Strange News

[@sea]

This is just too weird to comment on this.....

 

[Sas]

There's no such thing as ghosts.

 

[HJeffreyM]

I know I gonna catch hell for this....but here goes:

Steve Irwin died because he made his living harrassing animals in the name of television. I have been in the water with numerous stingrays. I have no doubt that he could not have been stabbed in the heart by one unless he was on top of it, trying to ride it, or was harrassing it at close quarters. He died pushing his luck with animals one too many times.

Ok, there I said it...G'day mate!

 

[Drewski]

Steve Irwin died because he made his living harrassing animals in the name of television. I have been in the water with numerous stingrays. I have no doubt that he could not have been stabbed in the heart by one unless he was on top of it, trying to ride it, or was harrassing it at close quarters. He died pushing his luck with animals one too many times.

Actually, you said it quite nicely so I won't give you too much grief. OK, so JUST A LITTLE !!!

Sure, sure, he sold the lives of animals to television and in some cases really interacted in a way most people might question. But with Steve Irwin, you saw what you got. He was never fake, never stayed in the helicopter "while Jim gets close-up shots of the lion pride," and put it all on the line. In the process, he raised the global awareness of the plight of many species of endangered animals, raised millions of dollars to help them and enthralled tens of millions of children word wide. All in all, not a bad eulogy.

I think the most telling moment with Steve Irwin that I ever saw was a piece he was doing in the rain forests of Borneo. He was sitting high in a tree, next to a large Orangutan and her baby, quietly talking about about the lives of Orangutans and their social structure. Suddenly, the mother ape reached over and handed Steve her baby to hold while he was talking - just THINK about THAT one for a second. He finished his talk, handed the little guy back and just shook his head.

So, STEVE, Buddy, swim on over to the east coast of the USA. I'll dive with ya...

 

[HJeffreyM]

Drewski...I have no doubt that SI had some tender moments with wildlife. But, when you think about it, the situation you describe is exactly what I'm talking about.

I've always enjoyed science and nature programming on TV. Undoubtedly many of us divers have been inspired by seeing undersea images on PBS or Discovery. We want to go there ourselves!

The best nature cinematographers take great pains to ensure they are filming their subjects doing what they do naturally, in their natural habitat. Many wait in a blind for weeks and months to get a shot of some behaviour or another.

Watch the Discovery series Planet Earth or the recent Blue Planet. You will never see a human being in the shot. The point is to learn about nature by observing it, not poking it.

Wouldn't we learn more about the behaviour of Orangutans by observing the mother and baby than we do by seeing how they react when a human sits in the tree with them? Why did Steve need to be in that tree in the first place? It made for sensational TV, but what was the point?

I'm sure he was a nice guy and I'm sorry he died that way. Let's just say I didn't care for his style of documentary film making...and leave it at that.

Oh, and when you're diving, try to avoid poking stuff...some of it pokes back!