DescentBB

'Crocodile Hunter' Steve Irwin killed by stingray!

The probable cause of death is stingray strike to the chest.

Crikey!

Thats gotta suck.

OUCH!

Just proves the fact that one day everyone of us will die.

At least, he died while enjoying his life's work.

i grew up watching him....

rest in peace man...

Stingray barb through the chest has GOT to suck. I wonder if there was video footage of the attack

Thats too bad. But, as was said, he died doing his favorite thing. Most of us don't have that privilege.

Don't you know though, all the bookies are busy today since I'm certain a LOT of folks had bets down that a croc would get him.

Darn, I bet all the croc hunger shows and his movie are going to be on \"LONG WAIT\" at netflix now. I'll have to wait for the furor to die down and then rent them again.

Admiral Thrawn wrote:Stingray barb through the chest has GOT to suck. I wonder if there was video footage of the attack

"Wildlife documentary maker Ben Cropp, citing a colleague who saw footage of the attack, told Time.com that Irwin had accidentally boxed the animal in." - CNN

I'm sure it will show up on some shock website like Ogrish eventually.

Topher wrote:I'm sure it will show up on some shock website like Ogrish eventually.

And I hope the guy who posts it there accidently boxes in a black mamba in his shower and after being bitten reels back and falls face first into the toilet he forgot to flush and drowns in his own waste!

Sad to see that mad Ocker cark it.

It was a bit predictable though wasn't it? I mean, he was never going to die of old age now was he?

Topher wrote:I'm sure it will show up on some shock website like Ogrish eventually.

Let's hope that since the video is in the hands of people who worked with and respected Steve, they'll be able to keep it from going places they don't want it.

Mobius wrote:It was a bit predictable though wasn't it? I mean, he was never going to die of old age now was he?

Just odd that he spends his life around poisonous snakes and killer crocks and ends up being done in by something that is a very low threat to human life. But yes, I think SOMETHING along these lines was the way he expected to go.

My teenagers are still trying to be in denial. His shows were a big part of their childhoods.

I was rather surprised at this news myself, you kinda think that the people like that on TV just eventually fade out, so when something like this happens it really catches you.

One good thing about Steve dying (If you can call it \"good\") is that The Croc Hunter will NEVER fade away. Now he's a legend, he'll always be young in people's minds, he'll always be that insane guy jumping in with a massive croc', and wrestling it.

There'll never be an aged Irwin, stumbling about the place looking too old to try doing what he used to do.

He's the James Dean of the Natural World.

Mobius wrote:One good thing about Steve dying (If you can call it "good") is that The Croc Hunter will NEVER fade away. Now he's a legend, he'll always be young in people's minds, he'll always be that insane guy jumping in with a massive croc', and wrestling it.

There'll never be an aged Irwin, stumbling about the place looking too old to try doing what he used to do.

He's the James Dean of the Natural World.

ill drink to that

i would have liked to see him grow old like his dad, whos retired.
Steve wouldn't have faded out like some has-been actor, he really is (was) that energetic and excited naturally. It's no act, he really was that naturally exhuberant. He's not an actor he runs the Australia Zoo just north of here, he's primarily a naturalist.

I'm with roid. I think it would have been interesting to watch him passing the torch on to the next generation.

Kilarin wrote:I'm with roid. I think it would have been interesting to watch him passing the torch on to the next generation.

He pretty much has.
It's really sad that he won't be here to see it.

While my condolences go to his wife and children, I have to say that I've yet to see a \"professional\" reptile handler actually handle dangerous snakes in a professional manner. Want to hunt snakes, wear snake boots and long pants. How many of the show boaters do?
Want to catch a poisonous snake? Use a special pole with a clamp made specifically for the job. Catching one by the tail, while increasing viewer ratings, is not the professional way of doing so.
So as the saying goes, \" There are old pilots and there are bold pilots but there are no old bold pilots\".
Steve has born proof of the adage.

woodchip wrote:There are old pilots and there are bold pilots but there are no old bold pilots".
Steve has born proof of the adage

EXCEPT, that he didn't get killed doing any of his normal "risky" stuff. He was diving in a situation that everyone acknowledges was very low risk. Stingrays are just not usually considered deadly. It wasn't carelessness that got him, it was just a freak accident.

Yea, when I heard of the news it really took me by surprise. I enjoyed his shows.

I think one of the things I really liked about Steve was that he didn't have any qualms about making fun of himself.

ESPN Commercial

FedEx Commercial

Warning! In the FedEx Commercial Steve fakes getting killed. If that seems to sensitive a topic right now, skip it. To me, it just illustrates everything I liked about the Crocodile Hunter.

Will Robinson wrote:

Topher wrote:I'm sure it will show up on some shock website like Ogrish eventually.

And I hope the guy who posts it there accidently boxes in a black mamba in his shower and after being bitten reels back and falls face first into the toilet he forgot to flush and drowns in his own waste!

Cue Kill Bill music.

woodchip wrote:While my condolences go to his wife and children, I have to say that I've yet to see a "professional" reptile handler actually handle dangerous snakes in a professional manner. Want to hunt snakes, wear snake boots and long pants. How many of the show boaters do?
Want to catch a poisonous snake? Use a special pole with a clamp made specifically for the job. Catching one by the tail, while increasing viewer ratings, is not the professional way of doing so.
So as the saying goes, " There are old pilots and there are bold pilots but there are no old bold pilots".
Steve has born proof of the adage.

Yah, read the link before commenting, you're off topic.

Topher wrote: Cue Kill Bill music.

woodchip wrote:While my condolences go to his wife and children, I have to say that I've yet to see a "professional" reptile handler actually handle dangerous snakes in a professional manner. Want to hunt snakes, wear snake boots and long pants. How many of the show boaters do?
Want to catch a poisonous snake? Use a special pole with a clamp made specifically for the job. Catching one by the tail, while increasing viewer ratings, is not the professional way of doing so.
So as the saying goes, " There are old pilots and there are bold pilots but there are no old bold pilots".
Steve has born proof of the adage.

Yah, read the link before commenting, you're off topic.

I suggest you read a little closer:

Irwin 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,

is public image was dented, however, in 2004 when he caused an uproar by holding his infant son in one arm while feeding large crocodiles inside a zoo pen.

Stingrays have a serrated, toxin-loaded barb, or spine, on the top of their tail. The barb, which can be up to 10 inches long, flexes if a ray is frightened. Stings usually occur to people when they step on or swim too close to a ray

Later that year, he was accused of getting too close to penguins, a seal and humpback whales in Antarctica while making a documentary.

I stand by my previous reply

Kind of unfair Woodchip, he wasn't just a \"reptile handler\" he wore many hats, conservationist, naturalist, and among others a charismatic T.V. personality/wildlife expert, that role included entertainer, and that role put him scary-close to lots of creatures we normally never get to see. So in that sense he was supposed to go where no reptile handler dared to go....
The point being, he wasn't some guy doing his job poorly. He was a guy doing a dangerous job.

woodchip wrote:

Topher wrote: Cue Kill Bill music.

woodchip wrote:While my condolences go to his wife and children, I have to say that I've yet to see a "professional" reptile handler actually handle dangerous snakes in a professional manner. Want to hunt snakes, wear snake boots and long pants. How many of the show boaters do?
Want to catch a poisonous snake? Use a special pole with a clamp made specifically for the job. Catching one by the tail, while increasing viewer ratings, is not the professional way of doing so.
So as the saying goes, " There are old pilots and there are bold pilots but there are no old bold pilots".
Steve has born proof of the adage.

Yah, read the link before commenting, you're off topic.

I suggest you read a little closer:

Irwin 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,

is public image was dented, however, in 2004 when he caused an uproar by holding his infant son in one arm while feeding large crocodiles inside a zoo pen.

Stingrays have a serrated, toxin-loaded barb, or spine, on the top of their tail. The barb, which can be up to 10 inches long, flexes if a ray is frightened. Stings usually occur to people when they step on or swim too close to a ray

Later that year, he was accused of getting too close to penguins, a seal and humpback whales in Antarctica while making a documentary.

I stand by my previous reply

Your original post implied he died because he was show-boating. You bring up how you didn't approve of how he handled snakes, which has nothing to do with how he died.

A stingray's toxin is not overtly deadly but I guess the barb went into his heart!! Ouch! I guess there is footage of it and subsequently, him pulling the barb out and dying.

The world lost a good one. Why couldn't Cuda have been swimming??

Zuruck wrote:The world lost a good one. Why couldn't Cuda have been swimming?? :)

Even said in jest, that's going too far.

Topher wrote:

woodchip wrote:

Topher wrote: Cue Kill Bill music.

woodchip wrote:While my condolences go to his wife and children, I have to say that I've yet to see a "professional" reptile handler actually handle dangerous snakes in a professional manner. Want to hunt snakes, wear snake boots and long pants. How many of the show boaters do?
Want to catch a poisonous snake? Use a special pole with a clamp made specifically for the job. Catching one by the tail, while increasing viewer ratings, is not the professional way of doing so.
So as the saying goes, " There are old pilots and there are bold pilots but there are no old bold pilots".
Steve has born proof of the adage.

Yah, read the link before commenting, you're off topic.

I suggest you read a little closer:

Irwin 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,

is public image was dented, however, in 2004 when he caused an uproar by holding his infant son in one arm while feeding large crocodiles inside a zoo pen.

Stingrays have a serrated, toxin-loaded barb, or spine, on the top of their tail. The barb, which can be up to 10 inches long, flexes if a ray is frightened. Stings usually occur to people when they step on or swim too close to a ray

Later that year, he was accused of getting too close to penguins, a seal and humpback whales in Antarctica while making a documentary.

I stand by my previous reply

Your original post implied he died because he was show-boating. You bring up how you didn't approve of how he handled snakes, which has nothing to do with how he died.

It has everything to do with it. The snake handling was just a example of how he took risks. The risks were taken to enhance his personna and nothing to portray his "professional" handling of wild life.

hoo boy.. here we go with the penis contest again..

Woodchip wrote:The risks were taken to enhance his personna and nothing to portray his "professional" handling of wild life.

He did take risks, but I question your analysis of his motivations.

And, to repeat what has been said over and over here. I have yet to hear a single profesional say that what he was doing with the stingrays was risky. Divers swim near stingrays all the time. They swim with them at the aquariums I've been to. This was not considered to be an especially risky behavior.

Driving to the beach, now that was risky. Automobile accidents are a MAJOR killer. Every time you get into a car you are taking your life in your hands. Every time you put your kid into a car, even in a child saftey seat, you are taking a VERY real and measurable risk that they will end up smeared all over the road. Considering the number of deaths from stingrays, I imagine the risk driving to the beach was higher than the risk of swimming with the stingrays.

I expected Steve to get killed by a croc or a poisonous snake some day. Had that happened, then yes, there would have been some justice in saying that he lived risky, and eventually the odds caught up with him. I'm not convinced that is necessarily a BAD thing, but it would have been true.

BUT, that's not the way he died. He was swiming with stingrays. They just are not usually dangerous. The profesionals who have viewed the video said he wasn't doing anything dangerous to antagonize the stingrays. It was just a freak accident. Like being killed by a swan. Yeah, it happens, but it's very rare, and it doesn't mean people should quit feeding them bread crumbs at the lake.

It's like a professional race car driver backing into the corner of his garage by mistake. It just doesn't happen. Poor guy...I bet he wanted to go out via python, or something else...anything. It's like being killed by a kitten...

woodchip wrote:his public image was dented, however, in 2004 when he caused an uproar by holding his infant son in one arm while feeding large crocodiles inside a zoo pen.

That's how Steve was himself raised. I assure you the baby was fine, only international tourists and media drama-queens who know nothing about crocs were freaking out.

This may be something that a lot of people are unaware of... Steve runs the "Australia Zoo" on the sunshine coast, it's a family business - his father ran it before him - and steve's wife, daughter, and in time perhaps son (baby Bob) are right into it as well. The Zoo is practically his family's backyard and playpen. Steve himself often jumps out and plays tourguide for lucky (and stunned) groups of tourists at his zoo - it really is his home.

My mother went there just a few weeks ago to show some tourists from Perth around, and in her photos i watched Steve and Terri sitting amongst the audience cheering on their daughter - who had decided that day she was going to be one of the dancers. Those kids are as comfortable around that place as you were riding on the back of your dad's motorbike. They learn great things from their dad and the rest of the zoo keepers - incl obviously lots of hands on stuff. It's the way of things.
Maybe i should post the pics...

'Lil Bindy... she never took her eyes off her dad the whole time.

Guys, this is Steve being interviewed by Andrew Denton. It's a great look into the inner workings of Steve, from 2003. Denton does great interviews, so check it out.

Part 1
Part 2 3 & 4 should be in the \"Explore More Videos\" window to the right.

Transcript: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/enoughrope/tra ... 732743.htm

and a Transcript of another Denton interview done with both him and Terri in 2004. Perhaps as a response to the media circus that the \"feeding crocs while holding Bob\" incident caused: http://www.abc.net.au/tv/enoughrope/tra ... 071026.htm
(havn't found that video online yet)

Thanks roid!

lol... have none of you noticed that you can supposedly \"Buy Steve Irwin dead on eBay!\"?