Steve Irwin is Dead

[straightalker]

Steve's manager says he swam over a 2.5 meter wide stingray that was flat on the bottom as there was some other diver in front helping him filming underwater. The stingray had a defensive auto-reflex because it felt somehow threatened. (With a fish these things are purely instinctive reactions) It slapped the huge barb into Steve's chest into the edge of the heart then pulled out which because of the serrated edges of the barb does far more damage on the way out than in. Steve made in up into the boat alive but then collapsed.

Wish they would stop harping about the baby and the crocodile incident in 2004. I've seen the video of that and that was nothing. No croc was ever going to get Steve or his family. No way. That's the one creature he had the advantage over in terms of reflexes and experience.

Steve had the best wife any man could ever hope for. Terri. Well i'm sure they will carry on and continue to do great things as the children grow up and mirror their father's love for wildlife.

 

[JackStorm]

Originally posted by: Perknose
Very, very sad for his family and for us, but that man lived a fuller life than most, and died doing what he loved.

As the Lakota Sioux would say upon greeting the morning sun, in the warmest and most positive sense, "Today is a good day to die."

He did indeed.

Here's to you Steve :beer:

 

[Darkhawk28]

RIP Steve.

 

[DealMonkey]

Criky! Very, very sad news.

 

[Cruise51]

 

[BoomerD]

Originally posted by: Perknose
As the Lakota Sioux would say upon greeting the morning sun, in the warmest and most positive sense, "Today is a good day to die."

Yutta hey!

The animal kingdom is in mourning for the loss of one of it's best known and strongest advocates. My deepest sympathies to his family.

 

[Zedtom]

What a loss for humanity! He had that wonderful way of appealing to everyone with his sincere nice guy attitude. He was really starting to branch out into more respectable wildlife productions and getting away from the sideshow crocodile wrestling that brought him to notoriety.

 

[CaptnKirk]

Wow, a billion to one fluke accident.

 

[feralkid]

Originally posted by: jrenz
If getting killed by a stingray barb through your chest doesn't get you laid in heaven, I donno what would...

Wow, just...wow.
:roll:

 

[Harvey]

:brokenheart:

 

[308nato]

My hat is off to Steve. He had balls.

 

[kage69]

Sad news indeed. Even though I found him annoying at times, I still respected him as a real zoologist - unlike the crowd of actors out there trying to mimic his success.

The bad luck involved in his death just astounds me, and the fact that he had just become a father is really depressing. Poor Dingo. :brokenheart:

Awhile ago a man was on a boat fishing for marlin (or sailfish?) and he hooked one which eventually lept across the back of the boat and speared the man clear through his chest with it's long point bill. Very nearly killed the man.

Yeah that happened down in Pinas Bay Panama, at the Tropic Star Lodge I believe. It was a marlin I think, I was there fishing with my dad the year before it happened. That guy was damn lucky, billfish bills can leave horrific cuts to your hands and arms if you're not careful, I don't even want to think about what it would be like to get skewered by one, and then have the several hundred pound owner struggling to get back in the water!

 

[TheSlamma]

I'll miss his hilarious shows on Animal Planet. I loved the one when he was playing with a baby camel at his zoo that was great.

But he did live a full life.. he died doing what he liked to do and also left giving millions and millions to help animals. That family has a LOT to be proud of.

 

[BrownTown]

Wow, of all the dangerous things this guy did to be killed by what is apparently a very docile creature is just horribly ironic. Hopefully his TV shows made enough money that his family will be taken care of.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: BrownTown
Wow, of all the dangerous things this guy did to be killed by what is apparently a very docile creature is just horribly ironic. Hopefully his TV shows made enough money that his family will be taken care of.

I see the show referred to as "multimillion" so I think they'll not have a problem on the money front. I assume that the zoo is partly going to be in Terri's name now, so she'll have that too.

It's a shame that it had to happen this way. I too thought he'd die of old age or in a car accident, not with the animals. He knew the animals so well, and he'd know how far he could go with an animal before it'd go nuts on him. I still wonder if he even saw this sting ray. The account says that the ray was buried in the sand. Steve probably knew too that rays weren't aggressive animals, and that they should only sting if they were really directly threatened, like maybe from being stepped on.


From here:
"Surf Lifesavers national marine stinger adviser Lisa-Ann Gershwin said there had only been 17 fatal stingray attacks worldwide. 'I think it's just an extraordinary freak accident that has happened to his heart,' she said.

'A lot of people will be afraid by this, but they need to keep in mind that this was a freak accident, it was a terrible tragedy but it is not common.'

Dr Gershwin said stingray stings to the legs or arms were common and, while painful, were not normally considered dangerous."

And from here:
"Stingray attacks are extremely rare. There have only been two similar deaths reported in Australia."

 

[Jaskalas]

 

[Smartazz]

yeah, I just read that about five minutes ago, I guess he died doing what he loved though. Still sad though.

 

[Smartazz]

WTF is wrong with people? Some fvcked defaced his wiki article.
Text

 

[Xcobra]

man, i really felt that. RIP Steve!

Originally posted by: Smartazz
WTF is wrong with people? Some fvcked defaced his wiki article.
Text

wtf?! thats fvcked up!

 

[jrenz]

Originally posted by: feralkid

Originally posted by: jrenz
If getting killed by a stingray barb through your chest doesn't get you laid in heaven, I donno what would...

Wow, just...wow.
:roll:

Oh lighten up. Mourning a loss doesn't have to be all frowning faces and tears. It isn't like he died in a car accident... he got stabbed by a goddamn stingray through his chest.

 

[TITAN126]

Very sad. He died doing what he loved though, and knew there was an element of risk in what he did. He will be greatly missed.

 

[raildogg]

I too was shocked when I first saw that Steve Irwin had died. It really is unbelievable. I used to watch his shows on Animal Planet and loved them. He was one of the greatest animal handlers that we know of. He has educated so many people about all kinds of animals and raised awareness of the enviroment. I am very sad right now. I will miss the fun episodes and all the wild things he did.

There was a special on where he put a few huge crocodiles from one area of the zoo to the other. They had done this with the team from the zoo. Great episodes. Like everyone has said, he has a wonderful wife and two children. What a loss to humanity. It is very rare to find people like Steve Irwin, who are genuinely kind hearted and do good for this earth. I did not know him personally, but I could tell that he was a great person. *tears*

Wherever you are Steve, I hope you are having fun with animals!

 

[Smartazz]

I heard he wrestled an croc at the age of 9, his Dad was ok with it.

 

[dmcowen674]

Ouch, heard this morning that he stayed concious long enough to pull the barb out of his heart.

That probably speeded up his death actually.

 

[GroundedSailor]

Update:
The family has decided to decline a state funeral.

I'm glad the family has decided to mourn in private yet allow the fans an opportunity to say their farewell.


http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,20372122-5007200,00.html

STEVE Irwin's family has opted to farewell the Crocodile Hunter at a small, private funeral service for family and close friends.

But in response to the overwhelming public grief and sympathy expressed following Irwin's death, the family has also pledged a full public memorial service soon.

Irwin's father Bob said yesterday a private service would be held within the next seven days "for family members and closest friends only".

But Mr Irwin said the public would have the chance to farewell his son in the next fortnight.

"Because of the tremendous public sympathy and support, we have decided to hold a full memorial service within the next two weeks at a suitable venue yet to be decided," Mr Irwin said.