Australia Zoo Survival

[kawasakirider]

Interesting how people here speak of 'Steve' as though he was their best mate. The Irwins were always vehemently against private individuals keeping reptiles, so although his death was a terrible tragedy and a loss for the zoo, reptile keepers lost only an advocate against their hobby. Behind all that enthusiasm and energy was a huge PR machine with no thought for 'fellow' reptile keepers. Most of us would be full of beans if we were able to earn tens of thousands of dollars a day.

J

Wow, that's interesting. I had no idea.

 

[Miss_Stripey]

Australia Zoo should listen to the customers if its too expensive people only do it once. You need a good rate for returning visitors because once you go in again you might like to sit down have lunch or buy a drink and spend a little money each time. And if you can comeback afford-ably each time you will bring all your visitors with you to and give more money to the zoo. if everyone only went once then when everybody went you would run out of business altogether. You only use one coffin.
I hope they do get better because regardless of the stupid prices Australia Zoo is one of our great advertising campaigns like the great Barrier Reef and the Sydney Opera House and people come over here just to see it. Thus helping out the smaller guys along the way The TV royalties should go into helping it out!

 

[junglepython2]

It is expensive but I think it is was one of the better zoo's around by far. I think the large size is great, there is nothing worse then standing 5 people deep on tippy toes to get a glimpse of an animal.

 

[Wild~Touch]

Interesting how people here speak of 'Steve' as though he was their best mate. The Irwins were always vehemently against private individuals keeping reptiles, so although his death was a terrible tragedy and a loss for the zoo, reptile keepers lost only an advocate against their hobby. Behind all that enthusiasm and energy was a huge PR machine with no thought for 'fellow' reptile keepers. Most of us would be full of beans if we were able to earn tens of thousands of dollars a day.

J

It is surprising how few of "todays keepers" are aware of this fact, especially the ones that idolise the crochunter theme

 

[Smithers]

The Irwins were always vehemently against private individuals keeping reptiles, so although his death was a terrible tragedy and a loss for the zoo, reptile keepers lost only an advocate against their hobby. Behind all that enthusiasm and energy was a huge PR machine with no thought for 'fellow' reptile keepers. Most of us would be full of beans if we were able to earn tens of thousands of dollars a day.

Crickey,...Did not know,..Do we know what there reasoning was behind this was for Jamie ?

P.S. Never idolised him (Steve), quite the opposite actually I thought he needing a good dose of Ritalin.

 

[kawasakirider]

It is surprising how few of "todays keepers" are aware of this fact, especially the ones that idolise the crochunter theme

I tried looking it up, but I couldn't find anything on it. Is there an interview floating around where he state's he is against it? I'd love to watch.

 

[killimike]

I have always been ambivalent about him and his enterprises, but I also had no idea him and his dad were against private individuals holding reptiles.

 

[longirostris]

It is surprising how few of "todays keepers" are aware of this fact, especially the ones that idolise the crochunter theme

It is indeed. I cringe every time I see a post idolising and hero worshipping someone who was completely against private keeping of reptiles. It is funny how many people don't know that one of the main blockers of the release of new species into the private hobby from institutional collections was the late Steve Irwin. He did not do private reptile keepers any favours whatsoever with his ostructionist approach to making more species available for us. Every time ARAZPA met to discuss a proposal to release new species from their institutions to hobbyists and private reptile keepers his was the most vocal voice saying no.

Nice enough guy on TV and no doubt has done some great things promoting Australia generally but private reptile keeping was not one of them.

 

[Specks]

It is indeed. I cringe every time I see a post idolising and hero worshipping someone who was completely against private keeping of reptiles. It is funny how many people don't know that one of the main blockers of the release of new species into the private hobby from institutional collections was the late Steve Irwin. He did not do private reptile keepers any favours whatsoever with his ostructionist approach to making more species available for us. Every time ARAZPA met to discuss a proposal to release new species from their institutions to hobbyists and private reptile keepers his was the most vocal voice saying no.

Nice enough guy on TV and no doubt has done some great things promoting Australia generally but private reptile keeping was not one of them.

So people are going to dislike him for that. Deadset, look at all the stuff he has done for conservation and awareness in Australia and around the world and you fault him because he wanted to restrict what we kept. Get with it and look at what is important.

 

[longirostris]

So people are going to dislike him for that. Deadset, look at all the stuff he has done for conservation and awareness in Australia and around the world and you fault him because he wanted to restrict what we kept. Get with it and look at what is important.

Here we go again. Another smart [deleted] that thinks he knows everything and has earned the right to be disrespectful to someone who was making a true and valid contribution to an already existing topic. DON'T TELL ME TO GET WITH IT. Maybe you should take some of your own advice. Did I not acknowledge the great work that he did in the last line of my post? Where in my post did I say that I did not like him? If other people don't like him for whatever reason why is that my problem? Me personally, I actually quite enjoyed the "Ockery" persona portrayed to the world. All I said and still say is that if you are a genuine private keeper of reptiles then you should be aware that he did as much as he possibly could to make sure you could not get any more and if he had his way he would have taken what you had off you.

Mate, next time you want to have a go at somebody who has made a comment about an issue that you don't agree with or don't like, do us all a favour and make sure you read what the other person has actually said first. You might actually make a valuable contribution and more importantly save yourself the embarassment [deleted]

 

[killimike]

I am happy to say that I like him alot less after being made aware of this, regardless of any other conservation or awareness work, as the two are unrelated. He could have championed conservation and not opposed private reptile keeping, let alone supported it.

 

[eipper]

I am sure there court transcripts with Mr Irwin in a number of cases up here, ripping into private keepers and how they are a blight on reptiles......or then there is the re release of varanids (more than one species) back into national parks after being kept in rooms with reptiles that have various health ailments...just so private keepers or other zoos could not keep them...so they can remain the only one.....away from the public he had a major chip on his shoulder towards keepers

 

[Waterrat]

Deadset, look at all the stuff he has done for conservation and awareness in Australia

You seem to know a lot, so tell us - what exactly had SI done for conservation that he didn't get paid for or didn't collect some favors such as exclusive filming rights? Please be specific and reference your statements.

 

[Red-Ink]

I liked SI for what he was a TV/film person, got too see some nice scenery of Australia through his show that I have not seen personally. He can keep his hands off my collection though....

 

[Waterrat]

He can keep his hands off my collection though....

I think he will.

 

[Red-Ink]

I think he will.

lol you know what i meant smart alec lol

 

[sarah_m]

The Irwins were always vehemently against private individuals keeping reptiles,

Does this include Bob? If so, does anyone else find it strange that he is a regular contributor to S&T magazine and supports their annual reptile festival, which is aimed at the reptile keeping community? I do not mean this in a bad way, I am genuinely interested in the answer if anyone knows.

 

[hrafna]

i think he did do good stuff for conservation and trying to bring awareness to the mass public about how animals really are, but at the same time i don't like his ideas about keepers. having said all of that i am sure many people would like to contribute to conservation as much as he did, they just don't know how to get started. also being born into the family he was, would have been a great head start!

 

[Waterrat]

I can't say for sure but Bob has got much more relaxed opinion on reptile keeping. I also thing that SI was heavily influenced and directed by his close guards and the whole PR / political machinery at Australia Zoo. Nonetheless, he was the mouthpiece and the front man, hence the blame rests on him.

 

[giglamesh]

You seem to know a lot, so tell us - what exactly had SI done for conservation that he didn't get paid for or didn't collect some favors such as exclusive filming rights? Please be specific and reference your statements.

at a guess i would say these types of things happened before he was famous more so when he took his dog and a hand-held camera around on his adventures