Holy Crap! The Crocodile Hunter is dead.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

:cry:

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20349888-2,00.html

Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin dead

September 04, 2006 02:14pm
Article from: The Courier-Mail

THE Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, is dead.

He was killed in a freak accident in Cairns, police sources said.

It is understood he was killed by a sting-ray barb that went through his chest.

He was swimming off the Low Isles at Port Douglas filming an underwater documentary and that's when it occured.

Ambulance officers confirmed they attended a reef fatality this morning at Batt Reef off Port Douglas.

[bridgit]

1. damn!

i thought that guy was made of steel

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

4. Now we know that sting rays are stronger than steel.

Learn something new every day.

[bridgit]

9. suppose you never want to mess with a sting-ray but he was always...

out front doing the weirdest shit...it's still a shock though, cause he was so knowledgeable about all that stuff

[sofa king]

2. Drag.

I always liked that guy, but I've seen him take his life in his hands more often than I did as a sixteen-year old drunk driver. I'm sorry to hear it caught up with him.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

7. Yeah, I mean I do some really dumb ass things that I should kill myself at

but I have never once said, "Now, I'm going to poke this highly venomous snake in the bum with this stick." *pokes snake* "Shikeys! Did you see the fangs on her?"

[TimeChaser]

3. I'm going to be depressed all week now

:cry:

[LeftyMom]

5. That's sad. He has very young children. nt

[elocs]

88. That's what is sad.

He didn't seem to take his children in consideration while doing his stunts, many of which seemed pointless and whose only reason was to show how daring he could be. He should be happy that it was caught on camera.

[Floogeldy]

6. He was a courageous man.

Bold, and stupid.

[Haole Girl]

8. As I posted in the other thread...

Of all the dangerous stunts...that does sound like a freak accident.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

10. Yeah, hundreds of people dive with rays and nothing happens.

I have pictures of my stepdad getting towed around by a manta ray while scuba diving. He's done it a few times. They're gentle creatures.

[Haole Girl]

14. I might be wrong, but I think the manta people swim with...

..who are used to human contact...behave totally different than the ones in the wild. When we went to Australia, we saw a manta and tiger shark battle it out (from a helicopter). It was pretty brutal!

[ForrestGump]

22. No

Wild mantas can behave the same way. I mean mantas in areas where divers are rare or have never before been.

I don't know what was going on with the manta and the tiger shark, but mantas don't have much in their defensive arsenal other than speed and the ability to leap clear of the water, so a tiger shark wouldn't have a whole lot to fear from a manta. Mantas are plankton feeder, basically, feeding on shoals of smallish fishes at best.

[Haole Girl]

27. The helicopter pilot explained that the tide had changed...

..and the manta and tiger sharks were stranded on something like a sandbar. The manta was frantically trying to bury itself, while the tiger shark was nipping at it. It frightened me so much, I'm not sure I'll ever snorkel in the Great Barrier Reef area again. Lucky for me, I went on an all-day snorkel trip the day before the helicopter tour!

[ForrestGump]

32. Sounds like a stingray

Mantas are pelagic -- they don't bury themselves in the sand like other rays do. Stingrays are a favorite food of some sharks (hammerheads tend to hunt them down) and tigers will pretty much eat anything if it's handy. Of course, it might not have been a tiger shark, either -- tigers aren't seen all that often, even on the GBR, and any helicopter pilot who'd claim a large stingray is a manta is probably working up a leopard shark or something simialrly innocuous into a tiger. :D

Can't trust those damned Australians, you know...

[Haole Girl]

33. Who knows..

..they were definitely battling for their lives...and while I don't know if they were mantas or stingrays, I do know a shark when I see it, and those were sharks! Someday, when I have more energy, I'll download my Australia pics.

[1monster]

62. Well there are tiger sharks and there are sand tiger sharks...

tiger shark


sand tiger shark

Most of the shark attacks we hear about on the coast of Florida are by sand tigers. They tend to hang around close to the sand bars and are rather aggressive.

[ForrestGump]

71. Most Florida shark attacks are by blacktips

(though, in most attacks, the species is not positively ID'd). They often hang out near shore and can get a bit feisty in high-energy environments. They tend to be small, so the wounds are often not as serious. Bull sharks are high on the list and those sons of bitches are a serious shark implicated in deaths worldwide.

Sand tigers are more common off the Carolinas and thereabouts, and they're pretty docile (more active at night, though), which is why they're a staple in public aquaria. They have a distinct snaggletoothed set of jaws that look more 'vicious' than those of many sharks. They're not closely related to tiger sharks at all.

In Australia they're called grey nurse sharks, not sand tigers.

[1monster]

105. You might be right, but most of the attacks in Northeast Florida

are identified as sand tiger sharks. I've never heard them referred to as "docile."

This is a nurse shark.

And nurse sharks are very docile. But even nurse sharks can turn nasty when they are harassed by ignorant divers who want to ride a shark. Nurse sharks are the ones that rest on the bottom for long periods of time. Most sharks must keep moving because they lack a swim bladder. Nurse sharks can rest on the bottom because they swallow a bubble of air and keep it in their stomachs like a swim bladder.

[ForrestGump]

107. The sand tiger is CALLED the grey nurse in Australia but is not a nurse

shark, and I wasn't confusing the two. I know what a nurse shark is....I even tried to rescue a dying one, once.

That's the problem with common names: the sand tiger, true nurse sharks, and tiger sharks are members of three entirely different families of sharks. And, to add to the fun, the blacktips that nip at people off Florida are an entirely different species than the reef blacktips (a smaller, Indo-Pacific species) I refer to in this thread.

Yes, nurse sharks are docile beyond belief and anyone who's bitten by one (usually) earned it, and then some. Sand tigers look threatening,because of their teeth, but they're not. They don't even register on this breakdown of Florida shark attacks (obviously based on data from attacks for which the species was known):








The source of these data is the International Shark Attack File, based within the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, FL -- it's the definitive voice in shark attack analysis:

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Sharks/sharks.htm

[Haole Girl]

76. It's hard to identify which kind of shark from 500' above...

But, I will post the photos in a little while and then all of you wildlife experts can help me with it!

[ForrestGump]

80. Cool!

I like reef photos. Even from 500'! :D

[Haole Girl]

90. Here is the link:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x5590535

[ForrestGump]

96. Thanks!

It's hard to tell, but I'd say those are probably blacktip reef sharks (they're common in shallow areas around Indo-Pacific reefs, as in the photo, and look very brownish...I think I see white tips on the fins, too) and the ray is most likely a blackblotched stingray or something similar. Its disc is too round to be a manta or eagle ray, apart from anything else. I've seen blackblotched stingrays that were large -- one was way overr the published maximum size -- and blacktip reef sharks are usually fairly small, in my experience, and can definitely be a bit rambunctious. Kind of nerve-wracking encountering them in two or three feet of water, sometimes, especially when they zip about and when you're moving very gingerly so as not to touch the coral below.

Again, it's hard to tell without known reference points, but I'd guess the total length of the sharks in the picture to be about four feet if they're reef backtips and maybe another foot or two more if they're another species.





I'd also not be surprised if this stingray species is the suspect in Steve Irwin's demise, though the barb from a smaller stingray (like one of the bluespotted species) could be fatal if it hit the heart.

[Haole Girl]

97. The sharks were brown (tan), and did not have any tips

..at least, that I could see. And, I see well pretty far away.

[ForrestGump]

98. Might have been lemon sharks, then

(different species than in the Atlantic) because they're often in the same kind of habitats. In that case they're probably bigger...if the stingray's three feet wide and those little coral heads are between one and three feet across, then those could easily be six-foot sharks (the waves just look wrong if you consider those sharks as four-footers, anyway).

I really doubt they're tigers, though, especially so shallow during the day (not that it doesn't happen just that way) and they'd be small examples of the species...not broad enough, anyway.

[Haole Girl]

99. Whatever they were, they looked vicious

And, I'm not sure I'll be brave enough to snorkel in that area again!

[ForrestGump]

100. Lemon sharks can certainly be bad-tempered

and are potentially hazardous to people.

They have a long upper lobe on their (heterocercal) tail and two dorsal fins -- what I thought were small coral heads in the photo are in the right places to be second dorsals -- so maybe that's what they are. Right color, too:



This the Atlantic species, but the one on the GBR looks the same.

Regardless, sharks will pretty much leave you alone if you leave them alone, and being in the water and able to be fully submerged (as with snorkel...SCUBA is even better) goes a long way to reducing confusion that could lead to an apparently 'unprovoked' attack. I've been within inches of several large sharks and come out of the water with no sense of anything but that the sharks seemed genuinely curious as to what I was and what I was doing. I've had a few anxious moments with sharks, especially when alone out in blue water beyond the reef, but I feel safer with them than I do in human society (possibly the closest I came to real worry was once in the South Pacific when sharks in blue water started paying too much attention to me and once in the Florida Keys when my two colleagues and I were surrounded by three large bull sharks, the first and last time I've ever seen that rather scary shark species).

I hope you see a shark one day. You will be okay. My brother was ecstatic when, with me, he saw his first shark when we were snorkeling off Key Largo...he was so happy because, although he knew academically that he was unlikely to even be threatened, he was happy he could know that he'd seen a shark and that he lived through the experience, so after that he didn't worry (unduly) about them and treasured each encounter.

[ForrestGump]

17. I wouldn't be at all surprised

if he settled on a sand patch right on top of a buried ray...it's happened before and I am always very conscious of it when I'm coming down to rest on a sand patch.

Some of the Indo-Pacific stingrays (like the blackblotched ray) get very big, but even a small stingray (bluespotted are pretty common thereabouts) could probably kill someone when they strike the chest.

Very bad news. He did a lot of good things...behind the Ocker craziness and all of the "crikey," he had some serious messages.

Sad.

[TimeChaser]

11. As crazy as he seemed to most,

he knew what he was doing.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

12. Nuh uh ! No way.

That is so sad. He was so full of life. I remember him saying one time that he felt more comfortable with animals than he did with humans.

[flamingyouth]

13. Sad news.

I'm sorry for his family. :(

[deucemagnet]

15. Very sad.

I'm amazed by how fast news breaks on DU. I just checked the msnbc, cnn, and even fox, and none of them have the story yet.

[lavenderdiva]

25. I just checked over at both cnn and msnbc, and they just put up

a banner at the top of their pages with 'breaking' news, but no story yet. You're right about DUers being on top of newstories-- :thumbsup:

[Omphaloskepsis]

16. Didn't this guy hold his kid over a croc.?

I'm not surprised or sad.

[TimeChaser]

23. He held his kid at his side while he fed the crocodiles at his zoo,

just like he'd been doing since he was a child when his father trained him.

[Omphaloskepsis]

28. really. photoshop and all.

[TimeChaser]

31. A really bad photoshop.

[greguganus]

59. Someone photoshopped Irwin's pic over Michael Jackson n/t

[Omphaloskepsis]

35. Looks like a photoshop. sorry..

Well, the fact remains, the dude was a irresponsible father. I don't drive drunk with my kid becuase my father pulled it off.

[TimeChaser]

36. Faulty analogy

He was a professional. He knew what he was doing.

[AussieDave]

39. And he paid a heavy price for it here

He had to go on TV in tears with Terri at his side to proclaim that he wasn't a bad father.

But he got the message - it didn't do long-term damage to his popularity here but he learned a lesson (even if he didn't agree with it).

[ForrestGump]

26. That was Michael Jackson

Steve Irwin controlled the risks, as much as anyone can when dealing with wild animals, because he knew a lot more about their behavior than was perhaps obvious from his over-the-top approach on camera. He did a lot of good.

[sir_captain]

56. Way to piss on a guy's grave

real classy

[Richard Steele]

18. Most unexpected. RIP Steve.

[SeattleGirl]

19. Good grief!

That definitely HAD to be a freak accident. I mean, after all the animals that guy handled on purpose...... very sad.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

20. NOOOoooo!

:cry:
I always figured a croc would get him...

[Ptah]

21. That's sad.

The world needs more, not less, people that
are enthusiastic about their life.

:cry:

Edit to add pic:



Second edit; from Wikipedia.org:

The Crocodile Hunter is a wildlife documentary television series hosted by zookeeper Steve Irwin, the owner and manager of Australia Zoo at Beerwah, Queensland, Australia. Irwin is assisted by his American-born wife, Terri.

Steve Irwin's larger-than-life persona and seemingly outrageous antics are unconventional, but key features in the presentation provide a forum for educational information about wildlife conservation and resolution of conflicts with humans in various parts of the world. The program has made the Irwins television personalities on several continents and is popular with American audiences, where it is presented by the cable television network Animal Planet.

[Spacemom]

24. Bummer

His shows are a staple around our house. :cry:

[BikeWriter]

29. WTF?

[Fox Mulder]

30. Sad.

I liked watching his show, too. :(

[fishwax]

34. wow, that sucks

:cry:

[RFKHumphreyObama]

37. As I said in the LBN post

I'm almost speechless. This is just such an awful, awful senseless tragedy that involved someone who was still so young and still had so much promise and potential. He had a wife and a very young family....again, this is just so very, very, very tragic. Words just totally fail me :cry: :cry: :cry: :cry:

RIP Steve Irwin. You will be missed. My deepest, most sincere and heartfelt thoughts, prayers, condolences and sympathies to his wife and his family

[Wetzelbill]

46. amen to that

[liberaltrucker]

38. He died living his passion

May (diety) grant us all that priviledge.

RIP, Steve.

:cry:

[bridgit]

41. there it is, how many will be able to say the same...

:thumbsup:

[greguganus]

60. I want to die in my sleep like my grandpa did...

...and not like the 3 screaming passengers in his car.

[LostinVA]

68. This made me laugh

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

40. I never did like him

But I never wished him dead.

My condolences to his family and his fans.

[idgiehkt]

42. this completely sucks and I hope it isn't true.

but I guess since people are commenting on it I guess it is. I couldn't sleep and came in here to try to get my mind off stuff and this shitty news pops up. I started watching him on animal planet before he got the fame he got later and I really liked him and the way he talked about reptiles; there were a few things that bothered me about him like his referring to them as 'specimens' for his zoo but all in all I thought he was amazing. I can't believe I am talking about Steve Irwin in the past tense. It's just a nightmare.

[Control-Z]

43. Damn

Just damn.

[6000eliot]

44. I have nothing against the guy,

but he always seemed rather foolhardy to me.

[Wetzelbill]

45. I know, that makes me so sad

:(

[Broken_Hero]

47. Yeah....nuts...:( nt

[zcflint09]

48. It's a shame--but this is probabably the way he would have picked...

to go. Guy lived a full life and got to do what he loved for an everyday job. A big loss to all of us outdoor enthusiasts and his family and friends. We all should be lucky enough to live like him. RIP Croc Hunter

[Rude Horner]

49. The world is missing something without Steve Irwin

Yes, he took risks. Yes, he made mistakes. But so have all of us. What I saw was someone who was undeniably enthusiastic about what he did, and when you watched him, you couldn't help but get excited about what he was doing or saying.

Just knowing he's gone makes it seem like there's a big empty spot where his enthusiasm used to be. Very sad.

[ForrestGump]

50. When I saw the beginning of the news (tuned in just to see what they said)

I was disgusted to find that the airhead anchor started out saying that he'd died and went straight into how he 'dangled' his baby in front of a crocodile recently (dangled? I thought Michael Jackson dangled his baby...Steve just held his). No mention of the contributions he made, and they only mentioed his damned TV show after they established that he was some sort of deranged baby-dangler.

Just another reason to confirm that my suspicions about the 'news' media, especially in the USA, are well founded. Sensationalist bastards. F*** them, and the teleprompters they rode in on... :grr:

[Midlodemocrat]

51. Very sad news. I loved this guy.

I think he made a lot of people aware of wildlife and how special they are.

[mcscajun]

52. Bummer, man. I always liked the guy. Even if (in fact especially because)

He was CRAZY!

He did crazy things in the safest possible way, but stuff that most of us would never do.

He died doing what he loved, but damn! Gone too soon, and leaving behind a loving family. :(
Damn, he should have stayed out of the ocean and stuck to crocs.

:cry:

[mcscajun]

101. Steve Irwin...

"I put my life on the line to save animals. I have no fear of losing my life — if I have to save a koala or a crocodile or a kangaroo or a snake, mate, I will save it."

[In_The_Wind]

53. That is sad news!

:cry:

[Nikia]

54. My husband and I are saddened by his death

Even though we thought that he and his wife were nuts. My condolences to his family.

[WritingIsMyReligion]

55. WHOA! No! Not the Croc Hunter!

Awwww MAN!

Dude, when I was younger I used to LOVE that cat.

:cry::cry:

[greguganus]

57. HE WHO LIVES BY THE SWORDFISH, DIES BY THE SWORDFISH-greguganus 1:1 n/t

[greguganus]

58. OH MIGHTY DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STINGRAY? -greguganus 1:2 n/t

[Name removed]

75. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[greguganus]

79. THE STINGRAY OF DEATH IS SIN.-greguganus 1:3 n/t

[buddhamama]

61. May he be at Peace !

thank you, Steve.

[Maestro]

63. This is just horrible.

My kids were very familiar with him. He seemed to do much good for the protection of animals and consevation of their and our environment. Man, my heart goes out to his family. He actually had married an American.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

64. ...

I'm speechless. :cry: I loved that guy.
Duckie

[Fleshdancer]

65. I hope I die doing while doing something I love to do

He was an adventurer. He knew his job/hobby was risky but he really seemed to enjoy doing it. We all die of course, but wouldn't it be more sad if he died of a slow illness or a heart attack? Instead he died while probably learning something new about animals that fascinated him.

My heart goes out to his family and friends though. It's never easy to lose someone.

[Taverner]

67. I don't know if he really enjoyed being stung in the chest

No one goes out the way they want...since no one wants to go out...

[Fleshdancer]

70. It beats having a heart attack while sitting behind a desk in a cubicle

He was making a documentary and probably having a great time learning more about what fascinates him most. That's pretty cool in my book.

[regnaD kciN]

108. I beg to differ...

Personally, I hope I manage to do what I love to the utmost of my capabilities and then, having lived a full and long life, die peacefully in my sleep.

I don't think any "adventurous life" is worth losing the chance to see your children grow up, unless by your death you manage to save the lives of many.

[Taverner]

66. I know...pretty shocking

I honestly bought his act that he was indestructible. I might be naive but I honestly believed it.

[earth mom]

69. My husband just told me and I burst into to tears...

:cry:

We are HUGE Croc Hunter fans around here! I don't even know how I am going to tell my kid!

My heart goes out to Steve's wife Terry and her 2 kids! Why do the good die young?

:cry:

[NewWaveChick1981]

72. I just logged on and saw that.

:( :cry: What a horrible way to die. :( At least he died doing what he loved best.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

73. Yeah, if you're gonna go. That's the way to do it.

Just don't head into GD, the Steve Corwin hate is strong over there. Actually, it seems like more people got their coffee pissed in than usual today. Quite bizarre. I also learned over there that I'm a bad liberal for enjoying boating. Good liberals sell their boats to reduce their environmental impact.

[NewWaveChick1981]

77. Shame on you, you boating librul!

:rofl: Damn, there's no pleasing some people. Don't think I'll go into GD until tomorrow. :yoiks:

Thanks for the warning. :hi:

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

78. Yep, you can go to protests (and get arrested), vote democratic...

reduce my environmental impact in other areas, but *boom* if you have one of these...



you lose your liberal credibility.

[ForrestGump]

81. What if you have one of these?

Think I should trade it in on this?:



Of course, first I'd have to get rid of all those damned hippies aboard the thing...

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

84. I don't know. The Artic Sunrise looks pretty damned faggy to me.

Anyway, it takes forever to get that hippie smell out.

[RevolutionaryActs]

74. WTF? No way!

:cry: :cry: :cry:

[Metta]

82. Very sad. He held a huge piece of spirited, risky adventure for all of us

Who now will hold that for the world? What consequences will ensue since that piece is now free floating in the world?

I'm shocked to hear of this tragic accident. My heart goes out to his wife and young children. :cry:

[LynneSin]

83. MY GOD I CAN'T BELIEVE IT

:cry:

That's so sad, he has young kids.

I would have thought it was a crocodile that got him - go figure

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

86. Yeah, I always thought he was really cool.

The bizarre thing is when I read about him getting killed, there was a commercial on Animal Planet for some ocean documentary he was doing.

What's truly sad is the amount of people here who seem to really hate him.

[LSK]

89. seems like most people in this thread will miss him

Are there haters somewhere else?

:shrug:

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

92. GD mostly. A few in LBN.

[LSK]

94. there now....

Still, its like 100-1 positive to negative.

I guess people who NEVER watched his show only remember his baby stunt and only think of him for that. Not the fact that he dedicated his whole life to wildlife conservation.

[begin_within]

85. I always secretly wanted him to wrangle me.

[LSK]

87. Shocking and Sad

:cry:

[Critters2]

91. My first thought was"That's too bad"

My second was "But how long can you go around harassing dangerous animals before one of 'em has had enough?"

Crikey!

[Left Is Write]

103. But the thing about the stingray is that it's NOT typically dangerous to

life. People don't usually get killed by stingrays.

[Critters2]

104. I just heard that on the radio

A freak accident killing a man who had been a champion for animals. Really very sad.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

106. Yeah, I looked up the conservation efforts he was involved in.

He really, really did a lot. Wikipedia gives a good summary, as his website as been on & off today. Except for his living expenses, all of that money went back to the animals and his family lived quite modestly. The bashing of him is just disgusting.

[NNadir]

93. It's very sad. I think he was a wonderful man, who piqued interest in

wildlife.

[begin_within]

95. I love this picture...

http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2006/09/04/irwin2_wideweb__470x352,0.jpg

[mcscajun]

102. Epitaph from his own mouth...

"I put my life on the line to save animals. I have no fear of losing my life — if I have to save a koala or a crocodile or a kangaroo or a snake, mate, I will save it."