`Croc hunter' takes infant to feeding

BRISBANE, Australia -- "Crocodile hunter" Steve Irwin may have taken one of his animal stunts a bit too far.

Before a crowd of onlookers at his reptile park in Beerwah, north of Brisbane, Irwin yesterday cradled his month-old son, Robert, under one arm and dangled a piece of chicken from the other in front of a 13-foot crocodile.

The animal quickly snapped up the meat. "Good boy, Bob," Irwin said once the crocodile's jaws snapped shut, according to the tabloid Herald Sun.

The moment was captured by Channel 7 and Channel 10, with viewers later jamming phone lines to express outrage at Irwin's actions, media reports said.

The stunt drew comparisons to singer Michael Jackson's handling of his infant son in Berlin in November 2002. The newspaper The Australian called Irwin's stunt "a bizarre act at his Sunshine Coast zoo that mirrored Michael Jackson's dangling of his newborn over a balcony."

Irwin defended his actions, saying the child was never in danger.

"I was in complete control of the crocodile. Robert was tucked right in my arm," said Irwin, the Herald Sun reported today.

His wife, Terri, who handed the baby over to Irwin and giggled at the spectacle, agreed. "It was a wonderful sensory experience" for the baby, she said.

Child support and family groups said Irwin's behavior was almost like child abuse, and he should not have exposed his son to such peril.

"Most parents would cringe at the sight of such things," Bill Muehlenberg of the Australian Family Association told the Herald Sun. "One slip, one fall, and he is the crocodile's lunch."

Irwin's wildlife programs are shown on the Animal Planet network, and he starred in "The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course."