings -

If you want to be technical I think what you are refrring to is the response to stress. Stress is an important and natural thing for animals (and I think humans too). A stressful experience is unlikely to be physical damaging unless it is sustained over an extended period. I couldn't tell you how long that is for snake. The stress response may be unpleasant for a snake but is necessary and likely to part of a wild animals daily lived expereince. As for the captive animals some level of stress and excercise is probably good for them, particularly if the intention is to return them to the wild. Human notions of stress and trauma in animals is mostly speculative and usually only demonstrated in prey not predator.

What annoys me is abusing wild animals for nothing than sheer spectacle, and that's what it was. Rarely was it educational.

I don't think Steve Irwin intentionally abused animals. I believe it was educational for the snakes and crocs - they will respond by avoiding humans from then on, a positive survival response.

Were his programmes educational? Are any TV programmes educational? There was plenty of facts in his programs, information about the animals, their environment and their interaction with humans. The stunning images of locations and animals certainly grabbed the attention of my kids and stimulated interest without patronising them. Hopefully something educational slipped in. They are largely disinterested in other nature programmes (I discount Walking with Dinnosaurs as its all speculation and CGI) and I'd rather they were watching Crocodile Hunters than Power Rangers, Pokemon or a lot of the other rubbish on TV for kids which isn't educational. I think some of the naturalists that have spoken out are rather jealous that Steve Irwin managed to engage with his audience so well. Any damaging effects of his work would be outweighed by the interest raised in conservation and the animals themselves.

[wichita]

"You can't call it natural selection because the man managed to procreate before the thing got him...."

I was biking past the physical plant staff outside the biology building yesterday and overheard that line from their philosophical debate in regards to the Croc Hunter. It struck me as profound.


Bob and Brian also put it into perspective on their morning show after reading a news story about the Australian circus performer that died after being shot from a cannon and missing her mat. They came out of it with a new catch phrase....

"Mr. Dynamite died?! Really?! How?!"

[N-Aldwitch]

I find it very humorous, and cannot find a shred of decency in my being to honestly really give a shit. I wish people would just let him die....


Cynicism is a way of life.....

You are a complete bastard. You can't say that and expect it all to be better just because you make a 'twisted' emoticon.

That's the worst I've ever sworn to someone on my new N-Aldwitch account, I've broken my own promise/goal to say that, and god damnit you deserve it, you bastard.


He has done a hell load more than you for the environment and deserves, at least, a shred of decency. I'm Australian (like others, including mtm) and I know for a fact that much of his profit never was his own. He gave it back to the wildlife to protect them.

Think twice before speaking so lowly about a good man who was, unlike so many people on TV, a 'what-you-see-is-what-you-get'.

[SekoETC]

People die in threes...

Yeah, that's true. I remember Princess Diana died, then this one lady who'd been on Finnish TV every Christmas illustrating a story with watercolours while telling it, she died too. And who else... yeah, Mother Theresa. 1997. 'Twas a sad year.

[Phalynx]

People die in threes...

Yeah, that's true. I remember Princess Diana died, then this one lady who'd been on Finnish TV every Christmas illustrating a story with watercolours while telling it, she died too. And who else... yeah, Mother Theresa. 1997. 'Twas a sad year.

Erm.. I think a few more people died in 1997....

http://www.nndb.com/lists/507/000106189/and they are just a few famous ones!

[SekoETC]

Yes, I did research it on Google, that's how I checked my memories were correct. But you can't expect a 12 year old to know much celebrities. These were all ones that I'd seen on tv a lot. The others on the list, pretty much unknown to me. People die all the time, but usually you don't pay much thought to it. Only if it happens to be something shocking, like a pretty young person dying in a car accident while escaping the papparazzi... Or an old nun who's been helping a lot of people. Or the lady you see every Christmas on tv...

[Pie]

Seko....

12 year old..

OH MY GOD!!!!! theres actually someone in cantr younger than me..

[notsure]

She was 12 in 1997, dude.

notsure

[Pie]

oh.