Crocodile Hunter killed

[JSngry]

[7/4]

Exactly what I was thinking.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

MG

[Stefan Wood]

Can someone tell me why this is getting so much press? I never thought of him as a big cultural icon.

[BruceH]

No big surprise here.

[7/4]

Can someone tell me why this is getting so much press? I never thought of him as a big cultural icon.

Me neither. I didn't know anything about him until he got a bit of press for holding his 1 month old kid while feeding a crocodile.

[Soulstation1]

2 pac

biggie

grizzly bear man

crocodile hunter

[Aggie87]

Can someone tell me why this is getting so much press? I never thought of him as a big cultural icon.

I think he was maybe better known that you realize. He'd been famous for a long time, for being sort of crazy and doing things around dangerous animals that you just didn't see on other nature shows. Plus, other than the seriously stupid baby-dangling incident, I think he was generally well liked by the public.

Couple his reputation with the DRAMATIC (no two ways around that - a stingray barb to the heart??) way in which he was killed, it makes for headlines.

Edited September 5, 2006 by Aggie87

[RDK]

Can someone tell me why this is getting so much press? I never thought of him as a big cultural icon.

Nothing to do with him being a "cultural icon" imo. But he was an international TV star (whether you heard of him or not) who died during a freakish encounter with a stingray, all of which was captured on camera. How could something like that not get press?

[kenny weir]

Read the article posted by 7/4, Kenny.

the fluke part was it going through the rib cage and hitting his heart and him dying:

''It was extraordinarily bad luck,''

sounds flukish to me.

Yeah tough luck. BUT ... he was swimming above the beast in quite shallow water, with a camerman in front. It seems far more than likely to me that the ray was responding to what it perceived was a threat.

If Irwin had so much of the respect and love for wildlife - as he was always banging on - then he would've made sure he was out of harm's way. Regardless of what sort of threat - deadly or otherwise - it posed.

But no. How could it be otherwise with a bloke who may have had deep and righteous conservation/wildlife aims, but who provided entertainment based almost solely on tormenting animals? Not a lot of respect there, IMO. His whole schtick was based on NOT giving wildlife the sort of space his so-called respect would have semed to make a no-brainer.

And now there's a widow and two orpahns.

People who think like me are being labelled as urban elites full of cultural cringe. Fine. I can live with that. But just a reminder: Australia is a nation of about 20 million souls and is overwhelmingly an urban country. The kind of outback lifestyle - and critters - evoked by the likes of Irwin does exist, but is only a small part of what makes Australia tick. Like the US, we are full of immigrants - and brilliant jazz musicians and artists of all sorts of, er, ilk.

[Dan Gould]

Read the article posted by 7/4, Kenny.

the fluke part was it going through the rib cage and hitting his heart and him dying:

''It was extraordinarily bad luck,''

sounds flukish to me.

Yeah tough luck. BUT ... he was swimming above the beast in quite shallow water, with a camerman in front. It seems far more than likely to me that the ray was responding to what it perceived was a threat.

If Irwin had so much of the respect and love for wildlife - as he was always banging on - then he would've made sure he was out of harm's way. Regardless of what sort of threat - deadly or otherwise - it posed.

But no. How could it be otherwise with a bloke who may have had deep and righteous conservation/wildlife aims, but who provided entertainment based almost solely on tormenting animals? Not a lot of respect there, IMO. His whole schtick was based on NOT giving wildlife the sort of space his so-called respect would have semed to make a no-brainer.

The fluke part was the barb to the heart, not that the stingray reacted as it did.

It seems to me that by doing his "shtick" he got more people interested in wildlife, and did much conservation work. His shtick might have been what got him attention, it hardly seems like that's all there was to him.

[Chuck Nessa]

What Dan has been saying. Freak deal for a basically good guy. Mom and kids miss a partner.

Sad.

[kenny weir]

Yeah I can see differing points of view. Bottom line for me though, is that his modus operandi always seemed a betrayal of espoused beliefs.

And I still maintain it wasn't a fluke, or at least not the way it is being widely interpreted. He was within striking range - it's that simple. If he respected that which he reckoned he loved so much, he wouldn't have been. Such deaths are rare, but it strikes me as nowhere near the sort of "one in a million" being bandied about.

Edited September 6, 2006 by kenny weir

[Chuck Nessa]

And I still maintain it wasn't a fluke, or at least not the way it is being widely interpreted. He was within striking range - it's that simple. If he respected that which he reckoned he loved so much, he wouldn't have been. Such deaths are rare, but it strikes me as nowhere near the sort of "one in a million" being bandied about.

Nomatter the personal feelings about the event, statistics indicate a "fluke". If you have numbers to contest this please do so.

[kenny weir]

And I still maintain it wasn't a fluke, or at least not the way it is being widely interpreted. He was within striking range - it's that simple. If he respected that which he reckoned he loved so much, he wouldn't have been. Such deaths are rare, but it strikes me as nowhere near the sort of "one in a million" being bandied about.

Nomatter the personal feelings about the event, statistics indicate a "fluke". If you have numbers to contest this please do so.

Chuck - it's the first day back at work, so I don't have time. You may be right. But who defines fluke? The fact is, he was within striking distance of a potentially deadly creature.

Edited September 6, 2006 by kenny weir

[Cali]

Maybe this kind of death is so rare because people rarely swim so close on top of giant stingrays.

[LAL]

Well, this has received top level coverage in the major Malaysian and Singapore dailies, appearing on the front page yesterday and two full pages inside today! Given his frequent close encounters with dangerous creatures, I'm not surprised at the death - only, I thought he would have been done in by a venomous snake or spider (or are those we see on TV neutralised?). RIP

While in Aus, I once came face to face with a hairy spider the size of my face, in a dorm toilet. From that time onward, I never used that toilet again even in an emergency.

Jesus. How does such a thing even happen? I've never even heard of people getting stung by stingrays except by stepping on them.

edit: I guess I'm used to only the garden variety stingray. "The giant Australian stingray can reach 6 to 7 feet across the wings and weigh 750 pounds."

Why are all the animals in Australia 10 times scarier than any animal anywhere else?

Spiders as well! http://www.usyd.edu.au/anaes/venom/spiders.html#FUNNELWEB

[J Larsen]

I could have sworn I read that the ray emerged from under the sand just as Irwin swam over that spot. My understanding was he and the ray caught each other by surprise, not that he was swimming up to it.

Edit: Yep, here's the quote from his manager via CNN.com:

"He and the underwater cameraman went out to do some pieces on the reef and coral and stuff good for the kids' show and, unfortunately, he came out over the top of a stingray that was buried in the sand and the barb went up and hit him in the chest."

Irwin did what he needed to do to draw attention to the modern plight of wildlife. The simple fact is that Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom, or whatever mile-per-hour sparsely (and sleepily) narrated nature show they have on PBS right now isn't going to cut it in the age of Jackass, Reality TV, Doom 16, etc. etc. In my book, he was a great man overall.

Edited September 6, 2006 by J Larsen

[kenny weir]

I could have sworn I read that the ray emerged from under the sand just as Irwin swam over that spot. My understanding was he and the ray caught each other by surprise, not that he was swimming up to it.

Hmm, I haven't read that. If it's true, I'm happy to stand corrected on that aspect of this sad affair.

[Cali]

While in Aus, I once came face to face with a hairy spider the size of my face, in a dorm toilet. From that time onward, I never used that toilet again even in an emergency.

Jesus. How does such a thing even happen? I've never even heard of people getting stung by stingrays except by stepping on them.

edit: I guess I'm used to only the garden variety stingray. "The giant Australian stingray can reach 6 to 7 feet across the wings and weigh 750 pounds."

Why are all the animals in Australia 10 times scarier than any animal anywhere else?

Spiders as well! http://www.usyd.edu.au/anaes/venom/spiders.html#FUNNELWEB

Oh, I don't know, I think Africa has some pretty frightening animals, as well. And by the way, why was your face in the dorm toilet?

[kenny weir]

I could have sworn I read that the ray emerged from under the sand just as Irwin swam over that spot. My understanding was he and the ray caught each other by surprise, not that he was swimming up to it.

From yesterday's The Australian:

One of Irwin's contemporaries, internationally known cameraman and spearfisherman Ben Cropp, was in his own boat off Port Douglas when Irwin was killed.

``I have just spoken to a cameraman friend who was there and has seen the footage,'' Mr Cropp told The Australian last night.

``He was up in the shallow water, probably 1.5m to 2m deep, following a bull ray which was about a metre across the body -- probably weighing about 100kgs, and it had quite a large spine. The cameraman was filming in the water.''

Mr Cropp said the stingray was spooked and went into defensive mood.

``It probably felt threatened because Steve was alongside and there was the cameraman ahead, and it felt there was danger and it baulked.

``It stopped and went into a defensive mode and swung its tail with the spike.

And ...

Footage of the attack shows Irwin swimming above a 2.5m stingray before it turns on him and sends a poisonous barb through his heart.

[J Larsen]

While in Aus, I once came face to face with a hairy spider the size of my face, in a dorm toilet. From that time onward, I never used that toilet again even in an emergency.

Jesus. How does such a thing even happen? I've never even heard of people getting stung by stingrays except by stepping on them.

edit: I guess I'm used to only the garden variety stingray. "The giant Australian stingray can reach 6 to 7 feet across the wings and weigh 750 pounds."

Why are all the animals in Australia 10 times scarier than any animal anywhere else?

Spiders as well! http://www.usyd.edu.au/anaes/venom/spiders.html#FUNNELWEB

Oh, I don't know, I think Africa has some pretty frightening animals, as well. And by the way, why was your face in the dorm toilet?

So does Venezuela. Case in point:

That's a dinner plate, btw. I think even Irwin may have hesitated before picking that up.

Edited September 6, 2006 by J Larsen

[J Larsen]

I could have sworn I read that the ray emerged from under the sand just as Irwin swam over that spot. My understanding was he and the ray caught each other by surprise, not that he was swimming up to it.

From yesterday's The Australian:

One of Irwin's contemporaries, internationally known cameraman and spearfisherman Ben Cropp, was in his own boat off Port Douglas when Irwin was killed.

``I have just spoken to a cameraman friend who was there and has seen the footage,'' Mr Cropp told The Australian last night.

``He was up in the shallow water, probably 1.5m to 2m deep, following a bull ray which was about a metre across the body -- probably weighing about 100kgs, and it had quite a large spine. The cameraman was filming in the water.''

Mr Cropp said the stingray was spooked and went into defensive mood.

``It probably felt threatened because Steve was alongside and there was the cameraman ahead, and it felt there was danger and it baulked.

``It stopped and went into a defensive mode and swung its tail with the spike.

And ...

Footage of the attack shows Irwin swimming above a 2.5m stingray before it turns on him and sends a poisonous barb through his heart.

Well, those two quotes certainly do contradict the quote I posted above. In any event, my opinion of the man is unchanged.

[Claude]

More information has been compiled on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Irwin#Death

[JSngry]

Footage of the attack and the aftermath was captured and is supposedly going to be aired at the request of the family.