The Australian crocodile dude certainly found an original way to die.
Zookeeper, film star and environmentalist extraordinaire Steve Irwin died as he had lived: getting as close to, and personal with, Australia’s most dangerous creatures. It was as if the zany 44-year-old showman had devised a way of death that both summed up his devil-may-care attitude and had an eye to how it would look on his tombstone: Speared through the heart by a stingray while diving on the Great Barrier Reef.
Unfortunately for Mr. Irwin, he probably will not be remembered so much for his environmentalism and filmaking, as he will be for this:
In 2003 he was left defending the indefensible after cameras caught him feeding chicken to a hungry 4-metre saltwater crocodile with one hand while holding month-old son Bob in the other.
I’m sorry for his family. But this is a lesson for all you young kids: “Don’t play with dangerous animals.”
Crikey! What a way to go! Best wishes to his family.
Here’s how they tagged this story at slashdot…
“crikey, sad, rip, steveirwin, darwin (tagging beta)”
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/09/04/0451257
Yeah, really. Apparently his wife was out hiking in Tasmania when this happened and didn’t find out for some time. (Just as an aside, I remember seeing an episode where Steve and Terry talked about how they met. They even had a photograph of that first meeting, something most couples probably don’t have.)
This is the risk you take when working with dangerous animals in the wild. The sting ray is usually pretty docile but still dangerous, as pretty much everybody knows now. I think guys like Irwin and Jeff Corwin are crazy for going out there and playing with reptiles and arachnids, but they also perform a valuable service by informing people about wildlife and the dangers they face through threats like habitat destruction, and entertaining us while they do it. That’s a rare talent.
RIP Steve. I truly loved this man. He did so much for animal conservation. He took a little used park in 1992, and turned it into one of the biggest attractions in the world. I watched the show at 6PM for years. I will miss him so much. He truly was an original, and a world icon.
His “incident” with a crocodile was clearly overblown. The kid was in no danger. One camera angle showed it all, but another angle proved that little Bob was safe. Crocs tire pretty easily, and all it wanted to do was take the food, and go back into the water. It wasn’t the brightest thing to do, but the story was clearly overblown.
Yeah, the media do tend to overblow most of the things they cover and underplay most of the things they should emphasize more. It was a sensationalist story so naturally it got blown up (that’s why I don’t get my news through TV any longer)
I think i mostly agree with you, but I do hope that he got a fine at the least. Maybe I’m overprotective ..but hell.. he should have been too. No kid of mine would have gotten within 100 yards of that thing.
Well, yeah, but Steve Irwin’s entire life was crocodiles, pretty much literally — he caught the croc bug from his father, who was involved with them as well (I don’t remember the details of how). Anytime he did one of his demonstrations for the public, he had spotters to warn him if one of the crocodiles was coming up on him from a blind side. He knew exactly, almost instinctively, what they would do. I really, seriously doubt Irwin would have put his son within 100 yards of that crocodile if he thought there would be the least amount of danger.
are totally inappropriate. People like Steve Irwin educate the world about our environment.
Without folks who “play with dangerous animals” we’d be even more ignorant of the animal kingdom than we are.
As for young kids, I’m a lot more concerned about the two legged animals my children might encounter in their daily lives.
“totally inappropriate”, but yeah, they might have been a bit harsh.
From what I understand, it was a freak accident; you’ve got parents that smoke and end up dying of heart attacks in their 40s, maybe we should have some words about them? (My dad was 47 when he died of smoking-related heart disease, so I speak from experience.)
My thoughts and prayers go to his family; I was only 11 when I lost my dad…
sorry you feel that way. I think it proves, once again, that human beings shouldn’t trifle with dangerous animals. I felt the same way about the gizzly bear guy. Sure, he brought us a lot of information about Kodiak bears. He also became lunch. Same thing with Roy of Siegfried and Roy. Now they do a show with dolphins. That’s a lot more sane, and no less educational.
No animal is predictable or safe. Not even dolphins. Check this out. It’s a video from Nat. Geographic about documented dolphin attacks.
I’m sad to hear about this guy’s death, but you’re right about keeping a safe distance from wild animals. And I think it was just plain ignorant to have a baby anywhere near a crocodile. What’s the point? Sensationalism, that’s all. The same thing with the Brown Bear guy. He was living out a fantasy that got himself and his girlfriend killed. Park rangers in the west will tell you that not only is it dangerous for people to get near to these bears, but it’s also dangerous for the bears because once they become desensitized to the presence of people they become more dangerous and in many cases have to be killed because they’re too much of a risk. Treadwell, the bear dude was doing a disservice to the bears he insisted on being close to. To me, it’s almost fitting and a bit of poetic justice that he got eaten. He shouldn’t have been there.
I will surely miss Steve Irwin. That kind of joy and enthusiasm is rare no matter what you are doing. This guy knew the risks involved, but in contrast to the grizzly guy, he knew what he was doing.
This tragedy was caused by a set of unfortunate coincidences since the chances of being struck in the heart by a stingray are very slim indeed.
“Don’t play with dangerous animals.”?
Asshole.
From the moment I heard about his death I knew there would be a lot of fucking self-righteous idiots ready to blabber on like they had some idea of what the hell they were talking about.
As we’ve seen here Booman and Kos have both acted like pious assholes. What a terrible world this is were even so called liberals show as much compassion as Bush.
How dare people spew such mind-boggling idiocy about him “humilating wildlife” being “a fraud” or thinking that it is an appropriate time to talk about that overblown baby incident. Would you do that if your family members had died?
Find the worst incident you can think of a talk about it? Criticize how he died?
When a Nascar driver dies do you say “What a idiot. Putting himself in that risk”?
Aren’t you supposed to talk about the good of people after they died? Or was Steve Irwin such a truly evil person.
He died in a tragic accident and there should be nothing but condolences not jokes and pious self-righteous bullshit.
Fuck Kos, Fuck Booman, and fuck all the idiots here and all over the internet who are spewing this crap at the death of a good man.
Disgusting.
It’s sad that he was killed. I feel sorry for him and for his family. But he chose to film a program on the most dangerous sea creatures in the Great Barrier Reef. And when someone as experienced as Irwin gets killed it should serve as a lesson to everyone that the risks are too high to play around with deadly animals.
I’m not pious about it, whatever that means.
I agree with another comment in this thread that he had a kind of infectious enthusiasm that was refreshing. But he still should not be emulated by anyone. And he will be remembered for his recklessness more than for his environmentalism. That’s unfortunate. But it is also well deserved. He was defined and enriched by his recklessness.
Booman, to be killed by a stingray is totally rare. They are poisonous, but not deadly. If the stinger had entered practically any other place than his heart, he would be alive today.
Steve Irwin took the necessary precautions, but this time he was killed in a freak accident.
His studies of animal life captured a generation of viewers, both young and old. He taught us how dangerous animals could be as well as how important they are to the cycle of life. He taught us to love and cherish even the most fierce of animals.
Ugh…I don’t read the orange place, but if they are dissing Irwin too, I’m glad I avoided it.
I’d like to hear the outrage for all the animals that get exploited in many ways for our enrichment
As far as the baby incident goes, I don’t know if it was overblown or not, but it’s just common sense not to bring any human who can’t make the choice for themselves into an unnescesarilly dangerous and volatile environment. If for some reason the crocodile did something that was threatening or caused harm to a human, as it is in most cases, I’m sure it would’ve been killed because it did something that came naturally. In the end the animals always lose because of our ignorance.
Then again, I like steak. So who the fuck am I?
I have mixed feelings on the issue. I just can’t help but think that this was the way Steve would’ve preferred to go. It’s tragic, yes, but it also brings a sad smile to my face.
I watched my grandfather, a Marine Corps aviator who flew in the Pacific, whittle away from cancer in his bed. Even up to his sickness, even when he was way too old for it, he had this Mazda sportscar … the “zoom, zoom” never left the man and I could tell he wasn’t so much disappointed that he was dying, but rather the WAY he was dying. I truly believe that if he had his choice, he would’ve chosen to go at Mach 2.
Some people are just drawn to live life with the risk of death, they know the risks, and it makes them feel more alive.
Booman, I do have to disagree with your statement, but I respect it nevertheless. However, by that same logic, we can also say that the Challenger astronauts had no business going into space but I never heard that argument ever raised. And if these people who are astronauts have the same “Right Stuff” as my grandfather did, I am sure that they would’ve chosen to go out in the literal blaze of glory of the tragedy rather than a tragic end of an explorer consumed away on his/her deathbed. Steve Irwin had the Right Stuff only in a different field and he paid for it and I would like to imagine that he wouldn’t have it any other way.
On the other hand Raging Hope, I also have to disagree with you about your view of jokes and humor in the face of death. I learned my sense of black humor not only from my own experience in the military but also from the same grandfather above. Humor, as the best medicine, relieves pain and sorrow, and in the case of people with the Right Stuff as mentioned above, it relieves the fear of going into the unknown and bringing that knowledge back to the rest of us.
Strangely enough, I missed the whole baby-scandal thing. Yes, I will remember Steve for the educating television series for child and adult alike.
But, in the spirit of gallows humor above, I will also remember him in that South Park episode where he is running around trying to find a dangerous rattlesnake so that he can stick his thumb up the snake’s ass!
Crikey!
KamaKid grew up with Steve Irwin and I have no doubt that he was one of the reasons she has wanted to be a vet since she was 4 years old (she is now 12). We watched his shows religiously and we both learned alot about wild animal life and how precarious their positions are.
This was very sad news for us, but he died doing what he loved. If KamaKid wants to work with dangerous animals, I will support her. It is a dangerous occupation, but Steven’s death was a freak accident and many people who work with animals live long and happy lives.
My heart out to Terry, Bindi Sue, and Bob.
4 meters! YIKES! That’s 12 feet long! damn, I’m not going swimming anywhere near Australia.
Well, I suppose if you gotta go, getting a poisonous stinger jabbed in your heart while you wrestle with a stingray is creative & manyly-man way to do it.