'Crocodile Hunter’ Steve Irwin dies

[LordFoulsBane]

‘Crocodile Hunter’ Steve Irwin dies

Naturalist reportedly killed by stingray barb

Reuters

Sept 3, 2006

SYDNEY, Australia - Steve Irwin, the quirky Australian naturalist who won worldwide acclaim, has died in a marine accident off Australia’s northeast coast, local media reported on Monday.

Queensland state government sources quoted by Australian Associated Press (AAP) said Irwin, 44, whose television show “The Crocodile Hunter” won international acclaim and popularized the phrase “Crikey”, was believed to have been killed by a stingray barb that pierced his chest.

He was filming an underwater documentary off Port Douglas when the accident occurred, the report said.

Sky Television also reported that Irwin had been stung by a sting ray.

Australian emergency officials could not immediately confirm the reports.

Irwin won a global following for his daredevil antics but also triggered outrage in 2004 by holding his then one-month-old baby while feeding a snapping crocodile at his Australian zoo.

[Made in the USA]

If this is true, I will miss him. He always cracked me up with his enthusiasm towards stuff that scared the hell out of me! Kind of ironic that he got killed in the sea, when most of his adventures were on land or swamps. RIP you crazy Croc Hunter!

[Made in the USA]

http://www.theage.com.au/news/Nation...222051588.html

Here is a new link, if I did it right.

[lurker]

He wasn't very high on the list of people I'd like to hang-out with and even further down on the list of people I'd like to work with... I'm sure the devil's den is very busy now.

[Granny Giggles]

Wow once again I was reading about this news on here and it came across Fox News that is just to weird.

That is really sad even though I wouldn't watch the dude because I thought he was just down right stupid for doing the stuff he did. They couldn't pay me enough to do his job that is for dang sure.

RIP Crocodile dude!

[K C Muffin]

[WizardofOz]

It is kind of ironic that he gets killed by a sea animal that many people consider to be gentle, yet he messed around with killer crocs and snakes.

[TexKan]

Yeah it's a sad thing but I think he lived knowing when it's your time - it's your time. Where you are makes no difference. I think he lived life on his own terms and will leave a path for his children to do the same. That's not always a bad thing. I don't believe I woulda wanted to do what he did but if it made him happy......... then it was a good life - a life well lived! Just sad it's been cut short. RIP Croc Hunter

[Highwayman]

The Animal Planet link;

http://animal.discovery.com/fansites...rochunter.html

Donations and zoo links;

http://www.crocodilehunter.com/

Check out the movie trailer;

http://www.crocodilehunterthemovie.com/home.html

[Tee]

The underwater video footage of Steve Irwin's death after he was speared in the chest by a stingray was "shocking" his manager and close friend John Stainton reportedly said today.

Irwin's body has been flown to the Sunshine Coast from far north Queensland.

His casket was flown from Cairns and is due to arrive at a Sunshine Coast airport later this afternoon.

Mr Stainton, who was accompanying the body, said Irwin's funeral arrangements would be left to the family.

He told reporters earlier the underwater video footage, which he had handed to police, was the worst thing he had ever seen, Sydney's 2GB radio reported this morning.

"I have seen the footage and it's shocking," Mr Stainton said.

"It's a very hard thing to watch because you're watching somebody die and it's terrible."

Mr Stainton, also a producer and director of Irwin's popular television shows, said the footage showed Mr Irwin pulling the barb out of his chest before losing consciousness.

'The tail came up'
"It shows that Steve came over the top of the ray and the tail came up, and spiked him here [in the chest], and he pulled it out and the next minute he's gone.

"That was it. The cameraman had to shut down."

Mr Stainton, who was aboard Irwin's vessel Croc One when the tragedy occurred, said it was most likely the television star and naturalist died almost immediately as a result of the stingray's blow.

"[He was] probably a metre coming over the top of it," he said.

"He was underwater. I think, and the coroner's report will say what happened, but I think he died fairly instantly."

Mr Stainton said he was still in disbelief that a stingray could claim his close friend's life.

"He was always on the precipice," he said.

"He always pushed himself to the very limits but I thought he was invulnerable and I think he did too.

Close shaves
"I think we all had that belief that we'd pull through whatever situation we were in and he has been in some very close shaves with snakes and crocodiles.

"I would never imagine it to come from something like a stingray."
A post-mortem examination has confirmed Irwin died after being speared in the chest by a stingray's poisonous barb.

"We're not going into the detail but there's definitely no surprises. Everyone knows how he died," a police spokeswoman said.
Mr Stainton said Irwin's crew was struggling to come to terms with the death.

"Devastated," Mr Stainton said when asked at a news conference in Cairns today how Mr Irwin's crew was coping with the loss.

"As you can imagine, you guys shooting stuff and someone you're filming, for years, has died in front of you, is shocking.

"It's a shocking thing, traumatic, it's one of those things you don't expect and you have to deal with it."

Politicians pay respects
Prime Minister John Howard told Federal Parliament today: "Steve Irwin's death yesterday in bizarre, tragic and in some respects quintessentially Australian circumstances has not only shocked and horrified the people of Australia but it has brought forth an outpouring of grief and an outpouring of emotional expressions of regard for this remarkable man around the world."

Quoting actor Russell Crowe to the House, Mr Howard said: "The Crocodile man Steve Irwin was the Australian many of us aspire to be."

He described Irwin as a talented showman who used his skills for good.
He praised his involvement in a highly successful Customs campaign.

"His willingness to front the high profile program Quarantine Matters was a great contribution to the quarantine cause and the clean, green protected image that this country wants to continue and represent to the rest of the world," Mr Howard said.

Mr Howard said Irwin also made an important contribution to the Australian tourism industry.

The NSW Parliament paused in silence today as a mark of respect to Irwin.
NSW lower house MPs today briefly suspended their deliberations after party leaders expressed their sadness at Irwin's death.
Premier Morris Iemma said Australia would seem like a smaller place without him.

Crikey fund announced
Irwin's conservation work would continue despite his death yesterday, a close friend said today.

The executive director of Irwin's Australia Zoo at Beerwah, near Queensland's Sunshine Coast, pledged today that Irwin's work to protect wildlife would go on.

"We have an obligation now to do more, and through his legacy we hope more Australians and more people around the world will get into conservation," Michael Hornby told Channel Nine's Today program.

"Things like the culling of wildlife, which Steve was very passionate [against]. That has to stop. We've got to create safer habitats; we've got to carry on the mantle."

Irwin made a great contribution to the conservation movement around the world, Mr Hornby said.

"I don't think we'll ever come to grips with his impact," Mr Hornby said.
"It's not just the direct stuff, the land that he has purchased to create habitats, the money he has invested, the motivation that he has provided so many people.

"But it's because of him that other people have now taken up a career or taken up a passion in conservation, and he has directly influenced them, and hopefully many, many people to come."
Irwin was also a great friend, he said.

'Lovely guy'
"He's a lovely guy, you know. If you didn't know him, he kind of polarised, I guess, some people. You know, the tall poppy syndrome; but as a person, so genuine," Mr Hornby said.

"What you saw on TV was how he was as a guy - always up, always motivated always inspiring, but always there for you."

Earlier today, the American TV company that made the Crocodile Hunter a household name in the US - Discovery Networks, which owns the Discovery and Animal Planet channels - announced it would continue Irwin's legacy with the creation of the Steve Irwin Crocodile Hunter Fund, nicknamed The Crikey Fund.

The fund will "honour Steve's passion and exuberance for conservation and the animal kingdom" and will fund programs around the world.
It will also aid Irwin's Australia Zoo as well as provide educational support for his two young children.

State funeral offer
Queensland Premier Peter Beattie says Irwin will get a state funeral if that's what his family wants.

Mr Beattie today said Irwin put Australia on the world map.

"He will be remembered as not just a great Queenslander, but a great Australian," Mr Beattie told Channel Seven.

"Whenever I travel overseas, particularly to countries like the United States, he was certainly the most well known Australian.

"People didn't know who our Prime Minister was, or who our Premiers are, but they certainly know Steve Irwin."

Asked if his Government would honour Irwin with a state funeral, Mr Beattie replied: "We will honour Steve Irwin in whatever way his family wants."

But first it was important to let his wife, Terri and two young children, who recently returned to Queensland from Tasmania, deal with the tragedy, he said.

"Our first thoughts have to be with Terri and the children and I don't want to say or do anything that will make their grief worse because they are a wonderful family," Mr Beattie said.

"We will approach the family and we would obviously be keen to honour him in some sort of way from the Queensland Government point of view, from the state's point of view, but we would only do that with the family's approval.

"They have to deal with this terrible news which has shocked everyone."

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2006/...222098946.html