Young bite victim who died 'with a smile on his face'

[cris]

Well they can copy steve irwin or some american rapper Id rather my kids copy steve

Each to their own, i would rather someone running around shooting and robbing drug dealers(a favorite sport for "'american rappers" as you put it) than going around harassing dangerous wildlife for nothing more than fun and getting killed in the proccess. This brings a whole heap of crap onto our wildlife which is what really really suffers from this sort of thing.

 

[cyclamen]

my daughter is only 6, but since the day she could understand me i have been teaching her respect for the wild life. i would like to think by the time she is a teenager she will have some wisdom to take away with her about respecting some of our beautfiul, yet dangereous creatures in the world.
i think more education needs to be taught in school about the effect venemous and dangerous animals have in childrens lives. reptiles are starting to become very popular now, and younger kids are starting to get into the hobby. whilst this is great, i also think they need to be well educated on the basics. anyway, thats just my thoughts. but, i feel for the family. and for the poor kid too. its a sad situation.

 

[urodacus_au]

brown

So called 'stupid people' founded this hobby, we wouldnt know half as much as we do without these 'stupid people'. Ill guarantee the old school herps didnt sit through a course before they played with their first Elapid.
I dont think he should be talked up as a hero as these media dicks do, but he shouldnt be copping crap from stay at home herpers either. He got tagged by a brown and he died....end of story.

Jordan

 

[cris]

Cris,
Your own children (if you have some now or in the future) are bound to do stupid things in their lives also. It is apart of growing up, and for some of us the stupidity never ends Hopefully their mistakes will be minor and not fatal like this kids. But regardless of your best intentions, you can try your utmost best to teach them & raise them anyway you like, train them to be aware of any and all things mature & immature, but I garuntee you they will make stupid mistakes. I hope that if they do come to harm from their childish ways they are not labelled stupid, retarded etc like this poor child has been, as I am sure you wouldn't appreciate it as it would be un-called for.

Im not pretending ppl dont do stupid things what is your point? I cant see how getting killed by a brown snake is anything but stupid(except for the rare case where the snake isnt seen untill its to late).

 

[salebrosus]

Poor kid wouldn't be the first and won't be the last to handle or be killed by a Brown Snake. Either way i feel sorry for the kid- he is still somones' son. All the condolensces in the world to the kid who lost his life and the parents who have to bury their child.

Simone.

 

[JandC_Reptiles]

Do you also think Kevin Budden was stupid for dying from a Taipan bite due to a handling error? Because without his "stupidity" we wouldn't have anti-venom & deaths would be alot higher.

As you said people do stupid things.
I don't see what calling a little fella who lost his life stupid is going to achieve?

PS,
No-one was allowed to speak ill of Steve Irwin for weeks/months after his "stupidity".
Even Afro lost his modship over a stingray avitar and members were issued infractions etc, I sure do hope mods are onto this thread in a similar way...

 

[salebrosus]

Personally I wouldn't touch an elapid - unless I actually knew how to handle one. I'd hope most people would have the same common sense.

As the article said the poor kid was mentally behind...........in other words he was as good as an imbecile.
That comment might sound harsh but maybe people need to hear that before they realise that this kid was obviously not as quick as the rest of us...academically at least. I cannot feel anything but helplessness and sorrow for this kids poor family and for him........he didn't deserve to die for a mistake like this. We should have a bit of respect for the dead instead of putting sh@ on him.

Simone.

 

[cris]

Do you also think Kevin Budden was stupid for dying from a Taipan bite due to a handling error? Because without his "stupidity" we wouldn't have anti-venom & deaths would be alot higher.

As you said people do stupid things.
I don't see what calling a little fella who lost his life stupid is going to achieve?

PS,
No-one was allowed to speak ill of Steve Irwin for weeks/months after his "stupidity".
Even Afro lost his modship over a stingray avitar and members were issued infractions etc, I sure do hope mods are onto this thread in a similar way...

I said what he did was stupid, doesnt make him a bad person or anything, and yes dying from a handling error is stupid IMO too(even more so if you are supposed to know what you are doing). I said the same about Steve Irwin too if you were quick enough to read it. If one of my mates got splattered in a car accident that was their fault, i would say what they did was stupid too, I dont see how it is bad or disrespectful to say its stupid to kill yourself regardless of who it is or how its done.

 

[Karen]

I don't know the whole story. was he disabled or not.... who cares..... a child lost his life!!......... I have a Murrray / Darling.... My 6 y.o grandson rang me crying ... "Mummy won't let me have a tigre snake,.....why?!!!"......... Can you see my point!!!

 

[Veredus]

yes i no its bad but at least next itme says to me well a snake killed a by i can go yeah but the artard tryed to catch uit

The problem here is education.

 

[gaara]

If he wasn't "Mentally behind" he was still a 16 year old kid actively looking for snakes. Why am I even bothering? Everyone will just be in an uproar over my lack of sympathy and I'll just keep saying he went looking for trouble and his inexperience and inability got the better of him.

 

[dymback]

even tho he died of couses that where avoiderble
you shouldnt say stuff like what has being said
but then again if his father tought him u would think he would no how to put a pressure bandage on

 

[snakesrule]

Well said Jand C even the best snake handlers get tagged some times and this young kid paid the ultimate price to save his mate. So his loyalty was in the right place.

 

[kelly]

Somebody needs to learn how to type properly
No matter what the boy was doing, nobody deserves to die (except rapists, murderers etc)...

 

[raptor]

Im not pretending ppl dont do stupid things what is your point? I cant see how getting killed by a brown snake is anything but stupid(except for the rare case where the snake isnt seen untill its to late).

This is just my opinion, but I believe that what the kid did wasn't "stupid". Ill-advised? certainly; Dangerous? definitely! Stupidity implies the deliberate ignoring of solid information. If he had been properly educated or trained in regard to dangerous snakes, then chose to ignore his education & fiddled with it regardless, that would have been stupidity. With no, or only minimal, knowledge of safe handling proceedures, his attempts to handle the animal were little more than a preventable accident, much like an inexperienced learner driver sneaking a joy-ride in his brother's V8, & coming to grief. The fact that he was handicapped to whatever degree has no bearing other than making the entire event even more tragic. I think that JandC Reptiles has made some particularly valid comments, and as far as the derogatory remarks made in one post go, I can only hope that if you are ever in the unfortunate position that the poor kid's parents find themselves in, that the experience teaches you some vestige of basic human decency. I have buried one of my children, & I can assure you it's something NO parent should ever have to go through, regadless of it's cause. Full marks to the reporter & the father for having some positive things to say about snakes in general, but ultimately, I believe the education should start in our primary schools. We live in a country acknowledged globally as having some of the deadliest animals on the planet, yet our school system restricts its education policies to "stand still", "dont touch", or "call for an adult" (who'll probably belt it with a shovel). As an example, my wife immigrated from a country with no venomous snakes whatsoever (Ireland). As a result, with no means of education on the subject, at 3 yrs old she came inside with a brown snake in her pocket. She was lucky, but the scare gave her parents the incentive to make sure she was properly educated in the creatures found here. Effective? The only serious animal bites she has ever sustained were from 2 domestic dogs. This lost her the use of her arm for 2 years, & cost her her place on the Australian Olympic Team. The attack was not her fault, & came from an species she was taught to understand. How many immigrant children, with no real appreciation of just how deadly or aggressive some of our snakes are, have NOT been so lucky? The buck has to stop somewhere, & to continually write every fatal bite off as stupidity, the "evilness" of snakes, or even blind bad luck, ultimately does nothing to put an end to these avoidable tragedies. It's time the authorities got serious about minimising the dangers of a dangerous land.

 

[moosenoose]

It give Hosers opinion on the kids trying to copy Steve Irwin more credit now doesn't it ?

Crikey!! :shock: You're right!! I mean, he (Hoser) was right!! The Irwin Phenomenon is alive and well!!! :lol:

 

[Bryony]

I'm just glad that the parents don't blame the snake and that they make a point to say it wasn't its fault.

Should always have a pressure bandage when walking in the bush or herping.....just to be safe.

 

[Meechee]

Well said Dragons, I could only hope that my children try to copy Steve and his ideals, rather than some drugged out weirdo who thinks they can sing.

 

[reece89]

he's my opinion as im only 17 when i see a snake or another herp i get excited and u look at a high percentage of kids these days all there into is smoking,drugs,alchohol and even hurting themselves wat im saying is he would of got a rush of blood to his brain and did wat 1st came into his head an did it and than he's life was over. id rather be a wildlife person then some hip hop gangsta wanabe i think the kids on this site should learn from this and think twice befor tryin to catch a snake or something i was lucky enough to grow up in a wildlife loving family especially snakes lol and it wasnt the snakes fault neither the boys fault he was doing wat he thought was rite so to the boy r.i.p and im very sorry to hear this news

reece

 

[lizardlover]

All of us do things we shouldnt in different stages of our lives, such as making small bombs for fun, stealing something small from a shop as a kid, even riding a bike with out a helmet is breaking the law. this kid was just another kind hearted kid that had fun with what he did and and was passionate about it and couldnt really do much else, obviously seeing he dropped out in yr 8.
just an unfortunate kid that was playing with danger and copped the consequences.
at least his friend didnt have to pay for his mistakes or actions.

-Jared