(IN):Wife shock for Irwin croc park- What’s in a name?

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http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090228/jsp/frontpage/story_10604166.jsp

 

Wife shock for Irwin croc park

- What’s in a name?

JOHN MARY

 

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb. 27: Steve Irwin’s widow has sent the Kerala

wildlife department a legal notice for naming a crocodile park after

him without her permission.

 

The notice, which was received last week, has stunned authorities, who

claim they had invited Terri Irwin to the park’s inauguration in May

2007. She did not come.

 

Forest minister Binoy Viswam had announced naming the Crocodile Park

at Neyyar, around 30km from here, in honour of the wildlife expert and

conservationist shortly after his death in 2006 in a stingray attack

while shooting a film off the Australia coast.

 

The Steve Irwin Crocodile Rehabilitation and Research Centre at

Marakunneth Agastya Nature Study Centre is within the Neyyar Wildlife

Sanctuary. Set up on two and a half hectares at a cost of Rs 5 lakh,

the centre mostly features crocodiles found in the marshlands of the

subcontinent. The park has been renovated with an image of Irwin

engraved on the entrance wall.

 

Law firm Rigby-King Lawyers has sent the notice on behalf of Terri and

Australia Zoo Pty Ltd alleging that the use of the name and images of

Steve for the park was an infringement of intellectual property

rights, and wants the government to stop it immediately.

 

Chief conservator of forest (wildlife) K.P. Ouseph said his department

had received the notice and was verifying its authenticity. “We have

brought the matter to the notice of the advocate-general and will

reply if the notice is found genuine.”

 

But Ouseph wondered why Terri didn’t send her objections earlier, when

she was invited. “Since our intentions are clear, we will not do

anything that Steve’s family reckons is improper,” said Ouseph.

 

The forest department thought Steve’s family was pleased with the

naming and the gesture was seen here as a fitting tribute to the

memory of the Australian conservationist.

 

The row is baffling also because there are memorials in his name

elsewhere. The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, an NGO working for

the conservation of marine wildlife, had named one of its vessels, MV

Steve Irwin. Terri, who approved the renaming in December 2007, had

said then: “If Steve were alive, he’d be aboard with them.”

 

The original crocodile park was started in 1977 as part of a national

project for conservation of the reptiles. The aim was to rear them and

release adults into their natural habitat. In 1985, the forest

department released 25 crocodiles into the Neyyar reservoir but they

started attacking locals and animals. A few lives were lost and some

people escaped with severed limbs, forcing the foresters to stop

further releases.

 

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