Steve Irwin, the TV presenter known as the "Crocodile Hunter," has died after being stung by a stingray in a marine accident off Australia's north coast. Mr. Irwin was filming a documentary on "Things that Can Kill you in the Sea"
He had been lucky up until now.
Irwin made news headlines in 2004 after involving his infant son in one of his crocodile stunts.
Irwin held his son Bob, who was a month old at the time, in one arm while he dangled a piece of chicken over the snapping jaws of a four-metre crocodile.
He later acknowledged that he should have done things differently and officials in Australia's Queensland state decided not to file charges against him.
Aww crikey mate we' ll miss ya.
He was the best thing for nature TV shows since the Mutual of Omaha Wild Kingdom.
Find blog posts, photos, events and more off-site about:
Steve, Irwin, Crikey, Crocodile-Hunter, Australia, natureTV, crocs, stingray, conservation,
4 comments:
Not that it matters much, but I have seen the documentary he was filming referred to as per your title once, and as "Ocean's Deadliest" twice in articles on the net. I think the latter might be the real title, and the subject matter "things that can kill you in the sea". Sorry if my origonal post steered you wrong on this.
ALthough you didn't say it was the title did you? And neither did I.
Never mind then. Good post, and I too miss Wild Kingdom.
Further irony since the Stingray is not considered one of the Oceans Deadliest.
"Collin said stings usually occur to people when they step on or swim too close to a ray and can be excruciatingly painful but are rarely fatal."
THE Crocodile Hunter risked his life almost daily in wrestling man-eating saltwater crocs and handling the world's deadliest snakes, but he was killed by a usually benign sea creature that appears to have simply felt threatened by his presence in its habitat.
Another thing about the stingray in question is that "rarely fatal" refers, I think, to the relative strength of a Sting Ray's venom, which is quite mild apparently.
The tragedy for Mr. Irwin and his family is that the ray apparently strung him right in the heart. A twenty centimeter long stinger in your chest is pretty deadly regarless of venom, so Mr. Irwin esentially died of a stab wound, more than a "sting" per se. It is apparently a very rare occurence, with only about 17 people being killed by stingrays in the last 100 years.
A terrible mishap that I don't think reflects at all upon Mr. Irwin's expertise with wild animals, or the care he usually took. Seems like this was just a freak occurance, making it all the more tragic.
Post a Comment