Crocodile Hunter Brings Baby Boy to Work

[Mizzou]

Exactly. Everyone is just paranoid. They should leave him alone... jeez.

True but I am one of them. Never know he drop his son for accident, that will be scare for me. I know he is very talent but jeez never know.....

 

[VamPyroX]

True but I am one of them. Never know he drop his son for accident, that will be scare for me. I know he is very talent but jeez never know.....

You're right. However, people should learn to trust him.

 

[kristy]

I think he is doing a wonderful job because he knew what he do with wild dangerous animal .... he talk with the tv news and he think he is not bad father of baby and i beleive he is wonderful father of his beautiful son..... he really want to teach his son become a dangerous animal ...... he dont want his son become afraid of animal..... look at his beautiful daughter is so smile at his father and she is so excite with her brand new brother.....
he is very fanstastic show. i really love him and he is very beauitful explained to everyone in tv news.......
everyone in world got parinard and got mad at him for no reason...... dont worry about him and lets him cares of himself and know what he do with his son and wild wacko animal.........
but micheal jackson is very creepy and i never dislike him at alllllllll make me sick and he is not very bright guy ! he is very worse than wild animal guy steve !!!!!!!

 

[CatoCooper13]

Gorillas in the Mist is an excellent introduction to Fossey’s work in Rwanda, but most of it is a gross distortion of the events that really occurred during her first few years there. The meeting with Leakey at the beginning of the movie never happened—she actually met Leakey at an archeological excavation in Tanzania. Fossey asked Leakey for the job working with the gorillas, and he immediately gave it to her. The love affair with the National Geographic photographer also never happened. Fossey actually had affairs with several different married men while she was in Rwanda. The cool thing about that movie though, is that filming started while Fossey was still alive, and she played a major role in it’s production. The gorillas in that movie are Fossey’s real gorillas. Fossey’s own book is also an extremely one-sided view of her life and work. Fossey wrote the book to portray herself as she wanted history to remember her. If you want an accurate accounting of the events as they really happened, read Woman in the Mist by Farley Mowat. Mowat used Fossey’s own diary mixed with her own journalistic evidence to write the book.

Dian Fossey was in reality a very disturbed woman. She was prone to extreme jealousy and paranoia, and she would frequently try to ingratiate herself sexually with men who were 20 years younger than her. If they rejected her advances, she would do everything she could to make their lives miserable. She would also stop at nothing to make enemies with the locals, whom she referred to as ‘wogs’. Not only did she destroy the poacher’s camps and snares, she also went after the Bantu herders who grazed their cattle within the park boundaries—sometimes resorting to shooting their cows. It’s no small wonder that somebody wanted to do her in, as the Bantus had been herding that land for hundreds of years. Fossey has prevailed in the end, though. Rwanda’s National Parks are now heavily protected sanctuaries, free of the corrupt rangers, the poachers, and the cattle grazers that existed there in the 1960’s. The biggest threat now to the remaining mountain gorillas is the Ebola virus.

You couldn't have done a better description of Fossey and her relationships with all the people she met through Rwanda and her studies of the lowland mountain gorillas.
Despite the 'dark' side to Fossey, her passion in protecting the lowland mountain gorillas was outstanding and really has done a lot for both the Leakey Foundation and The Digit Fund. "Woman in the Mist' by Farley Mowat really moved me and had a better understanding what Dian went through and what went on around Rwanda and the Congo Govt.

Anyway...as for Steve Irwin....here's an update on his demise over the croc incident...

Qld Premier backs Irwin

Peter Beattie still backs the nomination of Steve Irwin for Australian of the Year.

Queensland Premier Peter Beattie is continuing to support the nomination of croc hunter Steve Irwin for Australian of the Year despite outrage over his crocodile feeding stunt.

Irwin sparked an angry backlash around Australia and overseas last week when he fed a four-metre crocodile with one hand while clutching his month-old son, during a show at his Australia Zoo reptile park on the Sunshine Coast.

National Australia Day Council director Marjorie Turbayne said although no decision had been made about the honour, she had deep personal misgivings about the way Irwin had acted.

Mr Beattie said he would continue to endorse Irwin's nomination, made on the recommendation of an independent panel overseen by his department.

"There will be no changes to his nomination," Mr Beattie said.

"I supported him then and I support him now."

The Premier said while he could understand community concern about the issue it was time to move on.

"He has been one of the best ambassadors for Queensland in the modern era. He is known internationally and has been a fantastic advocate," Mr Beattie said.

He said he had not met Irwin since the birth of his son Bob, but did not believe he would ever place his child in danger.

"I saw his relationship with his daughter - it was very strong and very powerful - there's no doubt there's an enormous amount of love between both of them and he was so looking forward to the birth of his son," the Premier said.

"I don't believe he would seriously jeopardise the future, or any of his children, I just don't believe that."

Families Minister Judy Spence said her department was still investigating the incident but could not comment further.

"We have said we will talk to Steve and the family and we will do that," Ms Spence said.



©AAP 2003

 

[Levonian]

Monkeys Make a Meal of Human Babies

From The Times, January 1, 2004.

Chimpanzees struggling to survive amid the destruction of their forest habitat are snatching and killing human babies.

At least eight children have died in the past seven years in Uganda and Tanzania after being taken by chimpanzees and a further eight have been injured. The children were found with limbs and other body parts chewed off.

Primate experts blame deforestation and human encroachment on the chimpanzees' habitat for the aggressive behavior, but are divided on whether the animals are defending their territory or seeking a replacement food source.

Chimpanzees were believed to be largely vegetarian until British ape expert Jane Goodall discovered in the 1960s that they are predatory animals who often hunt smaller primates in packs.

Further studies have identified striking similarities between chimp and human aggressive behavior, including rape, wife-beating, murder and infanticide. Attacks on human young, however, are a recent development.

The attacks in Uganda have been documented by Michael Gavin, a conservation biologist, in an eight-month study reported in the January edition of BBC Wildlife magazine. In one of the most recent fatalities, Jackson Alikiriza, a three-month-old baby, was snatched as he was being carried by his mother, Anet, while she harvested potatoes.

Mrs. Alikiriza fled when she saw a chimp approaching but could not outrun the animal. She said: "It grabbed my leg and I fell. Then it took my baby." By the time help was summoned and the chimp was chased away by a man armed with a spear the baby's nose and upper lip had been eaten away. He died a week later.

Another chimp carried out several attacks until he was hunted down and stabbed to death by villagers.

Dr. Gavin said the technique used by the chimps to kill or maim the children mirrored the way they tore apart other prey, suggesting they snatched the human young to eat. "In most cases they bite off the limbs first before disemboweling them, just as they would the red colobus monkey which is one of their favorite prey," he said.

But Dr. Gavin defended the chimps as simply trying to survive in the face of human expansion: "They are just trying to get by. If they can't get enough food in the forest they are going to wander out in search of what's available."

Until the 20th century Uganda boasted a chimp population of several million, but an 86 per cent reduction of forest has cut that number to fewer than 5000. As their habitat disappears so do their food supplies and that, combined with greater proximity to humans, has led them to discover that small children and babies are easily caught and a good source of protein, according to experts.

Frans de Waal, professor of primate behavior at Atlanta's Emory University, said: "I am not sure these cases have much to do with territoriality. I think they rather have to do with predation. Chimpanzees hunt and eat monkeys. "It is especially the males which hunt. I don't think chimps mistake a human baby for a monkey. They're far too smart for such a mistake."

But Pan African Sanctuaries Alliance secretary Doug Cress said the attacks were the symptoms of a territorial "fear reaction" to being squeezed out of their natural habitats.