Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin Dies

[CzarinaAnya]

Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin Dies

I'm in shock. I always thought it'd be a croc that would get him, if anything. His wife Terri doesn't even know, yet. They can't get a hold of her, sicne she's in Tasmania.

[nubka]

I'm in shock, too! It just doesn't seem possible. My prayers go out to his wife and two children.

[Piel]

How sad. My heart breaks for his wife and children. Maybe that he died doing something he loved will give them comfort.

[Kasey]

It is shock. It's surreal. I'm watching Animal Planet a little while ago, and a commercial comes on for a Croc hunter show later today....the announcer says "The croc hunter pushes his luck with......blah blah blah". Push his luck maybe, yes. But the man did a great deal for conservation and education, and reached a great number of people with his message. His poor family, he was far too young. I'm glad he at least died doing what he loved....for what little consolation that is.

[Zanzibar]

Steve Irwin was a wonderful, wonderful man and I'll admit I had a crush on him for years. Reports regarding his wife are conflicting - the local news still reported at 6:00 am CST that his wife still had not been informed as she was hiking in a remote area outside of Australia, yet a news article from Australia released a few hours ago quoted Irwin's best friend as saying that he had told his wife of the tragedy. It sounds like they were able to reach her. What a huge loss.

We just dove with some enormous stingrays last winter for an Adventures Off Ice story and it's easy to forget around these normally gentle creatures that they have the potential to be deadly. I hope his family can take some solace that he died doing what he loved, and that thankfully it wasn't from a crocodile, the animal he worked so hard to protect.

[Buzzz]

R.I.P. He will be missed.

[iluvtodd]

What a shock and horrible loss for his family. May he rest in peace.

[Blue Bead]

Oh, man! Oh, wow!! This is a complete shock. What a loss! He was Evel Knievel and Indiana Jones all wrapped into one. At least he died doing what he loved. His TV specials always brought out the most interesting facets of the animals he sought to capture--the kinds of things one would never see from zoo animals. He will be missed.

[heyang]

The odds were so against dying this way. Based on all I've read so far, the venom isn't deadly to humans and it just happened to puncture his heart.

[Grgranny]

I just caught a little bit of that on tv and don't know what happened. Did a croc get him?

[Grgranny's Baby]

It was a stingray barb in his heart.

[Wolfgang]

Something odd must've happened, stingrays are not normally aggressive, and will strike only when cornered.
I'm sure Steve Irwin knew better than to corner one.
You will be missed, mate.
Crocs rule.

[Joesitz]

Who knew the stings were deadly? If they did why didn't they have a medic around?

Joe

[Piel]

Joe they were filming a story about the deadliest creatures in the sea or something like that so it seems that it would have made sense to have a medic of some kind on standby. Also, usually these things are insured and the insurer would require medics on standby....you would think. Just so sad.

[julietvalcouer]

It wasn't the venom. The barb can be 20cm long and is comparable to being stabbed with a boxcutter in the chest. Some rays can pierce a plank of plywood with their stingers. Apparently the ray spooked for some reason and stabbed, and the barb went into his chest. From the sound of it, they're guessing it either stabbed into the heart or tore the arteries above it, and he was dead basically before he reached the surface. It was a true freak accident--ray stings are usually not fatal, though the venom can cause shock and they're very, very painful.

:( My first thought was his wife, and his little kids. Very sad.