Thoughts on Steve Irwin

Animal Planet is my Daisy's favorite station to watch. To this day they still show The Crocodile Hunter and sometimes the Crocodile Diaries.

I was thinking about how Steve died two years ago. It was a freak accident that could have happened to anyone. However, I found these statements very disturbing.

Dan Mathews, vice-president of animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said it was "no shock at all that Steve Irwin should die provoking a dangerous animal". He added that "Irwin made his career out of antagonising frightened wild animals, that's a very dangerous message to send to children." He also made a comparison with another well known conservationist: "If you compare him with a responsible conservationist like Jacques Cousteau, he looks like a cheap reality TV star.

The son of Jacques Cousteau, Jean-Michel Cousteau, also a producer of wildlife documentaries, also took issue with Irwin's hands-on approach to nature television. Cousteau said, "You don't touch nature, you just look at it." Although it "goes very well on television", Irwin's approach would "interfere with nature, jump on animals, grab them, hold them, and have this very, very spectacular, dramatic way of presenting things" which Cousteau felt is
"very misleading"

Two very well known people have the nerve to say this about someone who was trying and succeeding in bringing the message about conservation of animals. Steve and his wife Teri were very careful in the handling of their creatures, they saved animals, relocated those that needed it and was raising their children to do the same. Never did Steve harm the animals, if they got stressed, he backed off and left them be. Him and his wife constantly talked about the dangers of approaching wild animals and told people not to do it. They were able to get us close to wild animals with out us getting injured.

I myself have learned and am still learning things about animals and some I don't look at the same way now.

I found this and find myself reading it and crying. Thanks Elsie for this link to Badass of the Week

http://www.badassoftheweek.com/irwin.html

I will continue to miss Steve. Most people are jealous that he did what he did. When he passed, we lost a very important person in Wildlife Conservation.