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Steve Irwin did not take much risk! - 9/4/2006 4:32:31 PM

WhipTheHip

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If anyone wants to know what I am like in real life, I am
a lot like Steve Irwin, at least as far as his clowning around,
and his love of nature. We wear the same outfits. I
am sure I lack his charisma.

I fed ten-foot wild alligators hot dogs out of my hand, pet
them on the nose (which feels hard and hollow like paper
machie), and knelt next to them with my arm around them.
I wouldn't do this with any crocodile, as crocodiles are a
lot more aggressive than alligators. If you swim in a pond
full of alligators, the likelihood of getting attacked is
almost non-exstant.

I trade S&P 500 futures. Trading is a lot riskier than
dealing with most wild animals. And I trust wild animals
a lot more than I do humans.

Most of the danger Steve Irwin engaged in, was perceived
danger. Steve had lots of experience with crocodiles and
knew exactly how they behave. He knew exactly how to
behave around them, and most of the wild animals he
played with. My guess is that he did not have that kind
of experience with stingrays. You can sometimes feel
a little overconfident and invincible.

I think the tiger attack on Roy in Las Vegas needs to be
understood, and the bear attack on two naturalists in
Alaska.

Of course, you wouldn't do the stuff Steve Irwin did.
Just like you wouldn't work on the breaker box in your
home, unless you knew what you were doing. If you
know what you are donig the danger is much less
than most people would guess.

I really feel bad for Steve Irwin's wife and children.
Especially, his children since he will never get the
chance to pass on to them his incredible knowledge
and love of nature.   The world lost a great deal
with Steve Irwin's death.  With his training, his
children would have become ambassadors for
the world's wild animals.

Steve Irwin was one of the world's most
compassionate, good-natured people. I am
shocked to hear he died. I really looked up
to him.

Michael

< Message edited by WhipTheHip -- 9/4/2006 5:27:14 PM >

Post #: 1

RE: Steve Irwin did not take much risk! - 9/4/2006 4:46:55 PM

OriginalWench

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Joined: 3/23/2006
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I'm glad you said this. In all honesty, I wasn't overly fond of him, because of some of the things he did or said, but he didn't deserve to die, and his family didn't deserve to lose him. And I realize he did a LOT for animals and conservation. I don't base my opinions on what the news has shown me, or only watching a couple shows, but on communications the unmentionables had with people working for him, and with him, and on anecdotes from people who met him. Even so, not being fond of him doesn't mean I can't respect him highly and wish my best to his family and friends and coworkers.

Considering that I work with abused and 'vicious' animals, and risk being bitten, scratched, or stomped on regularly, I can't say as I fault his work in those areas. He's got the background and knowledge to be as safe as possible, but everything in life is a risk. It's rather shocking that he was killed in such a rare manner. But he died doing what he loved, and he lived with honor.

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RE: Steve Irwin did not take much risk! - 9/4/2006 4:53:02 PM

twicehappy

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quote:

ORIGINAL: WhipTheHip

I trade S&P 500 futures. Trading is a lot riskier than
dealing with most wild animals. And I trust wild animals
a lot more than I do humans.

ROFLMMFAO.........

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RE: Steve Irwin did not take much risk! - 9/4/2006 5:06:27 PM

IronBear

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From: Beenleigh, Qld, Australia
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Thank you! It is so bloody good that someone not local here has got it right. Again from many of us, (mostly faces never in the forums except to read) I thank you!

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RE: Steve Irwin did not take much risk! - 9/4/2006 7:04:59 PM

DivaDuchess

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Cheers to Steve Irwin for his wit and compassionate understanding of the wild animals all over the world. I personally thought he was nuts when he took his infant son into an alligator pit, but I guess that's just me *lol*. He will be missed by the lions, tigers and bears as well as many human animals all over the world for his charming way of bringing people to a better understanding of wildlife. My heart goes out to his family and friends during this, their time of loss. Our thoughts need to be more focused on them and less on a man who, now, has no need of such things.

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RE: Steve Irwin did not take much risk! - 9/4/2006 7:12:34 PM

gooddogbenji

Posts: 5094
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From: Toronto
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quote:

ORIGINAL: twicehappy

quote:

ORIGINAL: WhipTheHip

I trade S&P 500 futures. Trading is a lot riskier than
dealing with most wild animals. And I trust wild animals
a lot more than I do humans.

ROFLMMFAO.........

If you're laughing at what I think you are, I'll agree!

Yours,

benji

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RE: Steve Irwin did not take much risk! - 9/4/2006 7:23:39 PM

WhipTheHip

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Joined: 7/31/2006
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quote:

ORIGINAL: DivaDuchess
I personally thought he was nuts when he took his infant son into an alligator pit, but I guess that's just me *lol*.

Neither Steve nor his child were in the slightest bit of danger.
That would have especially been the case with alligators since
alligators do not attack humans. If you live in alligator country
you have 100 times greater chance of getting hit by lightning
then getting killed by an alligator. I presume they were
crocs not gators, but even so Steve knew what he was doing.

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RE: Steve Irwin did not take much risk! - 9/4/2006 8:04:38 PM

gooddogbenji

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From: Toronto
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quote:

ORIGINAL: WhipTheHip

If you live in alligator country you have 100 times greater chance of getting hit by lightning then getting killed by an alligator.

I'd love to see a reference for these stats.

Yours,

benji

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RE: Steve Irwin did not take much risk! - 9/4/2006 8:23:07 PM

SirKenin

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From: Barrie, ON Canada
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And this deserved it's own thread why?

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Post #: 9

RE: Steve Irwin did not take much risk! - 9/4/2006 8:34:56 PM

WhipTheHip

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Joined: 7/31/2006
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quote:

ORIGINAL: SirKenin
And this deserved it's own thread why?

Because I felt it did! You might want to google "corncob removal"

< Message edited by WhipTheHip -- 9/4/2006 8:36:12 PM >

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Post #: 10

RE: Steve Irwin did not take much risk! - 9/4/2006 8:41:21 PM

gooddogbenji

Posts: 5094
Joined: 11/15/2005
From: Toronto
Status: offline

I did. It means peeling away the leaves.

So what does that have to do with the price of carrots in Calcutta?

Yours,

benji

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Post #: 11

RE: Steve Irwin did not take much risk! - 9/4/2006 8:49:44 PM

FangsNfeet

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The Crock Hunter proved one thing.

If you play with fire long enough, you're going to get burnt. Was there anyone who thought an event like this would never happen? The documentry he was making this go around was about dangerous sea life. Thanks Steve for letting the world know that Sting Rays can kill people.

I still never thought he would be death by sting ray. My money was on a crock, spider, or double or nothin on a snake. After all, there was an episode where he did get bitten by a snake.

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RE: Steve Irwin did not take much risk! - 9/4/2006 10:48:10 PM

IronBear

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From: Beenleigh, Qld, Australia
Status: offline

Just watching the mid afternoon news, the Cairns Police have viewed the tapes of the attack and his depth. It appears Steve was swimming in one and a half meters of water with the rays swimming on the bottom. One ray apparently got spooked and launched a defence killing Steve.

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RE: Steve Irwin did not take much risk! - 9/4/2006 11:24:12 PM

AAkasha

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Joined: 11/27/2004
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quote:

ORIGINAL: FangsNfeet

The Crock Hunter proved one thing.

If you play with fire long enough, you're going to get burnt. Was there anyone who thought an event like this would never happen? The documentry he was making this go around was about dangerous sea life. Thanks Steve for letting the world know that Sting Rays can kill people.

I still never thought he would be death by sting ray. My money was on a crock, spider, or double or nothin on a snake. After all, there was an episode where he did get bitten by a snake.

He wasn't working on the documentary about dangerous sea life. He took a break from that because of bad weather and was shooting a kid's show.

Akasha

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RE: Steve Irwin did not take much risk! - 9/4/2006 11:27:31 PM

Lordandmaster

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Joined: 6/22/2004
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He's not being precise, but basically he's right:

http://www.alligatorpoint.org/about/Shark.html

quote:

ORIGINAL: gooddogbenji

quote:

ORIGINAL: WhipTheHip

If you live in alligator country you have 100 times greater chance of getting hit by lightning then getting killed by an alligator.

I'd love to see a reference for these stats.

(in reply to gooddogbenji)

Post #: 15

RE: Steve Irwin did not take much risk! - 9/5/2006 1:10:08 AM

darkinshadows

Posts: 4145
Joined: 6/2/2004
From: UK
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: FangsNfeet

The Crock Hunter proved one thing.

If you play with fire long enough, you're going to get burnt. Was there anyone who thought an event like this would never happen? The documentry he was making this go around was about dangerous sea life. Thanks Steve for letting the world know that Sting Rays can kill people.

I still never thought he would be death by sting ray. My money was on a crock, spider, or double or nothin on a snake. After all, there was an episode where he did get bitten by a snake.

No, I didnt think it would happen, simply because he died in a freak accident.

And he wasn't filming the dangerous animals show at the time.

And like Steve, my money was on the parrots, seeing as those were the only animals he had ever been viciously attacked by.

Peace and Rapture

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RE: Steve Irwin did not take much risk! - 9/5/2006 2:06:27 AM

Najakcharmer

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Joined: 5/3/2004
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quote:

ORIGINAL: WhipTheHip
I fed ten-foot wild alligators hot dogs out of my hand, pet
them on the nose (which feels hard and hollow like paper
machie), and knelt next to them with my arm around them.

Are you aware that you may be condemning these animals to death with your actions?

Truly wild alligators tend to be "live and let live" animals that don't get into too much trouble with humans because they tend to avoid them. But crocodilians are very capable of learning, and if they become human habituated and learn to associate human contact with food they evince behavior patterns that get them into very deep trouble very quickly. Basically they lose their natural wariness of people and begin to approach people for food. That's the point at which these habituated animals are reported to the local wildlife agency because they scare somebody with their approach.

The agencies in question generally respond by euthanizing the animal. Sometimes relocation is attempted, but it is rarely successful and also rarely even attempted with the larger animals. The cold hard facts of the situation is that a habituated adult gator in the wild is generally a doomed one if it lives anywhere near people.

If you want to work with crocodilians, please do it the right way and work with captive animals in a zoo environment, or sign on as an intern for legitimate field studies and follow the appropriate research guidelines. Don't break the law and condemn wild animals to death because you like playing with them.

quote:

If you swim in a pond
full of alligators, the likelihood of getting attacked is
almost non-exstant.

The likelihood of being attacked by an alligator if you enter the water with it goes up very significantly if that gator has been fed by humans. I've entered the water with alligators for research purposes, but only in protected areas that we're reasonably sure that idiots with hot dogs don't have access to. All of us who work with wild gators for legitimate reasons are put at serious risk if a member of the public illegally feeds the wildlife in this area and teaches them that people are associated with food. I hope you can understand why I'm annoyed.

quote:

Of course, you wouldn't do the stuff Steve Irwin did.

Oh, I do, except I do it a lot less photogenically. Real professional work with wildlife should not look exciting. If the audience is having fun and being thrilled, the animal probably isn't. The goals of an entertainer/educator tend to be in direct opposition to the goals of other wildlife professionals, eg, zookeepers, veterinarians and field researchers. It's a whole different ballpark, and those of us on the academic end were perpetually annoyed with how he portrayed interactions with wildlife.

About his death, I'm regretful but not surprised. I'm very sorry for his wife and kids.

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RE: Steve Irwin did not take much risk! - 9/5/2006 3:03:09 AM

Najakcharmer

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quote:

ORIGINAL: WhipTheHip
Neither Steve nor his child were in the slightest bit of danger.
That would have especially been the case with alligators since
alligators do not attack humans.

The animal he took a newborn baby in with was a large croc, a salty if memory serves (C. porosus).

Anyone who is very experienced around crocs could in fact go in a pen with a big salty holding, say, a 15 lb raw turkey in one arm, and pretty much guarantee to get back out again with the turkey and their skin intact. I could. That's not the issue.

Now let's say we put a cantaloupe on top of the turkey, held on by a bunch of wooden skewers. If you jerk this thing around suddenly because you have to move fast or jump around to avoid the hungry croc who is interested in the plump little turkey, the skewers might break and the cantaloupe might fall. The turkey and maybe even the cantaloupe will probably make it out of the pen even if the keeper has to move quickly, but there is certainly a good chance that the fragile structure will break on the way out, especially if you can use only one hand to cradle the turkey and the melon gets no physical support at all.

Substitute newborn baby's unsupported head and neck for turkey and cantaloupe and you see the magnitude of the problem. It does not matter how good you are with crocs. Sometimes you have to move fast when you are working closely around them. You have to jump. If you have a newborn baby in hand, that is not a good thing.

Some crocs are so old and placid that it's unusual for them to react strongly to anything, but a small plump young mammal, eg, a "human pinky", could be a tempting enough morsel to provoke a feeding response even in a pretty quiet animal. Sure, dude could jump. But what happens to the baby's neck when he does? Feeling in control of a situation with a wild animal is one thing, but you are *never* in so much control that you can be absolutely sure that you will not have to move and react quickly.

quote:

If you live in alligator country
you have 100 times greater chance of getting hit by lightning
then getting killed by an alligator.

Human caused alligator deaths are in fact ridiculously rare. Lightning related deaths are comparatively common. I've seen the stats on the subject from WHO but don't have them handy.

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RE: Steve Irwin did not take much risk! - 9/5/2006 3:07:28 AM

evyy

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an alligator and a croc have very different temperements, crocs are far more dangerous and the two can't realy be comparied, the guy was an idiot taking a baby in an enclosure with a croc, no matter how much control he felt he had over the situation (not to mention the fact that he seemed to have no idea that your supost to suport the head!), i think that was proved when he was killed by a sting ray, which is one of the least aggresive animals around. This is only the 3rd case of a person being killed by a ray in australia since settlement, realy it was a freak accedent, if their spooked they'll lash out with their tail, but the chance of the spike peiceing the heat or lung and causing death is pretty low, normaly it just hurts like hell. Regardless of the baby bob incedent, and the fact that he has apprantly convinved america that australians realy do talk like that! he seemed like a good guy, and did alot of good for raising awarness of wildlife issues. its ironic realy that after all the dangerous things he did in life he was killed in such an unlikely way, coming from australia and being pretty fermiliar with austrialan wildlife i thought i was a hoax when i first heard

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RE: Steve Irwin did not take much risk! - 9/5/2006 5:55:58 AM

WhipTheHip

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Joined: 7/31/2006
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Lordandmaster
He's not being precise, but basically he's right:
http://www.alligatorpoint.org/about/Shark.html

Actually, I was being quite precise. Roughly 50 people have been
killed in Florida by alligators in the last 100 hundred years. 50
people die every year in Florida from lightning strikes, and
twice that number are hit by lightning and survive. So many more
people are hit by lightning in one year in Florida, than have died
from alligators in the past 100 or so years.

We have a national park at Shark valley. The marsh there is
teaming with alligators, and visitors including children are
led through this marsh. So far no one has ever been attacked
by an alligator.

Alligators can be house pets and trained to do tricks. They
have a long memory, and have different personalities. Most
out of water are fearful of humans. My biggest problem
in getting huge alligators to eat out of my hand was gaining
their trust. They are weary of humans the same as stray, wild
cats.

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