Crocodile hunter Steve Irwin has sparked outrage in Australia after holding his one-month-old baby just metres from the mouth of a giant croc.
Child advocates branded the wildlife expert "reckless" for dangling son Bob near the mouth of the 4m reptile as he fed it a dead chicken.
Wife Terry stood nearby during the publicity stunt at his Australia Zoo in Queensland.
Irwin then walked his son along the ground to the edge of the crocodile pool, according to Brisbane's Courier Mail newspaper.
Australian Family Association spokesman Bill Muehlenberg told the paper: "Most parents would cringe at the sight of such things. One slip, one fall and he is the crocodile's lunch."
The incident provoked complaints from the public to local police and the Families Department who are looking into the incident.
But Irwin told the paper he was surprised by the response to Bob's "croc-feeding debut".
"My kids are going to grow up here at the zoo catching crocodiles so they have to be aware of what's around them at the earliest possible stage."
Child advocates branded the wildlife expert "reckless" for dangling son Bob near the mouth of the 4m reptile as he fed it a dead chicken.
Wife Terry stood nearby during the publicity stunt at his Australia Zoo in Queensland.
Irwin then walked his son along the ground to the edge of the crocodile pool, according to Brisbane's Courier Mail newspaper.
Australian Family Association spokesman Bill Muehlenberg told the paper: "Most parents would cringe at the sight of such things. One slip, one fall and he is the crocodile's lunch."
The incident provoked complaints from the public to local police and the Families Department who are looking into the incident.
But Irwin told the paper he was surprised by the response to Bob's "croc-feeding debut".
"My kids are going to grow up here at the zoo catching crocodiles so they have to be aware of what's around them at the earliest possible stage."
