steve "crocodile hunter" irwin is dead

[VV o n g B a]

guess it finally caught up w/ him. rip.

------------

THE Crocodile Man, Steve Irwin, is dead. He was killed in a freak accident in Cairns, police sources said. It appeared that he was killed by a sting-ray barb that went through his chest, Queensland Police Inspector Russell Rhodes said.
He was swimming off the Low Isles at Port Douglas filming an underwater documentary and that's when it occurred.
Ambulance officers confirmed they attended a reef fatality this morning at Batt Reef off Port Douglas.
Mr Irwin was killed just after 11am, Eastern Australian time.
It is understood he was killed instantly.
A source said Mr Irwin was already dead when his body was brought onto the Isle.
A source said Mr Irwin's body was being airlifted to Cairns Hospital in North Queensland for formal identification.
An Emergency Services Response Management spokeswoman said they received a call about the tragedy at 11.11 am, Australian Eastern Standard Time.
The response unit left in a helicopter for the Batt Reef at 11.18am and arrived shortly after.
Mr Irwin was pronounced dead at the scene immediately, the spokeswoman said.
Steve Irwin's activities went far beyond his universally-known roles as an international TV star and owner of Australia Zoo, north of Brisbane.
They includes assisting Australian Quarantine Inspection service with advertising campaigns warning travellers not to bring foreign matter into the country, and he was becoming a vocal critic of the slaughter of Australian wildlife.
The federal government recently dropped plans to allow crocodile safaris for wealty tourists in the Northern Territority after Irwin intervened, taking Environment Minister Ian Campbell on a tour of croc infested Cape York.

At the time, Irwin told Australian TV program A Current Affair that: ``Killing one of our beautiful animals in the name of trophy hunting will have a very negative impact on tourism, which scares the living daylights out of me.''

The Prime Minister John Howard considered Irwin a friend, inviting him to a barbecue at The Lodge for US President George W. Bush in 2003.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,20349534-952,00.html

[yoMAMA]

wow....

[SunWuKong]

RIP. even though he seemed really stupid, he also seemed like a cool guy to down a few beers with.

[qtpah2ie]

omgosh. yah. i just read the news on cnn. man. O_o aigoo. so sad.

[Hiroshi2]

What a surprise.


Hate to be such a square....................but isn't it a little irresponsible to have a wife and two young children and to constantly be putting yourself in danger? Now the kids are going to grow up without a father........

[DragonKnight]

RIP :frown:

[achtungbaby]

How sad. I remember a while back, a co-worker was gushing about some crazy Austrailian who had his own show on Animal Planet. She was nuts about him and would constantly say things like, "Danger...danger!" in an Aussie accent. She even tape recorded an episode for me so I could watch it. It was about komodo dragons...

rip.

[enigma740]

Yeah RIP. Guess his job was really dangerous.

[Moong Joong]

I used to always get annoyed by his ads on tv and stuff, but still sad to see him go like that.

RIP

[Martino]

This is is the first time a stingray has killed a human since 1945 ... he was probably stressing it out for the camera.

My Mum loved him!

RIP

[LaiSteve66]

Surprise Surprise

[moser]

Oh damn, this sucks. RIP

[snailpoo]

Sigh.

Yeah, that was a surprise. Who dies from stingrays? After looking at all the things he does, IF he had died, you would have expected something far more dangerous than a stingray.

The odds are of that spine striking someone around the ribs and through the heart... and stingray tails aren't really that strong either.

[TB4000]

Live by the sword.

You think doing stuff like that will never catch up to you.

[Flow to Live]

^^Yeah, I'm not suprised, I knew one day he'll get killed, not to sound like a jerk or anything, but he is one crazy ass mofo. O, well at least he died doing the thing he loves the most and I'm glad he lived to shared his passion with the world. R.I.P. Steve Irwin.

[Martino]

Live by the sword.

You think doing stuff like that will never catch up to you.

Seriously, how many wildlife presenters get killed recording a programme? We're talking thouands of shows about great whites, crocs, lions ... the mortality rate must be infinitesimal.

You might as well say TV birdwatchers should expect to be pecked to death by sparrows.

[mr. x]

Seriously, how many wildlife presenters get killed recording a programme? We're talking thouands of shows about great whites, crocs, lions ... the mortality rate must be infinitesimal.

You might as well say TV birdwatchers should expect to be pecked to death by sparrows.

and again let's not forget his death was an that infinitesimal, he basically got hit by lightning in the worst possible way, and while his job did put him in that position it seems it should've been more likely he made it out okay

[younggiftedandblack]

CROCODILE HUNTER DEATH TO BE BROADCAST?


LATEST: The footage of late Australian naturalist STEVE IRWIN being killed by a stingray could be shown on TV. Charismatic Irwin, dubbed the Crocodile Hunter after his internationally acclaimed TV show, died yesterday (04SEP06) while diving on Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Irwin was filming for a new documentary when he lost his life, and his cameraman shot the moment when the stingray's barbed tail stabbed the legendary conservationist through the heart. The tapes are currently being held by Queensland police - but Irwin's family are determined to respect his last wishes and allow the harrowing footage to be broadcast. Irwin once insisted, "My number one rule is to keep that camera rolling. Even if it's shaky or slightly out of focus, I don't give a rip. "Even if a big old alligator is chewing me up I want to go down and go, 'Crikey!' just before I die. That would be the ultimate for me." An insider tells British newspaper the Daily Star, "This is exactly what Steve would have wanted. He knew the dangers and was totally up for the cameras to get everything."
05/09/2006 12:52


http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/crocodile%20hunter%20death%20to%20be%20broadcast_1 007314

[CBC guy]

Damn. I liked his show when he was still around. Shows how easy one can lose one's life eh.

Seemed like a cool guy to drop a cold one with in a pub. RIP, mate.

[eos]

i still remember that one time when he had his son under his arm while he was in with a crocodile. one crazy SOB.

RIP.

[KooLJaP]

it's sad...i heard some stingray touches him and killed him, while he video taping.

[Chad]

He was a herpatologist messing around with animals that were outside of his field of expertise. Reptiles and fish behave differently, can't expect a sting ray to behave the same way as a crocodile, That was his mistake..
and those stingers are pretty dangerous, i heard they have venom and serrated edges. but yeah, what are the chances of getting stung right through the heart? pretty freak attack but i guess his death was quick. they said he died within seconds of being stung.

[otter p.]

He was a herpatologist messing around with animals that were outside of his field of expertise.

Nothing has come out that says that Irwin was messing around with those stingrays when it killed. It could have been simply a freak accident.

[robotic]

r.i.p. steve irwin <3

[eos]

Nothing has come out that says that Irwin was messing around with those stingrays when it killed. It could have been simply a freak accident.

i don't think chad meant "messing around" in the literal sense. you need to chillax. here, have a shot on me.

[inthesky]

h ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_irwin

you can find some information on how he died near the bottom of the page. But more importantly, you can find what he's accomplished for animals (and our planet overall) near the middle.

RIP Steve Irwin

[Golden Monkey]

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10399940

Police say Irwin didn't provoke stingray

Wednesday September 6, 2006
By Nick Squires

SYDNEY - Australian police have scotched speculation that Steve Irwin was in any way responsible for his own death, insisting yesterday that he did not intimidate or provoke the stingray that speared him in the heart.

Marine biologists and other experts had said an unprovoked attack by a ray was highly unlikely, but it emerged that it was extraordinary bad luck, rather than a prod or a poke, that caused the death of the Crocodile Hunter.

Film footage of Irwin's last moments alive showed him pulling the serrated stingray barb out of his chest.

"There is no evidence that Mr Irwin was intimidating or threatening the stingray," said Superintendent Mike Keating of Queensland, who viewed the film of Irwin snorkelling in shallow water off the Low Isles, near Port Douglas.

"My advice is that he was observing the stingray."

Police will prepare a report for the Queensland state coroner.

"We'll be continuing to use that video in our investigation and we look forward to finalising the investigation very quickly," Mr Keating said.

Irwin, 44, whose irrepressible enthusiasm, safari suits and crocodile-wrestling antics made him an international star, was filming for a new series when he was killed on Monday.

He was snorkelling about 1m above a large bull ray, probably weighing around 100kg, when it lashed out, piercing his chest with the venomous barb on its tail.

The coronial report will try to establish whether Irwin died from the venom, the puncture wound close to his heart, or a combination of the two.

Watching the footage of Irwin's last moments was deeply distressing, said his producer and close friend, John Stainton.

"It's shocking. It's a very hard thing to watch because you're actually witnessing somebody die and it's terrible," Mr Stainton said.

"Steve came over the top of the ray and then the tail came up and spiked him. He pulled it out and the next minute he's gone."

Moments after extracting the barb from his chest, Irwin lost consciousness.

"That was it. The cameraman had to shut down," said Mr Stainton, who was aboard Irwin's vessel, Croc One, when the accident happened.

Irwin had lived life on the edge and had had some close shaves with crocodiles, snakes and other deadly creatures.

"He always pushed himself to the very limits but I thought he was invulnerable and I think he did, too," Mr Stainton said.

"I would never imagine it to come from something like a stingray.

"There's been a million occasions where both of us held our breath and thought we were lucky to get out of that one. But he just seemed to have a charmed life."

Irwin's wife, Terri, abandoned a hiking trip in Tasmania and flew to the family home on the Sunshine Coast with her children, 8-year-old Bindi and 2-year-old Bob.

NZ's last fatal stingray attack recalled 70 years later

New Zealand has had at least one fatal stingray attack, but it was almost 70 years ago.

Auckland woman Beverly Laing still has the original Herald report of the coroner's inquest into the death of her husband's cousin in December, 1938.

Eighteen-year-old Jessie Merle Laing was wading in shallow water near Te Mata on the Thames Coast when her fiance Frederick Banfield heard her cry out.

He turned to see her running towards him, then she collapsed.

Mr Banfield thought he saw a fin in the water as he pulled Jessie out.

He flagged a passing truck to take the couple to Thames Hospital but she did not survive.

It was unclear at the time whether Jessie stood on the animal but at a coroner's inquest a wound was described in her chest, 6cm long and 2.5cm wide.

New Zealand is home to the world's "heavyweight" stingray but marine scientists insist the animals are one of the gentle giants of the sea.

The world's largest marine stingray is the short-tailed ray, a common enough sight for divers around the New Zealand coast. It has a wingspan of up to 2m and grows up to 4m in length.

Other rays include the long-tailed stingray, which is almost as big, and the eagle ray which is smaller, about 1m.

Professor John Montgomery of Auckland University regularly swims with stingrays in the course of research, particularly in the Poor Knights marine reserve off the Northland coast.

"I am reasonably timid and wouldn't knowingly enter the water if I thought it was dangerous," he said. "You can be swimming with up to 80 of them within sight. It's just important to remember not to get over the top of them or frighten them."

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa collection manager of fish Andrew Stewart said the short-tailed ray was the "world heavyweight" of rays that could initially give divers a bit of a fright.

"But once I realise what it is, I just sit back and enjoy watching the beautiful creatures."

- Anne Beston, NZPA

[Woody]

A man with 2 young kids and a wife, and no doubt a mortage should really know better.....
A dangerous animal is a dangerous animal, I guess his luck just ran out!
Hope u r wrestling with the crocs in the sky Steve!

RIP

[eos]

sshh....i think this will all be better if we ate a little stingray.

i've heard they're quite tasty.

[Banana]

I want to stop hearing that this was an accident.

It wasn't.

The animal attacked in defense of itself so he and/or the cameraman obviously did something wrong to provoke it. It might have been bad luck that he got stabbed in the heart but that's about it.

[rice cracker]

sshh....i think this will all be better if we ate a little stingray.

i've heard they're quite tasty.

Roasted or deep fried?

[Golden Monkey]

I've already posted an article with comments by "experts" who have seen the tape and they say Steve was not provoking the animal.

Evidence seems to refute the almost wishful speculation that Irwin was abusing this creature.

Besides, he was a well trained field biologist as well as a showman. He seems to have been aware of how to deal with deadly animals.

Even experts in any field can die due to accidents and bad luck.

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2006/09/04/ap2991698.html

Simon Pierce of Queensland University's School of Biological Sciences said there were no accurate records of stingray deaths, but estimated there had been about 30 worldwide in recent years.

Witnesses said Irwin was struck directly in the heart.

"It was extraordinarily bad luck," said Shaun Collin, a University of Queensland marine neuroscientist. "It's not easy to get spined by a stingray, and to be killed by one is very rare."

http://www.slate.com/id/2148992

How Deadly Are Stingrays?

The numbers behind the Crocodile Hunter's death.

[Arex]

For those who keep insisting that Irwin must have provoked the stingray, here are a few snippets from the article Golden Monkey posted:

Police say Irwin didn't provoke stingray

Wednesday September 6, 2006
By Nick Squires

SYDNEY - Australian police have scotched speculation that Steve Irwin was in any way responsible for his own death, insisting yesterday that he did not intimidate or provoke the stingray that speared him in the heart.

Marine biologists and other experts had said an unprovoked attack by a ray was highly unlikely, but it emerged that it was extraordinary bad luck, rather than a prod or a poke, that caused the death of the Crocodile Hunter.

Film footage of Irwin's last moments alive showed him pulling the serrated stingray barb out of his chest.

"There is no evidence that Mr Irwin was intimidating or threatening the stingray," said Superintendent Mike Keating of Queensland, who viewed the film of Irwin snorkelling in shallow water off the Low Isles, near Port Douglas.

"My advice is that he was observing the stingray."

Police will prepare a report for the Queensland state coroner.

"We'll be continuing to use that video in our investigation and we look forward to finalising the investigation very quickly," Mr Keating said.

Irwin, 44, whose irrepressible enthusiasm, safari suits and crocodile-wrestling antics made him an international star, was filming for a new series when he was killed on Monday.

He was snorkelling about 1m above a large bull ray, probably weighing around 100kg, when it lashed out, piercing his chest with the venomous barb on its tail.

The coronial report will try to establish whether Irwin died from the venom, the puncture wound close to his heart, or a combination of the two.

Watching the footage of Irwin's last moments was deeply distressing, said his producer and close friend, John Stainton.

"It's shocking. It's a very hard thing to watch because you're actually witnessing somebody die and it's terrible," Mr Stainton said.

"Steve came over the top of the ray and then the tail came up and spiked him. He pulled it out and the next minute he's gone."Sounds like a freak accident to me. Unless, of course, swimming a meter above a stingray is considered an act of provocation.

[Martino]

For those who keep insisting that Irwin must have provoked the stingray, here are a few snippets from the article Golden Monkey posted:

Sounds like a freak accident to me. Unless, of course, swimming a meter above a stingray is considered an act of provocation.

A metre ... about three feet. You don't think that's close for a wild animal that that is preyed on by sharks and which has evolved a defensive stinging weapon? He swam too close to the stingray, and freak accident or not, it killed him so, yes, I'd say the stingray did consider a human swimming above it an act of provocation.

Of course it was a freak accident. The stingray isn't a man eater, it didn't aim for Irwin's heart. The sting is an automatic response to threats. But it wouldn't have lashed out at nothing, would it?

[kimpossible]

I have no idea how there can be a flame war over Steve Irwin on YW but please stop. I'd like to not have to close the thread. Or ban people for a couple of days to give it a rest.

[snailpoo]

A metre ... about three feet. You don't think that's close for a wild animal that that is preyed on by sharks and which has evolved a defensive stinging weapon? He swam too close to the stingray, and freak accident or not, it killed him so, yes, I'd say the stingray did consider a human swimming above it an act of provocation.

And how many thousands upon thousands of people swim with stingrays each year? How many thousands upon thousands of people pet, feed, grab, poke, prod, pull stingrays each year?

Provoke is something completely different. If you're looking for provocation, you should be looking for something that a majority of stingrays would consider as provocation, not what 1 in however many million. You really should try swimming with them. Yes, they are wild animals, but no, they're not aggressive.

If you don't believe the statistics for human interaction, then head over to your nearest public aquarium. Rays are almost always kept with sharks. How many dead sharks do you see? How many sharks end up with holes in them?

Add to that, stingray tails are not that strong. It is a freak accident that the ray had such penetrating power to hit the heart. Add that to the fact that you don't know what the ray was thinking or what the ray was reacting to. Maybe it got sand in its gills, and picked that exact moment to move. Maybe it saw a crab. Maybe the electromagnetic field given off by the camera was too strong, or maybe it just picked that exact moment to decide that it should move from here to there.



To sum it all up, I think you guys are arguing over what constitutes a "provocation" for a stingray.

Martino, I think you consider the fact that the ray reacted a sign that what Irwin did was a provocation.

I think everyone else considers the fact that out of the millions of other rays that put up with similar acts by millions of other people, none considered such an act to be provocation.

[lethal]

No more personal attacks or name calling in this thread or speculation of what Irwin did or did not do or the intentions or motivations of the stingray. I will close this thread and hand out warnings and bans to anyone who violates this directive.

[misschopstix]

So sad....he was a brave man.

[mr. x]

why do I have the sick feeling his son's gonna follow in his footsteps? At the very least do something with high risk involved

[eos]

the stingray was abused when it was younger. end of story.

[Faithless]

why do I have the sick feeling his son's gonna follow in his footsteps? At the very least do something with high risk involved
I feel sorry for his kid. He'll only know his daddy by his daddy's press.

[FuNkY CaSaNoVa]

I loved that man
may he rest in peace!

[Napoleon Chynamite]

What I'm hearing from a lot of people is that Irwin was actually very committed to wildlife preservation and similar associated causes...so if this was indeed true I'd imagine he wouldn't really be in support of provoking or disrespecting animals. Although, fucking with alligators and other dangerous beasts in order to wow and entertain audiences might be considered immoral or messed up depending on the animal rights activist you ask.

In any case on the surface he seemed like a very good-natured and enthusiastic individual with an unquenchable thirst for thrills and life. RIP.

[kasia]

it's saddening, i guess, but why do i feel like his own life wasn't even that important to him?

[Golden Monkey]

Sad. He was a good guy.

http://www.tmz.com/2006/09/14/last-known-photo-of-steve-irwin/

Last Known Photo of Steve Irwin

Posted Sep 14th 2006 4:26PM by TMZ Staff

Below is the last photo taken of Steve Irwin before his tragic death last week. He is posing marine biologist Chris Jones on his boat, Croc 1, just two days before his death.

http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tmz.com/media/2006/09/steve_irwin_0906_icon.jpg

The last photo of Steve Irwin

Irwin died last week after his heart was pierced by a stingray's poisonous barb while filming on Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

Family and pals held a private funeral at the zoo on Saturday and there will be a public memorial service at his 60-acre Australia Zoo wildlife park next Wednesday.

[Golden Monkey]

Norm MacDonald on the Jon Stewart show talks about the crocodile hunter and Condi's new boyfriend?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EykYHRa0RVo

[haplesshobo]

All I saw from the funeral were some clips, but his daughter, Bindi, totally freaked me out the way she was smiling through her speech at Irwin's funeral.

[otter p.]

The aussies are killing in stingrays in revenge over the death of Steve Irwin. Just like there were some idiots who wanted to blame Irwin for getting himself killed, there are also idiots out there who want to kill stingrays for revenge. This is not what Steve Irwin was about, and its a disservice to his legacy and memory.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/09/12/tech/main1999895.shtml?source=RSSattr=World_1999895

[Napoleon Chynamite]

Yeah, because you know, the stingrays were all in a conspiracy together to rid the world of Steve Irwin, and now they must be punished.