[plainsong]

I feel like I've been punched through the chest.

My heart goes out to Terri, Bindy, and Jack.

I guess the zoo will be run more by Wes now?

But I think it's safe to say that Steve would never want there to be a backlash against stingrays.

 

[afbug]

This is sad. Felt like a knift went through my heart.

I liked his shows.

Some links:
http://au.news.yahoo.com/060904/23/10ebv.html
http://au.news.yahoo.com/060904/2/10ebw.html

According to Dr Bryan Fry:
"stingrays only sting in defence."

"They're not aggressive animals so the animal must have felt threatened. It didn't sting out of aggression, it stung out of fear," said Dr Fry, deputy director of the Australian Venom Research.

He said the stingray would have been up to 2.5 metres across, with a "formidable" jagged barb up to 20cm long, capable of tearing flesh.

"It's not the going in, it's the coming out," Dr Fry said of the serrated barb.

 

[will75]

Very sad. He just seemed like such a likable guy and I always enjoyed watching him on TV.

 

[PYROphonez]

Very sad news. Hopefully his family will be fine. How many kids did he have?

 

[darkninja67]

I will miss him. I always admired how ballsy he was with snakes. Feel sorry for his family but at least he died doing what he truly loved.

 

[DLeeWebb]

I'm certainly sorry that the Steve Irwin has died so tragically. (...he did however tempt fate on a regular basis) I feel especially sad for his wife and children. I just saw an interview on the Today Show with Irwin and a daughter from the time of the controversy when he was performing with a croc as he was holding his infant child in his "non-feeding arm." I wonder if the public reaction will be, as it has been in similar situations involving sharks, to declare "open-season" on sting-rays. I certainly hope that this is not the case. I doubt that the Croc Hunter would want a whole species punished for this isolated tragedy...

 

[Lisa]

I thought it was a hoax at first. Turn out it's not.

 

[adhoc]

i was hoping that it was a hoax too.

 

[LFF]

I am truly at a loss for words.

I loved his show and my heart goes out to his wife and kids. Very, very sad news.

 

[Squeek]

It is very sad news. Despite whether you agreed with his tactics or not, he succeeded in bringing conservation awareness to millions.

He died doing what he loved, which can be said for so few. He will be missed.

 

[redshifter]

regardless of how one feels about his methods, it will be a long time before we see someone else with so much love and enthusiasm for animals, epsecially the misunderstood "monsters" in nature. rip steve.
/crikey!

 

[imported_Echo_]

Quote:

Shortly after 11:00am local time on 4 September 2006, Irwin was fatally pierced in the chest by a stingray barb while diving off Queensland's Great Barrier Reef. The events were caught on camera and the footage is now in the possession of Queensland Police.[22] He had been filming a segment for his daughter Bindi's upcoming television series. Irwin was in the area filming his own documentary, to be called Ocean's Deadliest, but weather had stalled filming. Irwin decided to take the opportunity to film some shallow water shots for his daughter's television program.[23] After speaking to witnesses, Irwin contemporary Ben Cropp, a cameraman and spearfisherman, speculated that the stingray "felt threatened because Steve was alongside and there was the cameraman ahead..." In such a case, the animal responds by automatically flexing the serrated barb on its tail (up to 30 centimeters in length) upward. Unfortunately, the motion struck Irwin's chest and pierced his heart.[22] The BBC reported that this was only the second known fatality in Australian history from a stingray attack,[24] while The Age and CNN lists it as the third.[23][25] The Queensland Police Service notified his family and released a statement for the media concerning his death. News of his death prompted a public outpouring expressing shock and loss. Several Australian news websites went down because of high web traffic[26] and talk-back radio experienced a high volume of callers expressing their grief[27], commemorating his passion and exuberance. Prime Minister John Howard, among many other politicians, expressed his "shock and distress" at the death, saying that "Australia has lost a wonderful and colourful son.”[28] Steve Irwin's body was flown to a morgue in Cairns, where stunned family and friends were gathering on Monday night. His wife Terri was informed of her husband's death while on a walking tour in the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park in Tasmania, and returned to the Sunshine Coast with their two children.

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

 

[jeffreyj900]

I really enjoyed his show, and hate this for his family. He did die doing what he loved. I was shocked that he was killed by a sting ray. I really expected to open up the article, and read he was killed by a crock.....

 

[Towert7]

That's gotta be some horrible luck. Snakes, crocks, etc, and a sting ray get's him....

To hit the heart, that means it went through fat, muscle, the rib chage, and hit the heart.... Yikes.

I feel really bad for his wife and two kids. That's gotta be horrible.

I'm really sad at this news

, I really enjoyed watching him on TV, and the nice work he did to try and make the world a better place.

 

[JahJahBinks]

Stingray:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...d_stingray.jpg


story:

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...12-601,00.html