Stinging Response

Should I feel guilty the whole Steve Irwin fuss has just been a great way for me to keep blogging about reptiles after beating all those Snakes on a Plane to death? Of course not. Nor should anyone feel bad about examining Irwin's life for both positive and negative lessons to be learned. I admire his conservation and education efforts, but also agree with the view of Steve Johnson of the Chicago Tribune who observed in May, 2001 :

"Crikey" (as Irwin too often says), this guy is insufferable, prancing around animal cages in his little zookeeper shorts, taunting the critters into telegenically violent behavior.

There hasn't been a TV star this in love with his own imagined cuteness
since the sitcom heyday of Tony Danza. And I'm pretty sure there's never been
one, not even Evel Knievel, who has been so thoroughly asking for a violent
outcome. ...

Most vexing is the attempt to pass this off as proper zookeeper behavior,
rather than simply the down-under kin to a hundred Florida roadside alligator
hovels.

Read Johnson's blog post and commentary here for a full picture of the debate.