handeling wildlife
- Thread starter jason longboard
- Start date
wait a minute,didnt the guy run a freakin zoo,didnt he save hundreds of animals lives and ,not just herps,i know you guys keep and breed ven herps and so on as pros but this guy wasnt just a tv show,their might be better handlers and at times i felt i could have been handling a situation better but didnt he do much more than that,not just anyone runs an establishment like he did,im sorry but i think he knew what it would take to get ppl to wake up to the cause and then he used that to do the right thing,did he not do more than just run that tv show,am i missin something,or are you guys.
That's the other thing. People I know involved with herps professionally in the main loved Steve Irwin. It may be easy to sit up on a high horse and say "ooo I don't think much of how he's tailing that mamba" or whatever, this is a person who has done more for herptiles than a lot of "professionals" can even dream of... Like I said Steve tapped in to a different audience, the people who like documentaries aren't the people that need to be shown the message, as they are the ones that find it themselves. Steve and the producers knew how to use the media to get across to the maximum amount of veiwers, simple as. All this without all the things he did outside of "the crocodile hunter".
davo;1110018; said:
Man look at your avatar...Enough said
I really think you are missing something. I'm not Knocking Irwins passion for conservation. The dude rocked on that.. I am going to question his P.T. Barnum "greatest show on earth" methods of doing so. It is irresponsible to play with dangerous animals in the fashion he did. This "greatest show on earth" mentality is also what killed him in the end.
I think you need to understand this and get this...If Irwin was careful and not trying to show off so much we would not be sitting and talking about a dead man and his daughter would still have a father..We would be talking about a naturalist on the caliber of Aldo Leopold or David Attenborough if he was not a showboat and entertainer above a serious naturalist and conservationist..Entertainment of this kind does nothing for wildlife issues ..
His example is not really one that is best for the conservation of misunderstood and persecuted wildlife.
LOL, thought that was an ironic picture after I posted. I was just thinking in terms of others... Austin Stevens maybe even Mark O Shea.
And I disagree with you. Hooking people in onto this kind of things leads them onwards and upwards. He is also incomparible to the such of Aldo Leopold or David Attenborough, as much as they are to each other. Why don't we start throwing in other names like Jacques-Yves Cousteau around, as it's about as useful in this context. Like I said in my above post, it is getting the message to the masses, not to the people that already care.
And I disagree with you. Hooking people in onto this kind of things leads them onwards and upwards. He is also incomparible to the such of Aldo Leopold or David Attenborough, as much as they are to each other. Why don't we start throwing in other names like Jacques-Yves Cousteau around, as it's about as useful in this context. Like I said in my above post, it is getting the message to the masses, not to the people that already care.
hey, your avatar has a gun pointen at us,or at least over my shoulder at my girlfriends cat
and,i didnt tell you it was the greatest show on earth,you said earlier he was a great guy,thats a little empty,wasnt sure you recognized all he did,now i see you did,i surf in waters wher a great white could eat my ass at will and he got close to sting rays,my dad rode motor bikes and got killed on one 4 years ago,we do what we love,my surfing and my dads bike riding didnt do anything for anyone but us,steve put his neck on the line for a cause,i like the serious stuff very much,steve just got it out to more ppl than others do in my opinion,he never looked all fired up off screen as on screen to me,seemed to get very serious and asertive with his employees,i see where your coming from and i do get what your saying for making of an entertaining show,just makin sure ppl know it had a bigger impact than tv ratings.i will look into the guys your speaking of because i like a more in depth show myself.
and,i didnt tell you it was the greatest show on earth,you said earlier he was a great guy,thats a little empty,wasnt sure you recognized all he did,now i see you did,i surf in waters wher a great white could eat my ass at will and he got close to sting rays,my dad rode motor bikes and got killed on one 4 years ago,we do what we love,my surfing and my dads bike riding didnt do anything for anyone but us,steve put his neck on the line for a cause,i like the serious stuff very much,steve just got it out to more ppl than others do in my opinion,he never looked all fired up off screen as on screen to me,seemed to get very serious and asertive with his employees,i see where your coming from and i do get what your saying for making of an entertaining show,just makin sure ppl know it had a bigger impact than tv ratings.i will look into the guys your speaking of because i like a more in depth show myself.And please tell me what message tailing a Diamondback or wrestling a Salty croc shows??? Really what message beyond "I can control nature as I am Man" does It show. There is little to no respect for the animal IMO when one acts this way.
If you respect him that is fine and no issue. I will tell you however my issues with him if you ask and you have asked...
Polypterus;1110364; said:
I don't know the story behind the picture in my avatar. He looks miked up and is probably doing some show at his zoo or similar and has brought out a rattlesnake to talk about. You tell me? I guess he could have had a load of information in small writing right next to it's display tank where the snake if even in view would sit still and be "boring" and have people tap on the glass because they want to see it move. You of all people should know how many people that have come to see nemo and dori at the aquarium read those things...
davo;1110381; said:
I'm not going to jump in a tank with a 6 foot electric eel to prove my point though..I do understand the issues of education in these animals very well but it is not responsibly effective to to place ones self in danger or display dangerous handling techniques as a show to entice or gain attention. This is actually counterproductive as the message you send is not one of conservation but of domination.
Perception is very important in live animal displays and most responsible facilities and organizations carefully work these things out..Irwin did not do this very often.
I think this is just something where we won't come to an agreement.
I agree that if he was more careful about what he was doing might be alive right now. On the other hand, any time you go into the ocean there's a chance that something bad will happen. I haven't seen the video so I can't venture a guess as to whether it was inappropriate behavior on his part.
Every time I go in the ocean I know there is a chance that I may be injured. I try to lessen the chance of that happening while still being able to enjoy myself, but it's always a possibility any time you put yourself into that type of enviroment.
I do agree that his behavior around dangerous critters in general heightened the risk of something happening to him, I just don't personally know in this case.
I disagree that his showmanship doesn't do anything at all for conservation. It attracted the attention of millions of people. You have to attract people's attention before you can start explaining conservation and other important issues to them. It's sad, but most people have short attention spans and could care less about these issues unless they're entertained in some way.
I agree that if he was more careful about what he was doing might be alive right now. On the other hand, any time you go into the ocean there's a chance that something bad will happen. I haven't seen the video so I can't venture a guess as to whether it was inappropriate behavior on his part.
Every time I go in the ocean I know there is a chance that I may be injured. I try to lessen the chance of that happening while still being able to enjoy myself, but it's always a possibility any time you put yourself into that type of enviroment.
I do agree that his behavior around dangerous critters in general heightened the risk of something happening to him, I just don't personally know in this case.
I disagree that his showmanship doesn't do anything at all for conservation. It attracted the attention of millions of people. You have to attract people's attention before you can start explaining conservation and other important issues to them. It's sad, but most people have short attention spans and could care less about these issues unless they're entertained in some way.
