Australia Zoo Survival

[longqi]

Regardless of anything else his contribution to tourism in Australia was and is still huge
How many people watched his shows and altered their perceptions towards our native animals??
That was a huge contribution to conservation

Incidentally I was no fan of Steve Irwin but I can only say that his contributions to native wildlife through his shows and enthusiasm
had a huge impact both in Australia and overseas
I can offer exactly nothing by way of saying anything about non-profit making making matters
But he was in a business
Businesses are there to make money

Spotlight
You should continue to pick on jags
I just watched a breeder here kill 14 hatchlings because the colour combination was not good enough for him
Too often this is the case with unwanted hatchies being called slugs and got rid of

 

[junglepython2]

There are hundreds of reptile demonstrators doing just that only most of them don't that kind of exposure. I am not sure if free-handling dangerous snakes on TV is the right sort of education.
Let me rephrase my question - what has he done for conservation in Australia that didn't earn him money or gains in kind?

How does financial gains make his work any less significant? Like him or hate him he raised public awareness and gained public acceptance of the not so popular australian wildlife more then anyone else I can think of.

 

[user 23122]

I only got to page 7 of this thread and had post this about 20 years ago maybe longer my friends brother in Brisbane was given a pet keelback snake from bob after visiting the zoo. Bobs reasoning was if a kid wants to learn more about australias wildlife then who am I to stand in the way and simply gave my mates brother the snake to keep. The keelback only lasted a year and was killed in an accident . Living on the sunny coast for 15 years now and know a few people that knew Steve rather well one of them is bindys surf teacher and from what I've heard Steve was a top fella I think the main reason Steve was against individuals keeping reptiles was because he knew these animals would lose their value and let's face it with hybrids, jags, and a flooded marketplace maybe he was within his rights to be against the private keeping of reptiles.

 

[Ozzie Python]

I think the main reason Steve was against individuals keeping reptiles was because he knew these animals would lose their value and let's face it with hybrids, jags, and a flooded marketplace maybe he was within his rights to be against the private keeping of reptiles.

so reptiles are about the $ value? if you are trying to stick up for steve, this certainly has not helped his cause.

some reading material for those of you, like me, are sitting around having a quiet beer on a friday night.
http://www.aussiepythons.com/forum/general-reptile-discussion-42/chondros-22745/

*please note, i don't know the whole story behind some of the claims in the above thread. i just found it when is was told part of the story by someone a while ago and hunted around for info. there are other bits and pieces on the web if you look around enough.

 

[snakeluvver]

Spotlight
You should continue to pick on jags
I just watched a breeder here kill 14 hatchlings because the colour combination was not good enough for him
Too often this is the case with unwanted hatchies being called slugs and got rid of

Thats insane! You cant be serious? But how does that have anything to do with jags being bad? A breeder of Jungle carpet pythons, for instance, may get some hatchies that arent yellow enough and kill them...
(OOPS this is turning into a jag debate )

 

[cris]

Sea Shepard....

The relevant south park episode does a good job of telling the story of these wannabe pirates attacking sustainable whaling.

 

[giglamesh]

sure because they need all that tasty scientific research each season, when there obviously not learning anything new apart from new recipes.

 

[cris]

sure because they need all that tasty scientific research each season, when there obviously not learning anything new apart from new recipes.

They shouldnt have to pretend to do fake research if its sustainable, i despise it being done in the name of science but if people would look at the facts rather than just thinking whales are sacred(much like cattle to Hindus) it would be far easier to reach a practical and sustainable approach. The current amount being killed is more likely to be of benifit rather than damaging ecologically. They should be far more concerned about fish and other seafood than a sustainable whale harvest, while Australia stand strongly against any whaling regardless of sustainability we dont stand againt wiping out species such as blue fin tuna.

 

[giglamesh]

Overfishing: Bluefin tuna crashing toward extinction | Indymedia Australia

no, no we want nothing to do with bluefin....

 

[spotlight]

Regardless of anything else his contribution to tourism in Australia was and is still huge
How many people watched his shows and altered their perceptions towards our native animals??
That was a huge contribution to conservation

Incidentally I was no fan of Steve Irwin but I can only say that his contributions to native wildlife through his shows and enthusiasm
had a huge impact both in Australia and overseas
I can offer exactly nothing by way of saying anything about non-profit making making matters
But he was in a business
Businesses are there to make money

Spotlight
You should continue to pick on jags
I just watched a breeder here kill 14 hatchlings because the colour combination was not good enough for him
Too often this is the case with unwanted hatchies being called slugs and got rid of

hopefully there was only 14 in the whole clutch!!!!!!

 

[kawasakirider]

hopefully there was only 14 in the whole clutch!!!!!!

How can you be an advocate for killing something just because someone has bred it for a specific trait that you don't like?

 

[Darlyn]

They shouldnt have to pretend to do fake research if its sustainable, i despise it being done in the name of science but if people would look at the facts rather than just thinking whales are sacred(much like cattle to Hindus) it would be far easier to reach a practical and sustainable approach. The current amount being killed is more likely to be of benifit rather than damaging ecologically. They should be far more concerned about fish and other seafood than a sustainable whale harvest, while Australia stand strongly against any whaling regardless of sustainability we dont stand againt wiping out species such as blue fin tuna.

Can you explain what sustainable killing of whales is? Also expalin what benefit is achieved by killing whales?

 

[cris]

Giglamesh there was some sort of international thingo to try to stop unsustainable bluefin fishing and Australia didnt support it. They will however attack Japanese for their culture involving whaling while promoting the inhumane slughter of endagered turtles and dugongs that are unsustainably killed under native title.

Can you explain what sustainable killing of whales is? Also expalin what benefit is achieved by killing whales?

Killing species that arnt at threat in small numbers will cause no harm to their population, whales arnt an endangered species, they arnt even a species. Whales go around killing massive amounts of seafood, often competing with other whale species that are actually endangered etc.

Its almost as bad as some ignorant tree hugger saying we shouldnt eat roos, when they are the most environmentally friendly source of meat.

 

[Ozzie Python]

Thank you very much for that link Ozzie Python. By far the most interesting thread I have ever read on this site.

if you know the right phrases and names to search there are a number of good reads on forums. i now spend a lot of my time in the very early days of aps and arf, a lot of good info back then compared to now.

this thread for example is now going to turn into a whale killing/power generation/jag culling/gay aboriginal rights thread

 

[longqi]

99% of animals can be sustainably culled
Just because whales are in the forefront of peoples attention should not exclude them
[I am neither a redneck nor a greenie]
He is perfectly correct about Southern Bluefin and now even the smaller species are being devastated
Sustainable harvesting is the only way to protect most species
Rhodesia now has one of the largest wild elephant populations because they encouraged hunters and shot poachers
Our fishing quotas and estuarine bans are all about sustainable harvesting

Putting fully enforced quotas on animals does increase their numbers
You just have to look at the USA as a classic example
Virtually any bit of water outside the cities holds large numbers of fish
No matter where you drive in the country you will see lots of native animals
On highways every second sign is Watch Out For Bambi or similar as there are so many
Bluefish and snook were virtually extinct in one state so they banned all fishing for five years
Now they have they best [highly regulated] snook fishing anywhere
In the Southern states nearly every bit of water holds a few gators
[14ft recently removed from a central park in Miami]
You can walk up to the water and call them just like we call ducks

[I have no love for yanks but their system works much better than ours]

So sustainable collection/hunting/fishing is the greatest protection any animal can have
I do not support whaling at all but you asked the question???
The benefit of whaling for the Japanese is to use a food resource they have used for centuries
To keep it at a fairly low quota is much better than wholesale slaughter
Push the Japanese hard enough and they will just leave the treaty pact

The present quota must be low enough or we would not have seen the increase in whale numbers over the past few years

 

[cris]

this thread for example is now going to turn into a whale killing/power generation/jag culling/gay aboriginal rights thread

I fully support the right of gay aboringinal whales to get married, have abortions, uranium mines and form unions. I fully hate plankton though IMO some of them arnt even animals.

Longqi, you just sound like the typical run of the mill hippy redneck, thats what i am too (no offence meant by comparing me with you) :lol:

 

[snakelover33]

Hope the Australia zoo closes ever.

 

[Snake_Whisperer]

You all should hear of Rob McClouds run in with Steve Irwin when Steve turned up at Aussie world and had a go and Rob who was running the reptile business on behalf of John Keaty at the time. Rob refused to be held up but said Steve could come in if he paid the entry fee. Apparantey smoke was nearly coming out of poor Steves ears. Hopefully Rob will post, it was really quite funny at the time.

Bwahaha! I could just bloody picture it!

 

[DanTheMan]

I'm sure we'll hear about it at the next meeting Aaron!
Sounds interesting.

I just did the same thing Ozzie Pythons, after being directed to that thread by Matt, what an excellent read! If only forums were still filled with such informative posts without being spammed to death!!

 

[fugawi]

Firstly, baleen whales eat mostly krill but sometimes they will ball up sardines or whitebait etc, not really a threat to any fishing industry. Secondly, Japs have only been whaling for 40-50yrs, not centuries. Can't and don't claim traditional fishing rights. Their whalers are canning factories at sea but what irks me most is the obvious lying, they need to take 10000 Minke Whales this year "For scientific experiments".

But this is about Aust zoo, not whaling so........

One thing that hasn't been taken into account is the value of the Aus dollar compared to the US dollar. With Aust zoo being so heavily dependant on US tourists dollars, this is another contributer to their lack of takings.