My Uncle works at the National Zoo in DC and has for the past 20+ years. He is a herpetoligist. (he studies reptiles not a form of VD ) Anyway he sent this today and I thought you all might enjoy this...

OOPS

Crikey!

And the crowd goes wild!!!!

I saw the origonal picture... and that ones just as dumb..

What did that guy do? The radio people keep mentioning something something about a kid or someting.... (hopes it'* not jackson syndrome)

That'* all he did?

No, I saw the video. He actually had the baby on the ground making it 'run' away from the gator. It was truly disgusting. That gator was still very close.

I really like Steve Irwin. I think he'* a good person (a little odd, but oh well) and I don't believe he'd ever purposefully put one of his kids in danger. I think what he was trying to do is give his kids early exposure to all kinds of wildlife. If it were my son, and my croc, I would have taught my son to respect and enjoy the croc, from a distance, until the son could safely handle the situation. There'* nothing wrong with introducing kids to wildlife, but it should be done at small and age-appropriate steps :P

He just made a mistake. he could have handled it better by admitting it, though.

In any event, I still like him and I think he'* doing a good job bringing awareness to the needs of not-so-attractive wildlife.

...here'* to ruining yet another humorous post with my holier-than-thou clinical babblings

I found him mildly annoying, but not so much that I wouldn't watch him occasionally.

Since I saw what he did, I won't be watching any more. He wasn't giving his child 'early exposure' to wildlife. He was very obviously playing to the spectators and cameras.

His child was in danger, even more so when he was making him 'run' from the gator than when he was holding him. I think the opinions on him wil vary greatly, but most parents will have a similar view.

I personally feel he should be charged with child endangerment. What Steve did was far worse than what Michael Jackson did with his.