RIP: Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin passes in animal attack (1 Viewer)

[TravisR]

I think it's great that he made nature shows that would get kids interested in science. I'm sure a number of kids will pursue scientific careers because of his shows.

 

[WillG]

It wasn't hard to imagine the idea of Irwin having an accident with a dangerous animal at some point. But it's definately an irony that he was done in by an animal that is generally docile that, even when they do attack, the effect is very rarely fatal. When you consider all the work he has done with crocs and deadly snakes.......weird. RIP

 

[NolanJ]

I'll miss his shows, but I think I can say that I will miss his person more. He was a very kind man who loved nature and his family even more.

I'll miss you Steve, and so will the people who had the pleasure of getting to know you through television.

 

[ThomasC]

R.I.P., Steve. :frowning:

 

[ChrisMatson]

I was thinking the same thing. A good friend of mine went swimming with rays recently in the Cayman Islands and talked about how gentle they were.

Steve, mate, you will be missed.

 

[WillG]

Yeah, I've done that as well. They tell you to be careful not to step on one, but otherwise, there's very little danger. I wonder if the companies that do "Sting Ray City" tours are having P.R. emergencies today

 

[Jeff(R)]

 

[MarkHastings]

What's really wierd is how shocked I am...I guess when you see the man avoid SO much danger in his life, you never really expect anything bad to happen to him.

Definitely sad.:frowning:But isn't that the way things are in life, the most mundane/not so dangerous situations are always more dangerous because your guard isn't up as much. That's when mistakes happen.

 

[Henry Gale]

I too thought that stingrays...sting, not kill.
Got this at Wikipedia:

"Their stinger is a razor-sharp, barbed or serrated cartilaginous spine which grows from the ray's whip-like tail (like a fingernail). It is coated with a toxic venom."

Sounds like Alien, only smaller.

 

[PatH]

I was always entertained by Mr. Irwin and I regret the pain his family is now suffering, but all the while I was watching him, I thought "This bloke's nuts and will not come to a good end." I'm certainly not crowing over this, but, take it from me, it's rare that I'm proven right about anything, though I certainly wish it hadn't been this. After all, the older you get, the more you appreciate that John Donne was right.

PatH

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

I can't believe it. :frowning: I really admired Steve's courage and child-like exhuberance for diving head-long into danger that would send most of us running for the hills.

Sadly, when I first started watching him, I thought on more than one occasion that something like this might happen one day, but now that it has, i'm still shocked.

RIP Steve Irwin. :frowning:

 

[Mary M S]

Pat I have the opposite sensation when I think on Mr Crikey, [though I too wondered what bestie would get him ] I sincerely hoped he would acheive the years count of a Jacques Cousteau.

I love bravery in any form and struggle within myself constantly to overcome my worrywart nature to be ready to avail myself of any opportunities towards expanding and adventuring.

Don’t forget that:
Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature,
nor do the children of men as a whole experience it.
Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure.
Life is a daring adventure or nothing at all.
- Helen Keller

It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
- Citizenship in a Republic


I shall not die of a cold. I shall die of having lived
- Willa Cather


I would rather be ashes than dust!
I would rather that my spark should burn out
in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom
of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
The function of man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time
- Credo: attributed to Jack London.



All these thoughts were written with men like Steve Irwin in mind.
My only regrets
..His wife will be irredeemably bereft whether she ever remarries, Men such as Irwin are like a two-tailed comet, something heard of but rarely seen abroad.

His children will only know the image, and not benefit from daily walks with him in the adventure that is life.

 

[Kristian]

Truly sad and shocking news... Back in 2002, I used to watch his show regularly and I even saw his movie on the big screen. He was such a charismatic personality and a true champion of the animal kingdom. My condolences to his family, both the humans and the animals.

On a related note, I hope that this tragedy does not lead to ignorance and the further endangerment of that stingray species. That would be against what Steve believed in.

 

[RyanAn]

Sorry if this has been posted, but http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Irwin has a really detalied life story of Steve and describes exactly what happened.

Also from: http://animal.discovery.com/fansites...=netmain_feat1

"To honor Steve and the enormous contribution he made to the world and to our company, DCI will rename the garden space in front of Discovery's world headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, the "Steve Irwin Memorial Sensory Garden."

DCI is looking at the creation of the Steve Irwin Crocodile Hunter Fund, which we'll affectionately call "The Crikey Fund" to honor Steve's passion and exuberance for conservation and the animal kingdom. This fund will allow people from across the globe to make contributions in Steve's honor to support wildlife protection, education and conservation. The fund in addition to contributions by DCI will also aid Steve's Australia Zoo in Breewah, Australia as well as educational support for Bindi and Bob Irwin. "

ry

 

[Mary M S]

Ditto Kristain, I swam with String rays last year in a canned tourist event with about a hundred people brought in 20 boats to the reef. The canned part bothered me till I touched the first Ray, then forgot all about being part of such a group and enjoyed the experince.

I called them 'vacuum cleaners' for their tendency to suck your hand into their mouths while feeding them squid.
I never forgot the warning about swimming with them while noticing most other people jumping up and down without care for their footing.

Most stings occur only when a swimmer steps on one buried in a sandbar. When you step on their backs the tail lashes up in defense so in the majoritive most victims are stung in the calve. Entirely survivable, just much pain I wanted to avoid so I 'looked' for a Ray resting, before each step I took.

To have such a freak occurrence happen to Irwin of all people and the engine of his death a fish rather than the ancient descendant of dinosaurs seems like it should mean ? (What?! – but - something!!!!)

 

[Jason_Els]

I can't help but think of Rosalind Russell as Auntie Mame when I think of Steve Irwin, "Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!"

He knew his entire life what he wanted to do, he spent his life living. Few of us are so lucky to do so much good for so many and have such a blast doing it. Every continent on the planet, every ocean, and most countries.

In Grover's Corners, the setting for Thornton Wilder's Our Town, Emily asks the Stage Manager:

Emily: Does anyone ever realize life while they live it?

Stage Manager: No, no they don't. The poets.... and the saints, they do. Some.

Steve Irwin LIVED his life the way he wanted, doing what he loved, with whom he loved, and did a world of good for environmental conservation along the way. I am saddened that he's no longer with us but proud and consoled to say that here was a man who spent every minute on this earth doing what he loved. When the end came it was out there in the wild, his daughter and friends with him and, by all accounts, so mercifully quick he didn't know what hit him.

How rare is it that? How wonderful it must have been for him to live with such unbridled, joyful, passion?

I think of Terri and the rest of his friends and family, but especially his two young children who will have so many years without him but they will also have the unique consolation of hundreds, perhaps thousands of hours of their father and mother to watch through their years and have the gift of seeing their father forever young, unbowed by age or infirmity, teaching the world, giving of himself, and having a blast doing it. If he loved his family half as much as he loved his animals, then they have lost a love that cannot be replaced. If I have any sorrow, it is for them.

 

[Michael Osadciw]

For the first time reading while reading a headline I paused with sadness. I enjoyed watching Steve Irwin and learned quite a bit from him. His personality on television made me felt like I knew him a bit...I guess that's why his death hit me a bit...

I always thought that if he were to go, it would have been because of some croc. But this is unfortunate...

I read the story here:

http://news.sympatico.msn.ctv.ca/Top...howbyline=True

Rest in peace, Steve.

Mike

 

[Justin Bauer]

Horrible, horrible news.

I pray for his wife and 2 kids and that the work he did will continue on in his name.

I hope the footage of his death is never leaked to the public...

 

[Jerome Grate]

My wife woke me up this morning when the news was announced it. Sad, really sad. What amazes me is the fact that the sting ray got him in the heart. He, unfortunately, had no chance.

 

[Keith Paynter]

A tragic loss, for Australia & the world.

G'bye, mate. R.I.P.