Stingray kills 'Crocodile Hunter' Steve Irwin

[MikeFerrara]

"but the pressures of television to push it into the danger zone and have close calls are also there. If Steve had played it too cautiously, they'd have found someone else"

With that said, I wonder how much was tv and how much was reality?

Would we have watched if he wasn't taken chances?

That's TV these days and I don't watch much TV at all.

He was not a stupid man or inexperianced with wildlife.

No, he wasn't stupid. His show made some one a LOT of money and that's how most people measure success.

He was the mondern day Merlin Perkins and he derserves our respect for the work he was doing.

He did whatever he did and I hope he was compensated fairly but I fail to see what he did to deserve anything from me beyond the respect that I hope that I would extend to any person.

May he rest in peace. Our prayers and best wishes to his family and friends

Absolutely. He was a person who had a family. He is gone leaving others in pain and loss.

 

[Jcsgt]

So was he snorkeling or diving? If he was diving, was he wearing a BC? I wonder if a BC would have offered any protection.

No matter what happened, I'm so very sorry this happened. I didn't agree with some of his practices in interacting with wildlife, but very much respected his conservation efforts.

My sincerest prayers and condolescences to his family and loved ones.

 

[Mafiaman]

Remeber the T.V. antics made the money that covered the research side, it got alot of us to watch and payed some big bills.

I hope the next world is as good to him as this one was.

 

[Aucilla]

I was shocked to hear how this poor fellow met his end. I always thought that sting rays wouldn't sting someone unless provoked and even then I asssumed that they had to use the leverage of the bottom to hit. And, well, I just figured if you didn't step on one, you could get real close.

I have seen some huge ones nestled in the sand at St. Teresa. I got up close and personal with one a couple years ago, diving off Palm Beach. My dive buddy told me we could "pet" the rays, and at 60 feet or so I think, on a wrecked barge, we saw a couple big ones swimming along like birds slowy flapping wings. She sped up to brush her hand on the passing wing, so of course I did too. No problemo!

Last December, I dove off of Belize on a dawn dive. We went in about 5 AM, and dove through the sunrise. This way, you see things, critters, that are out then but not during the day. And of course, you see the nocturnal behavior of all the critters you see. So, we saw this little fella:

So, now we know that a stingray can kill you. I wish I knew more of what he was doing when it happened.

I have clipped a few news reports, but I am not giving the web sites because they are all sketchy now:

rwin was at Batt Reef, off the remote coast of northeastern Queensland state, shooting a segment for a series called “Ocean’s Deadliest” when he swam too close to one of the animals, which have a poisonous bard on their tails, his friend and colleague John Stainton said.
“He came on top of the stingray and the stingray’s barb went up and into his chest and put a hole into his heart,” said Stainton, who was on board Irwin’s boat at the time.

Fellow-Australian wildlife filmmaker David Ireland said he was shocked and saddened by Irwin's death, adding that a stingray's barb could be as deadly as a rifle bayonet.

"They have one or two barbs in the tails which are not only coated in toxic material but are also like a bayonet, like a bayonet on a rifle," he told Southern Cross Broadcasting radio.

"If it hits any vital organs it's as deadly as a bayonet," Ireland said.

But after years of close shaves it was a normally harmless stingray which finally claimed his life on Monday, plunging a barb into the Crocodile Hunter's chest as he snorkelled in shallow water on the Great Barrier Reef.

May we all rest in peace.

 

[grassyknoll]

For Halloween one year I went as Steveo, I wore kahki shorts and nobody knew what I was until I threw this inflatible pool-toy alligator (sorry, no croc Steveo) onto the gound yelling "Crikey" and searching for its cloaca, everyone knew who I was then.
Steve Irwin was a rare sort, the type of person who appealed to all by virtue of his commitment and yes, eccentricity. Even those who were not nayure lovers or Discovery Channel watchers knew and generally liked Steveo. The world is a better place for those like him, Jacki Chan, Johnnie Knoxville, The Grizzly Man etc...

Today the world is just a little duller, rest in peace Steveo.

 

[Danman589019]

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/?from=ni_story
has the most info

 

[D_B]

Very sad day
... Steve was quite a character ... very sorry for his children not to be able to grow up with such a "fun" dad

 

[HowardE]

So, now we know that a stingray can kill you. I wish I knew more of what he was doing when it happened.

He was - according to his crew...

Footage of the attack shows Irwin swimming above a 2.5m stingray before it turns on him and sends a poisonous barb through his heart.

With no disrespect at all for the croc hunter... He lived dangerously, and often challenged wildlife into defensive postures. He had been heavily criticized over the past few years, for harassing the wildlife in order to make his shows.

If you don't challenge a stingray, you won't get stung... They are afraid of us, and obviously, this attack was brought on because of encroachement onto the stringrays space.

Luckily for him, reports say, he most likely died instantly, and probably felt little to no pain.

It is a truly sad event... but the question of harassing sea life and wildlife in order to produce exciting television remains to be seen. When you continue to live by dangerous practices, you can pay the price. I am sure that Mr. Irwin knew his risks and accepted that death was always a possibility for him.

 

[Diver Dennis]

This reminds me of the Timothy Treadwell incident. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Treadwell

Steve did a lot for conservation and raising awareness of animal issues and truly loved animals. He did get very close to some of them and as has been posted it seemed like this might be the inevitable outcome. Wild animals are just that, wild.

I hope that his good work continues and people remember all the good things he did. Sad indeed.

 

[ZAquaman]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14663786/?GT1=8506

He came on top of the stingray and the stingray’s barb went up and into his chest and put a hole into his heart,” said Stainton, who was on board Irwin’s boat at the time.