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Bob Irwin slams “insulting” Sunday Night story

Blaming Steve Irwin for a rise in exotic animal ownership is "erroneous and frankly insulting" says his father.

Bob Irwin, father of the late Steve Irwin, has responded to comments made in a report on Sunday Night, blaming him for a rise in wild animals being kept as pets by Americans.

Exotic Animals Expert Tim Harrison from Dayton, Ohio, told Sunday Night lions, tigers, bears, cheetahs and snakes were all being kept by people who had seen animal wranglers on television. He singled out Steve Irwin in the report by Rahni Sadler.

“God rest his soul, but you gotta remember one thing. If you teach people that it’s ok to pick up a snake, then tell them not to do it, then that’s the wrong message,” he said.

Quoting the reasons why people told him they wanted a wild animal as a pet, he said, “‘I watched Steve Irwin on Crocodile Hunter‘ ….monkey see, monkey do…”

Sunday Night included the provocative Irwin angle in its promos and prompted online discussion during the show by superimposing a Twitter question, ‘Fair to blame Steve Irwin? #SN7.”

On his website bobirwinwildlife.com, Bob Irwin said there was a big difference between keeping exotic animals in a zoo, and having a pet boxed up in the backyard, also referencing a recent story on 60 Minutes.

“Wild animals might become humanised, but they are by no means domesticated; they are not adapted for life as pets,” he wrote.

“People in the public arena will always have detractors and my late son, Steve Irwin, was not without his, however to make a suggestion that Steve is responsible for the American trend for owning dangerous exotic animals is erroneous and frankly insulting.

“At no time did he advocate the private ownership of wild animals; conversely his documentaries were intended to encourage children and adults alike to value wild animals and their wilderness for their inherent and astounding beauty.

“Any viewer that watched Steve’s programs would understand that the keeping of exotic and potentially dangerous wild animals as pets by private individuals serves no purpose insofar as the conservation of the species, and is more often than not, detrimental to the animal’s mental health.

“Putting large, predatory wild animals in backyards is both dangerous and misguided and was in no way condoned by Steve, nor is it for the record, by me.”

5 Responses

  1. This is gutter journalism which is the reason that I didn’t watch, I could tell by the sensational advert. More people should’ve switched off. It’s a shame that too many people just can’t be bothered to pick up the remote and click.

  2. the really sad thing is that this piece of shit was the highest rating show last night if the idiots who keep these wild animals as pets are killed by them then tough luck don’t kill the poor animal who had been kept as a pet

  3. This would be like blaming Peter Brock for idiots speeding on our roads.

    I’m glade they are making it harder to own the more dangerous animals in some parts of the US but more needs to be done to safe guard not only people involved but more importantly the animals then in the end are more likely to be shot if they hurt or kill someone.

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