Stingray kills 'Crocodile Hunter' Steve Irwin

[Jim Ernst]

That's debatable in this case due to the venom.

However on the general subject of this thread, I'm also surprised by many of the adjectives. "unseemly death", "untimely death"!! Hard to believe, the guy runs constant risks and then gets burned. I don't see anything unexpected, unseemly or untimely.

Maybe the newspaper headline I saw this morning doesn't help me form a better image of this guy.
There's a picture of this imbecile with a 1 month old baby in his arm while feeding a large crocodile pieces of meat. For me this verges on total irresponsibility and he should be locked up and they should throw away the key.
The article then goes on to say that he was trying to ride the ray.
Maybe true or not but it's consistent with the wound location.

I've got hundreds of photos of large rays and I've never seen one get aggressive just because you swam over it.

YOU NEED TO HAVE A BIT OF RESPECT BUD!!! i am also suprised to hear such a comment, have you been a perfect human being??? doubt it!!!

 

[Kim]

YOU NEED TO HAVE A BIT OF RESPECT BUD!!! i am also suprised to hear such a comment, have you been a perfect human being??? doubt it!!!

I'm not sure that 'respect' is what's missing here.....

It seems to me that there are two sides here. Some think that Steve was completely wonderful and will brook no criticism, while others probably have reservations about how he acted/interacted with wildlife. Maybe to some it's unbelievable that he had such an 'accident' and to others it was always a question of where and when.

Still....it's clear that he loved what he did and he worked FOR the wildlife he was so passionate about. It's also clear that he made a HUGE impact on his audiences and raised awareness in the area of conservation.
You don't have to necessarily agree with his methods to respect the man, and be sad at his passing - even if it seems fairly obvious to some that luck doesn't last forever...for anyone. Guys like Steve live life at the edge and sometimes it can bite them (actually quite often....)
As sad as it all is, he and his wife for sure knew the risks....the kids?....that's a different matter but I'm sure as they grow up and see the body of work he made they'll know what their Dad did. There's not many Dad's out there who leave such a legacy as Steve for their kids to be able to watch....

RIP Steve Irwin.

 

[rawls]

The number one reason for aquatic life injuries is by putting them in a defensive mode. You had Irwin on one side and the videographer on the other. I have heard other reports that it was over and under. Irregardless, the stingray was put into a defensive mode. As far as a hole in the heart, the heart muscle can be penetrated without death occurring. It could have been any number of things. If the barb penetrated near the conduction system of the heart it could have thrown him into v-fib arrest. If it punctured an artery like the aorta...there he goes. The heart, again, because of loss of pumping capacity goes into v-fib. If he did pull the barb out he also pulled out muscle tissue and could have nicked or torn an artery. The arteries of the heart are high pressure vessles and if one is punctured...especially the aorta or the pulmonary artery, you just as well say you're a gonner. It is very sad, but he was in a very dangerous business and he knew the risks. But a stingray barb through the heart...who would have guessed that's the way he would go. Very freak accident. I would have thought it would be something like a black mamba...The good thing about Irwin was he was an animal advocate and for that we have lost a great individual. May he rest in peace and sincere condolences to his family...

 

[Mako Mark]

You can still have a huge amount of respect for Steve and what he achieved, and still say he had it coming.

I think it was just a matter of time, however, I am glad that he did so much for wildlife before it happened and also wish that it had come later.

I dont really approve of his methods, but I applaud his motives.

Oh Yeah, and MikeSP I agree with you, the baby incident was had little difference from the more highly publicised Jacko one.

I guess we all do dumbass things in our lives, I know I have.

 

[Kayla]

Regardless of what happened or why.. The guy is going to be missed. He made me laugh, and while I thought he was one crazy bugger, I admired the love he so obviously had for the job!!

My thoughts and prayers are with his family tonight...

 

[BKP]

Interesting video blurb on The Weather Channel... Apparently, with unusually warm (and warming) waters, stingray attacks are up (in SoCal, anyway)... perhaps the heat has them a bit cranky... I know it does *me* like that...

 

[Storm]

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

I have many years experience being around wild animals that you very much. I have, for at least thirty years, been heavily involved outdoor pursuits that put me in close proximity to many land based wild animals. Instead of allowing myself to fall victim to fear through ignorance I’ve spent more than a few years studying their biology and behaviour patterns.

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.

IMHO, for someone who lists their profession as a paralegal to argue the opposite is preposterous. Are you are basing YOUR opinion on YOUR carer as an animal biologist and a wildlife specialist? Preposterous indeed. Not only that, but you list Steve Irwin as a celebrity and TV host. He was also listed as a naturalist…a generic term for one who studies nature. I don’t see too many letters following his name with regards to formal education as a biologist, but you blindly accept the way in which he handled his subjects as of he had those credentials.

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."

No YOU mock what you don''t know or in this who you don't know,that's me. I never mocked him. I have some differences in opnion as to how he handled his subjects, but I never mocked him.

What you believe, and your reasons, is your own to do so. Yes he had experience, but as to the rest, I would hardly call picking up a poisonous snake by its tail as taking every possible precaution. Regardless of his mental comfort zone, he took great chances when handling his subjects, chances that many others (who are professional biologists) have also aid bordered on recklessness.

A man struck dead by lighting walking across a parking lot…his number was up. A man who was in habit of standing in the middle of a field during a lightning storm holding a long metal rod...pushed his luck once too often.

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.

So lets see because is it was a marine animal that killed him, you assume (more blather) that I was talking about this particular incident, and then surmise that my opinions are based on inexperience because you looked at a dive count that can’t be changes, was set last year, and has no real relevance regarding my experience with wildlife.

Did he only handle marine wildlife? No. Do I have some experience around land based wildlife; yes. Did he handle land based wildlife; yes. Ergo, I can, based on my personal experience I formulate an opinion as to how he broke rules about interacting with animals. One can study a snake without picking it up by the tail and whipping it around. Once can study and appreciate a top tier predator, with out grapling with it. Now ask youself this, did you watch to learn about the wildlife or to watch how he would grapple with them.

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.

There is no contradiction. He bought land and turned it over to conservation issues and wildlife parks. Hence he made admirable contributions.

"he donated a generous portion of his movie earnings to various crocodile and animal rescue leagues." A quote from his bipgraphical information. Admirable contribution....wouldn''t you say.

 

[Kaiviti]

Steve, from one Aussie to another, its heart breaking to see you go mate.

My condolences to his wife and kids.

May you keep wrestling the salties up in heaven.

 

[JDog]

If he wanted the footage shown, you would deny him that? Why?

Yes.

Just like I would deny someone that wanted his footage shown, that just jumped off the hundreath floor, or the bankrobber going down in a hail of bullets hoping for his 15 minutes of fame. I hope the footage is destoyed, you can put me in that box, if you like.

 

[audission]

I had no idea that a "sting" is essentially a "blade".. ouch..

Barb Pic 1

Barb Pic 2

Regarding Steve Irwin - my feeling is that he perfectly represented the "dumbing down" of cheap-to-air TV. watch David Attenborough's "Blue Planet" or "Life on Earth" - proper documentary makers spend years attempting to film wildlife in its natural habitat. Production values/budgets are necessarily massive for these sorts of programmes.

Irwin, on the other hand, required little more than a betacam and a stick, and some balls. The results made for some pretty compelling viewing I'll admit, although I always got the feeling celebrity may have pushed things a little too far. (Once you've picked a taipan up by the tail, what do you do for an encore?)

That said, and if you'll pardon the appalling use-of-phrase, I believe his heart was genuinely in the right place. Clearly he admired and loved the animals he was talking about. And his charitable efforts etc should be acknowledged. I'm all for people with passion on TV - frankly I'd rather one Steve Irwin than a million Big Brother contestants.

RIP.

ps anyone know if he was wearing/if a Sting Ray barb would puncture a wetsuit?