Did the Croc Hunter Cross the Line?

[Theunicornhunter 2]

Much like Michael Jackson's dangling his son over the railing The Croc Hunter has raised alarm by carrying his one month old son to a Croc feeding. Honestly, the video gave me chills.

 

You just can't take a chance with a baby.

 

CNN

[Mike 5]

I was so shocked by this tonight on the News. I just couldn't get over what I was watching..He certainly wasn't thinking straight..Never know what a wild animal will do even if the Croc Hunter was in control of the situation like he said he was..Very bad and very scary..Wonder what the mother thinks??

[A l t e r E g o 9]

DANGER!-DANGER! I think that was a pretty stupid thing for him to do I don't care how much in control of the situation he says he had. I'm an excellent driver but would I hang Jem out the window of a moving car? NO! Celebs have such crap for brains sometimes.

[Sam The Smuggler 1]

He certainly wasn't thinking straight..

I Hope This Doesn't Surprise You.

[VaBeachGuy 12]

I myself don't think it is what it may seem. These people deal with these reptiles all the time and I would think that if it was truly a dangerous situation it wouldn't have taken place. I don't equate this with Michael Jackson dangling a baby over a balcony.

[trekzone 0]

Yeah VBG, i had the same feeling...but Mr. Irwin knows what hes doing....

[Ace 0]

He may know what he's doing, but I completely agree w/ AE. He doesn't always come out of those situations unscathed, so I think putting his baby in danger takes it a little too far. I think it fits perfectly w/ MJ's lack of judgment - I'm sure he's held tons of things out over open air (looking at papers, maybe waving something at a crowd, etc... you know what I mean), so he probably figured there's no way he'd drop the kid. Just because something becomes really comfortable or familiar to you, that doesn't mean it's no longer dangerous.

 

Now I don't think his kid should be taken away or anything; I just think Mrs. Croc Hunter should smack him upside the head.

[Theunicornhunter 2]

Now I don't think his kid should be taken away or anything; I just think Mrs. Croc Hunter should smack him upside the head.

I am amazed she ever let that kid out there to begin with.

[Ace 0]

Look at who she married; she obviously enjoys life on the edge. (But to risk her kid... )

[Stelfan 0]

I definitely agree that it was a very unnecessary risk!

[Captain Jean-Luc Picard 1]

I voted - No, he's a professional he knows what he's doing

 

I've seen this guy's show and have respect for him. I honestly believe he would not have done what he did unless he knew it was safe and took all neccessary precautions. This guy wrestles gators for a living, do you really think he wasn't in control of the situation?

[A l t e r E g o 9]

I just thinks it's wrong for people to say things like "Jackson was wrong for taking a foolish risk" but if someone else whom the same people has nothing against takes a foolish risk then it's called "professionalism".

Edited January 3, 2004 by Alterego

[Captain Jean-Luc Picard 1]

I just thinks it's wrong for people to say things like "Jackson was wrong for taking a foolish risk" but if someone else whom the same people has nothing against takes a foolish risk then it's called "professionalism".

I don't believe both men took a foolish risk.

 

Here's how I view it: Jackson, regardless of what I think of him, held his child over a balcony. One slip, and the child falls and dies. Gator-man (can't remember his name), however, takes his infant with him to show him first-hand, what he does for a living.

 

I think holding a child over a balcony is insane. I think being a professional gator wrestler (in terms of catching them and such, not sport), and taking your child to a feeding is questionable, but does not deserve an outright attack.

[Theunicornhunter 2]

I think holding a child over a balcony is insane.  I think being a professional gator wrestler (in terms of catching them and such, not sport), and taking your child to a feeding is questionable, but does not deserve an outright attack.[/color]

Well CJLP, opinions are subjective. First of all it is croc not gator - and Jackson regardless of what I think of him has more control over his grip on an infant than Irwin has over the behavior of a wild animal. As for taking your kid to work to show him what you do - the baby was a month old - he couldn't see clearly yet anyway.

 

As for insane - some people may think being a professional croc wrestler is insane to begin with. Other wild game professionals also considered Irwin's behavior reckless. I know he was young when he started working with animals and I know the man loves his kids - I watched the film they made of his daughter's birth. I found it touching that a man who wrestles crocodiles still gets teary over the birth of a child. I've also mentioned he was one of the sources I used in deriving my screen name so it is personally painful to say anything negative about him. But I do believe he used poor judgment.

 

Sure he's a "professional" but he also has scars everywhere or so he says - in other words accidents do happen no matter how good you are.

 

I think too much is being made of the probability of an accident and not enough on the severity if it did. Some things just aren't worth the risk.

 

One thing is certain - he won't be doing it again.

[cassidy 0]

I think it's totally shocking that Steve Irwin would be so stupid. I think it was just a publicity stunt - trying to following in the footsteps of Michael Jackson. Even though he wasn't getting any good publicity, people were still paying a lot more attention to him

[cptwright 1]

i gave it the old i dont know, i can see both sides here. i suppose it could've been reckless, and dangerous, but on the other hand to him, and the way he grew up it is just FIRST NATURE. i mean after all how do you become so fearless of what you do than to have started when you dont even know the meaning of fear or danger. its just a way of life to them. where as jackson just thought he was king and displayed his child like a peice of meat dangling over a lions den. there is a difference there whether or not you can see it. it might of been slightly publicity involved on irwins part, but nonetheless it was work, jackson was just completley soaking it up. IMHO

[BakulaBabe 2]

Celebs have such crap for brains sometimes.

You hit the nail square on the head, Alterego!

 

I was HORRIFIED by what that flaming idiot did. He may be able to handle himself with crocs, but can he control the croc's behavior? I wonder if it ever looked at the baby and thought, "snack".

 

I will give him credit for knowing what he's doing in general, but he should leave the kid on the other side of the fence!

[Ace 0]

Here's how I view it: Jackson, regardless of what I think of him, held his child over a balcony.  One slip, and the child falls and dies.  Gator-man (can't remember his name), however, takes his infant with him to show him first-hand, what he does for a living.

I hate to point this out, but in Irwin's situation, one slip and his child would be gator-bait. I'm sure we've all seen how gators react when something that can be considered "food" hits the ground. For me, both situations were about grip, and both children would have been killed if accidentally dropped.

 

I like Irwin; I watch his show once in a while, and I trust in his abilities. That said, however , you can't tell me the guy's never accidentally dropped something. I definitely see both sides here, but it still seems like too great a risk to me.

 

:)

Edited January 4, 2004 by Ace

[Theunicornhunter 2]

Apparently they have assured the Queensland department of children's services it will never happen again.

 

At a news conference Saturday, Irwin said he probably would have done things differently with his son.

 

"If I could have my time again I would probably do things a little differently," he said. "But I would be considered a bad parent if I did not teach my children crocodile savvy because they live here. They live in crocodile territory ... so they have to be croc savvy."

 

He also claimed the danger posed by the crocodile was exaggerated.

 

"It's all about perceived danger; I was in complete control," said Irwin, flanked by his father, his wife and his 5-year-old daughter, Bindi. "People say, 'Well, what if you had fallen?' But for that to take place a meteorite would have had to come out of the sky and hit Australia at 6.6 on the Richter scale like in Iran."

 

for complete article:

FoxNews

[Captain Jean-Luc Picard 1]

For me, both situations were about grip, and both children would have been killed if accidentally dropped.

Hust how often do parents "drop" their children? :)

[Ace 0]

For me, both situations were about grip, and both children would have been killed if accidentally dropped.

Hust how often do parents "drop" their children? :)

Agreed, but did you not condemn MJ? If not, I apologize. If so, ask yourself the same question quoted above. I was mainly giving an example as to why I agree with AE - that's it's strange for there to be such contradictory opinions on the SI and MJ situations. :)

 

All that aside, I'm just glad it worked out with no real harm to anyone. I trust him, but let's just say that I'll never take a baby to a gator-feeding,,, or hold it over a balcony,,, no matter how experienced I am. :lol:

Edited January 4, 2004 by Ace

[Theunicornhunter 2]

Much is being made of whether Irwin's actions were or were not like Jackson's. I've thought about this a lot after I voted. I still believe Irwin was unwise - the enfant was simply too young.

 

However I can think of a couple of ways this was different from Jackson. The infant was younger so had a lower "squirm factor" regarding dropping. But more importantly in the croc situation I think he would have always been in the position to put himself between the enfant and the croc.

Edited January 4, 2004 by TheUnicornHunter

[Klingonmike 0]

For me, both situations were about grip, and both children would have been killed if accidentally dropped.

Hust how often do parents "drop" their children? :)

Probably more often then you will ever believe.

[Takara_Soong 4]

From what I read Mrs. Croc Hunter had no problem with this. She handed him the baby. She thinks everything has been blown out of proportion. I guess we'll have to see how this effects his popularity.

[KayTroi 0]

Yes, what was he thinking. crocadiles have brains the size of a pea. This fact makes them unpredictable and dangerous. I honestly don't think that a one month old should be among all the wild animals especially crocodiles.

[Derro 0]

I voted what was he thinking, I don't care if he is a professional. Things can go wrong no matter how professional you are at it.

Besides the baby wasn't even been supported properly during that little stunt, its head was flopping around all over the place.

[Gotabite 0]

I voted - No, he's a professional he knows what he's doing

 

I've seen this guy's show and have respect for him.  I honestly believe he would not have done what he did unless he knew it was safe and took all neccessary precautions.  This guy wrestles gators for a living, do you really think he wasn't in control of the situation?

I guess this is another time when our thoughts about a matter are different. While I have a lot of respect for the Croc Hunter's concerns for and abilities with reptiles and other animals too; I am also aware of several situations where he has been bitten by these dangerous beasts........one of these situations was actually shown on Animal Planet. And he had to have quite a few stitches for the injury he received.........One can be an expert in any field and still have something unexpected occur............Just look at what happened to that lion trainer/tamer a few months ago................I mean, God forbid, but suppose the Croc Hunter had accidentally slipped up, or his leg gave away, and he fell.......suppose the baby began to cry startling him to where he lost his concentration on the animal.....just in that split second, something unforseen could have happened...............I don't think anyone should be so overly confident that they feel invincible.....................Our two tragic loses in space, in my opinion came about because some situations were minimized and deemed not life threatening. But in actuality if they had been looked at ; those tragedies may never have happened......................To me the Cro Hunter was acting irresponsible with his son.....To me, he was acting as though he was invincible and incapable of error........To those of us who believe in God, we know he is not.

Edited January 5, 2004 by Gotabite

[edmcgon 0]

I have watched his show plenty of times, mostly for the "I can't believe he is doing something so incredibly dangerous/stupid" effect.

 

It did not surprise me at all when I heard he did this.

 

I do have to give him credit: He KNOWS animals. It is scary how well he knows them. I am NOT talking about animal biology. I am talking animal psychology.

 

Should he have done what he did? Probably not. It is way too great a risk to take with a child. But if it could be done safely, I suspect he would be the one to do it.