The Crocodile hunter is dead?
 

I've just heard reports that Steve Irwin - The Crocodile Hunter has died after being stung by a stingray in North Queensland, Australia.

Wow :(

Regardless of what you thought of him, his genuine dedication to wildlife conservation will be sorely missed.

Edit: it's true: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20349888-2,00.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14663786/

Ow. He was lame yet awesome. 's a pity.

Wow. I've just been listening to local radio in the car, and Steve's death is being compared to that of Princess Diana. His "Australia Zoo" ia about 90mins drive from Brisbane, in the Sunshine Coast hinterland.

I understand the comparision. I feel genuinely shocked and saddened, even though I wasn't particularly an Irwin fan, and he was pretty much bound to go in a way that would make the news.

Our local ABC radio had a trauma councillor on to talk about how to tell your kids the sad news. Irwin himself was very popular with children, and had a strong involvement with childrens' group "The Wiggles", together they had an enourmously popular kids' DVD.

There's a real outpouring of sadness and dismay amoungst talkback callers on the commercial networks as well. He did a lot for the local community, and was very popular in the Sunshine Coast region.

Krikey, it was bound to happen!

Yeah, everyone knew he wouldn't die in a car crash or fire or some mundane thing like that... everyone knew he would die at the hands/paws/jaws/tail of some animal.

I wonder if they got it on tape? I always figured he'd get mauled by a large cat or a bear or bitten by a poisonous snake.

Sad too that his wife is the last to know - the whole WORLD knew about it before she even found out just a few hours ago.. she and kid were hiking in the tasmanian mountains.

he did amazing things for the wildlife in this country and around the world. An offbeat guy - but i think the world has lost a very precious energy today.

It is sad whenever kids loose their Dad. The interesting part to me is how television made this guy famous enough that folks in Australia, Taiwan, and the US are touched by his death. That means by avoiding the medium, I am losing a common connection worldwide rather than just countrywide. Did he impact environmentalism outside Austrailia or was that more national?

From what I am reading here, it was a freak accident. Most peoples experiences with stingrays involve being stung in the foot or leg. I guess while diving, the odds of a hit to the chest are increased.

Also, like bee stings, different people can have different reactions.

It's a shame. The guy was a bit of a showman, but anything that kept the public's attention on nature and conservation was a good thing.

Goodbye, Steve. You were taken too soon.

At least stingrays are relatively cool animals. This would have been a much different conversation had he been mauled by a koala.

Very sad, seemed like truly good - if a little nuts - guy. Bye Steve.

I feel terrible for his family and loved ones, but he did this himself and has been taunting this for a long time.
As someone who has worked with dangerous & exotic animals, both large and small, for most of my life, he is reckless, irresponsible and boring (it was for television).
The reason for his "campaign" was to educate, but all he showed was animals going "oh shit, I'm being fucked with!" instead of just leaving them alone when he had great shots of them in their natural habitats.
I understand having to pull a python out of it's lair, but when you have a chameleon on a stick stalking a bug, leave it, let us watch it hunt... grabbing it and putting it on your hat it NOT educational. Endangering yourself with deadly snakes is NOT educational, showing us what they do in their natural habitat is, unless you are relocating them like Brady Barr...
Again, this is a tragedy for his family and friends and I do send loving and healing energy to them all.
I am very sorry for the painful death he suffered, but this was a long time coming and I hope that it helps to elevate the level of naturalist television.

A couple of the news accounts I've read state that it was filmed.

Plenty of tragedy to go around: now what will Animal Planet do without the Croikey!-Guy?

Steve was a world class noodler. I'll miss him.

*prepares for weeks of highlights, tributes, and marathons* ... which I will enjoy. A great loss.

Said tributes have started. Turn on Animal Planet right now.

Being stabbed in the heart with this thing, covered with venom, must have been a great shock.:eek:

Well, at least he "died with his boots on." He was quite the showman and I'll miss him for that. :sniff:

Tis an awful thing, I wasnt a great "fan" but I really admired his spirit and dedication plus the things he has done for endangered and misunderstod animals worldwide.

His Australia Zoo is the cleanest and best presented place I have ever been too. Plus he wins big brownie points for the hundreds of acres of land he has been buying up around the globe that has been restored back to "natural" and left to the animals.

It was filmed, he was filming a docu and the 'ray "panicked" because it had a cameraman one side and Stevo above him...so it lashed out.

If he had been stung anywhere else on the body it most likely wouldnt of killed him.

A bit of a "wally" but an honest man with a really good heart.

See ya Stevo!!

A bit of a "wally"

I assume this meen Kook ???

On Stevo , well if you swim with sharks you WILL get BIT !!!!
It sucks on MANY levels , but he seemed to be haveing fun doing his thing .

He was definitely one of a kind. He may well have been the world's worst overactor, but his passion for conservation and critters in general made him more lovable than irritating. I was in a funk all day yesterday because of the news :(

The irony was humorous, though. Steve Irwin getting killed by a stingray is like Keith Richards dying from bad aspirin or something. He seemed a self-deprecating sort, I think he would've gotten the joke.

He could make anything seem exciting. "there's a common earthworm! Look at that blighter - what a beauty! Watch how it curls around when I pick shim up. Wow, check out all those segments!"

Last night they showed some home video of him as a youngster. He truly had a love and fascination with animals.

He believed that the future of conservation was dependent on people getting to see and know the animals, so they could come to care about them.

I'm holding my breath now waiting to see how the syndicated radio community will respond to this tragedy. Steve was a target for spoof artists.

Should they leave it alone awhile out of respect, or should they play the skits as an honorable tribute?

I won't mention any radio persons' names as you are all prooly already aware who they are.

counterpoint.
caution: distasteful remarks ahead.

good link.

That seems to be the consensus view locally. Their points are valid, but maybe slightly rigid.

I might as well take this upon myself:

"'The way to a man's heart is between the fourth and fifth ribs.' -- Steve Irwin"

<hastily dons hardhat>

I awoke this morning to my local station's morning show starting out discussing Irwin's demise, then playing an "interview" with him they did last year.

It was a parody. Never let it be said that commercial radio will let anything go by with respect. But I *do* agree about Irwin's sense of humor. I think he would, indeed, get the joke. After all, he is the guy who took his baby into a croc pit. Since that wasn't intended to be horror, it must have been humor, and dark humor at that.

Germaine Greer's piece in The Guardian - now there's a venomous reptile.


Bring me my harpoon.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/australia/...865124,00.html

That woman just needs to get laid...by a man!

she sure can fill out a page

What a dingbat! Has her vision become so clouded that she has to attack someone posthumusly to satisfy her own sense of self righteousness?

There's no doubt that Steve Irwin has done a few things in his time which have been questionable, however, the man had a passion which made it much easier to forgive these actions.

I was talking to my partner about this just the other day. Steve has been such a major figure for Australian tourism and conservation over recent years and his death made us feel like a friend we once knew had died.

Regardless of what you think of his actions, it's clear that the wildlife of Australia and possibly the world has lost a champion for their cause.

I heard that he did a commercial for ESPN where he jumped on the mascot of the Florida Gators, who was in full gator costume, and wrestled with him. I was told it was very funny. If that's not self-parody, I don't know what is...

hmmmmmmph.....

Greer has gone full circle from 'rebel without a bra' to 'doyen of the pseudo-intlectuall set'.....

pass the matches and lets get back to basics....

I heard a quote from Jack Hannah, no small fry in the big zoological pond himself, regarding the unlikeliness of Irwin being killed by a mere stingray:

"Steve Irwin being killed by a stingray is as weird as me being killed by a poodle."

So that's Germaine Greer: sour, sour, sour. In a way, it's unfortunate her column is ephemeral, to pass and be forgotten with the rest. Don't recall ever hearing that she was an expert on animal psychology.

A friend actually sent me the link to that today, it was very amusing.

Au contraire'. Doesn't a bitch know a thing or two about the other animals?

Though said in a much more unpleasant way, she pretty-much said what I did in my initial post.

Here's an article about Greer and her peice
http://www.time.com/time/arts/articl...532375,00.html

It addressed the mean spirit of her article, but not my main problem with his career... It was very poorly written.

rkzen...

You may believe that how Steve Irwin conducted his life and his business was wrong and that's your right however, believe me when I tell you that how he behaved on camera was not an act. This man had a true passion for what he believed in, and that of course was conservation and education.

So I'm reading the article and thinking to myself, there is no way she's spewing this vitriolic bile out of the clear blue sky - there's gotta be some history between these two.

A little googling and I'd say its 50% man-hating, femi-Nazi-ism, 50% from his chummyness with John Howard/George Bush and 50% that she is also in the business of wildlife conservation in Austrailia and, its reasonable to assume, Irwin probably didn't treat her with the same reverence that most shriveled-up feminist intellectuals think they are entitled to.

Allow me to share a few of Ms. Greer's pearls of intellectual discourse with the class so that perhaps - don't get your hopes up-, someday, we can strip away the crusty outer shell of ignorance and self-delusion that keep regular folk like you and me writhing like one-celled amoeba in the bottom of the gene pool while Ms. Greer and her ilk look down upon us with the disdain and scorn we so richly deserve...

Referring to the many documentaries by Irwin, she had this to say:

I wonder if she and Irwin locked horns at some point...
And interestingly...
Interesting comment from a thinking woman's woman given the book she published 24 months prior...
Well, Ms. Greer, if I had to choose between all the good and all the good will Steve Irwin did and proffered in his short career and your contribution to cockroach conservation, putting Tolkien fans in their place, pimping yourself on reality TV and, lastly, earning yourself an honorary lifetime membership to NAMBLA, then I'll have to go with Irwin.

Maybe, Ms. Greer, you can fall in the line of duty like Mr. Irwin did. For him, the animal kingdom he loved, respected and cared for is where his last moments were spent. Given your tepid and sordid contribution to humanity, I figure you'll end up face down somewhere a lot less flattering and with a lot less dignity.

HERE, HERE !!!!
Well said AGAIN Beestie !!!!

Beestie - LEGEND!!!! - way to take apart the crusty!!!!

I couldn't be as elequent as that in a million years.

Awesome stuff! Crikey mate, what a cracker!!!

Beestie, you really should get some kind of award for post #45. Very good.

Beestie for Rationalist King! Bravo, sir!

Damn, Beestie! I'll be surprised if she doesn't sue you over that come-uppance.:notworthy

You go Beestie!!! Our local news station did a poll as to who agreed with Germaine Greer's statement that "most" aussies share her views on Stevo... a stunning 11% agree with her but the other 89% of those polled think she should shut the hell up!!

She's a nasty, sour old b*tch that should mind her own business and leave Steve's family and freinds to grieve in peace instead of taunting them publicly. Where were her opinions when steve was dead and she could say them to his face so he could defend himself if he wanted?

I just find it a bit worrying that apparently his death is #3 on the top 100 google videos atm. Haven't seen it myself, so I can't verify whether or not it's genuine.

Edit: Oh, and Beestie? *high fives* well said.

I can't believe anyone would want to see a thing like that. It'd have to be traumatic.

I find it a bit hard to believe that the video got there at all, let alone so quickly. In fact, I think I'll not believe it until someone posts a legitimate link.

Um...okay...I saw stingrays, I heard noises...I didn't see anyone get stung in the chest.

It is fairly possible and in fact likely that these stingrays have been killed by fishermen (to avoid being stung; a common practice when a ray gets caught in a net) rather than angry fans, however, it's possible it was fans.

Occam's Razor applies here.