Stingray kills 'Crocodile Hunter' Steve Irwin

[alcina]

If that is Steve's biggest legacy let it be to inspire people to care. To have passion and love in their life, to show it in all they do and to all whom they care for.

I think this is a great summary and sentiment.

 

[gangrel441]

If the family releases it then so be it. I am powerless to stop it one way or the other. I think I would have a hard time supporting that choice. But,it will forever be on the reel right after the Kennedy assasonations. Forever reliving a moment in time that, I believe, is better left to fade away and be forgotten with the lesson learned.

Can anyone say that they heard Steve Irwin wish to have his death televised, I mean in person or is this hearsay? Could it be summarmized that in saying that "my death should be aired" was an exit stratergy to leave the show and live out his life in annominity? (I am playing devil's advocate a little too much, now) At this point I do not believe that anyone would want their demise on tv. Just because he was a celebrity does not give the public the right to every aspect of his life, or death.

For the record I think we are off the subject too. This thread should be for remembering and honoring the man and not to argue over the video.

Should we start another thread for discussing the video?

Yes. Steve is on record in interviews stating in so many words that if such a thing should happen to him, he wants the cameras to continue to roll, and he wants the footage released.

 

[ohmdiver]

Dennis,

What I am trying to say is that the video SHOULD NOT BE OR EVER BE released to the public. This is strictly my opinion. If the family decides to release it, I am powerless to stop them. And I will not go out of my way to see it, but it will be on a media loop like the Kennedy assionations, the planes into the trade centers, hurricaine making land, tsunamis, Reagen getting shot, Reagen' funeral Diana's crash.... Over and over again until we are desencitized to it all, until the next BIG media event.

Let the man rest. Like all good men he will be remembered, with good thoughts, but release the video and you reduce him to a single moment in time. Nobody in recent time, the last 30 years or so, knows anything about Kennedy other than a moment in Dallas. This is not fair to the memory of the man. I feel, again strickly my opinion, 30 years from now anyone wishing to know about Steve Irwin is going to start at that video, a poor tribute to a man that worked as hard as he to preserve wildlife. Any mention of his works will be a footnote to that video. And that would be a shame, too.

Again I can not stop the family from releasing it, that is their right. It is thier choice to make. I am saying that it is my hope they choose not to.

The opinions stated by me are strickly my own, if you disagree that is fine, if you agree that is fine too.

I also think we have beaten this enough. It is simply not up to any of us one way or the other. All we can do is sit back and wait to see what happens next.

Anything added to this will simply be to get the last word in as I have said evrything I wanted to say, so I will not go on about it any more, unless asked directly.

If you feel insulted or slighted in any way I am sorry, but these are my opinions. And I am allowed to have them even if they are wrong.

 

[Diver Dennis]

No, I'm not insulted at all and I can see your point. I just think it is up to the family or Steve Irwin himself if he made his wishes known. The other down side of showing the video, is that if it does not clearly show what happened, there will be endless speculation.

I certainly respect you opinion ohm.

 

[ohmdiver]

Good to know, now work forces me to get to bed.

 

[Scubaguy62]

I’ve got to agree.

First off let me offer my condolences to his family and friends.

I am also of mixed emotions. I only watched brief bits of his show as I often felt that he was extremely reckless and although he appeared to admire the various species he interacted with, he appeared to lack respect for them and their capabilities.

I also felt that he broke just about every rule with regards to interacting with wildlife, and inflicted a tremendous amount of stress on his subjects just to get that good shot.

I too am a bit surprised by the reaction as I have read many posts here telling novice divers to please respect the wildlife we observe and not interact, or interfere with them, but those comments were usually directed at the non celebrity.

It is surprising that it was a ray, but I often felt after watching a few of his antics, that he was tempting Darwin a bit too much, and that one day one of his subjects would get the better of him...but I still hoped that it wouldn't happen.

That being said, his contributions to wildlife conservation were admirable, his grin contagious, and his tragic end a loss to his family, friends and fans.

Ahh..the voice of inexperience.....

No pun intended, but I'm curious how many of the people who believe he tempted fate a bit too much are animal biologists and wildlife specialists? I'm not in any way implying that y'all don't have a right to your opinion, but how fact founded is that opinion? Steve was a celebrity, and a TV show host. As such, he was required to not only present informative material, but also to make it interesting and exciting. IMHO, for someone who is not an animal biologist and a wildlife specialist to make such an implication, or anything of the sort, without being a professional animal biologist and wildlife specialist is preposterous. He did not tempt fate anymore than we do everytime we strap on a scuba rig. IOW, the risks he took were as calculated as it is for us to use our dive tables to plan our dive and/or use our computer.

We mock what we don't know, and you're not considering that in his comfort zone, and within his level of training and experience, he probably believed there was little danger, although danger existed nevertheless. There's no way to predict, with 100% accuracy, how a wild animal will behave 100% of the time; they're wild animals. I have to believe that someone as experienced as he was, who was not only mature, but also a family man, would have taken every possible precaution, despite his overwhelming knowledge of wildlife. As I posted before, IMHO, his death was the consequence of his "number being up."

Again, no pun intended, and if you're an animal biologist, my apologies, but please talk about breaking the rules about interacting with wildlife when you have more than 15 dives under your weightbelt, and after you've realized, and experienced, that more often than we care to admit, and often in a playful way, wildlife interacts with you.

I just don't understand how you can say that he broke just about every rule regarding interaction with wildlife and at the same time, say he offered admirable contributions to wildlife conservation. That just implies the greatest of contradictions, IMHO.

 

[alcina]

I also think we have beaten this enough.

I think this is true...each has an opinion and that's great, but there's little to be gained by simply restating it over and over. The video may or may not be released - our feelings or thoughts or sensibilities have nothing to do with the decision. And the video does not change that there was a loss of life and that Mr. Irwin did a great deal of good regardless of opinion on his methods. All of that is probably best kept for another thread, as was suggested earlier...

 

[Web Monkey]

Again, no pun intended, and if you're an animal biologist, my apologies, but please talk about breaking the rules about interacting with wildlife when you have more than 15 dives under your weightbelt, and after you've realized, and experienced, that more often than we care to admit, and often in a playful way, wildlife interacts with you.

I'd be willing to bet that virtually none of the wildlife that he grabbed, roped, taped, tossed into a sack and/or threw into the back of a pickup truck thought he was being "playful".

FWIW, the number of dives you have has nothing to do with knowing that if you touch enough stuff, eventually, some if it will "touch you".

Terry

 

[almitywife]

Shortly Steve Irwins father will front a media scrum.

as posted earlier, both our prime minster and state premier offered a state funeral to the Irwins. in fact, federal parliment was stopped yesterday so the PM could offer condolances to the family

in the meantime, outside Australia Zoo has become a shrine with kakai shirts, kids drawings and flowers and his wildlife fund, Wildlife Warriors is accepting donations

what im thinking is how much work the man would have done for conservation in the next 20 years and how we have lost this voice

 

[almitywife]

my typing sucks as i am actually in tears listening to Mr Iwin but, to quote a few things from Bob Irwin, who obviously sounded very upset;

"to the media in general, ...... repect the childrens privacy"

in regards to releaseing the footage "that will be terri's decision but as i said earlier, please give them space"

in regards to his death "steve and i had many discussion over the years and steve knew the danger involved and he wouldnt have wanted it any other way"

"steve and i weren't like father and son, we were good mates...i'll remember steve as my best mate"

"his message is conservation"