Lara Worthington cops backlash over 'taunting amazing creatures': 'It's wrong on all levels'

Lara Worthington drew the ire of some fans this week after sharing photos of a seemingly innocuous act.

The model, 37, took to Instagram on Wednesday tor share two photos taken at Crocosaurus Cove - a herpetarium and aquarium located in Darwin.

The heart-stopping images showed Lara, encased in a perspex cage, dubbed the Cage Of Death, below the water's surface.

Lara wasn't swimming alone, however, as the photos showed a hefty crocodile swimming to the cage to size Lara up as a perspective meal.

She seemed unfazed though, gently wafting he arms through the water as she safely watched the prehistoric critters from the safety of the cage, chanelling her inner Steve Irwin.

The pulse-raising post was met with a flurry of comments from fans, with many praising Lara's bravery cavorting with the apex predators.

'Wow, I still wouldn't trust that,' one fan opined, while another jumped in with a similar: 'You’re brave.. not a hope in hell would I do this!'

Not all fans were impressed though, with some taking the time to slam the television personality, as 'taunting' the crocs.

'These amazing prehistoric creatures are kept in captivity in tiny pools to be taunted by humans,' one fan chastised. 'This is so not your vibe.'

Another fan agreed with the sentiment, arguing that the animals appeared 'depressed'.

'100% agree,' they replied. 

'When I saw these crocs last year, I was so sad, they looked so depressed. The pools are tiny. It’s wrong on all levels.'

Lara's post comes after husband Sam Worthington  ad an awkward run-in with a reporter on the red carpet of the GQ Men Of the Year Awards earlier this month.

Channel Seven reporter Sally Bowery introduced Lara to viewers of the Sydney event by her maiden name Bingle - and it went down like a lead balloon.

'Her name is Lara Worthington,' the 48-year-old Avatar star clapped back.

'It's only been ten years,' a clearly irritated Sam quickly added.

Bowery quickly apologised for he faux pas.

'That was my slip,' she said.

Later on in the evening, the Avatar star was crowned GQ's Man of the Year.

Following the red carpet Bingle bungle, Sally clapped back at the actor in a column for Seven.

'I said Lara’s maiden name. Not the wrong name. Just a name she had used for a big part of her life. One that was a household name, long before she met her husband,' Sally said.

She insisted Lara herself didn't seem 'the least bit bothered' by her slip-up and laughed it off as she shared her confusion about why Sam wanted her referred to by her married name.

Sally argued: 'So why then at an event celebrating what it now means to be a modern man didn’t her husband? A married woman’s identity is far more than her husband’s surname.'

She then went on to cite Sam's own acceptance speech when he was crowned Man of The Year hours later, in which he spoke about the need to move past outdated notions.

'[He told] the crowd that men ''can love others unconditionally and respectfully, without having to live up to some outdated standard or some stereotypical, archaic, and just plain sad idea of what a man should be''.

'I couldn’t agree more,' she concluded.

Sam and Lara began dating in 2013 and married secretly in 2014 and have since welcomed three sons - Racer, eight, River, four and Rocket, nine.