Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, Reportedly Killed in Action

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I know, it made me smile, but it was a dirty joke, a dirty type of humour.

I laughed too.

While I'm not saying having a baby around a croc is the greatest idea, it was in practically no danger. I have seen the video, and he fed and tired out the croc first, then held his son (not "held," whatever that means, and certainly not dangled) very close and stretched his other arm out with the meat to feed.

So, he had, at that time, over thirty years of experience in direct contact with crocs, and knew them probably as well as he knew himself. The crocs associate an outstretched hand dangling chicken with food - not Steve's torso, where Bob was. They go for the meat, not Steve, despite what he may have made it look like for a good show.

There may have been a tiny risk, but it's like anything else in life. He weighed the risks and rewards - the reward being having his son get used to and repect the crocs that he will spend his life with, so he can be comfortable and safe near them.

The world lost an amazing naturalist and entertainer, and wildlife lost an amazing ambassador. I may not have appreciated his getting into the face of nature, but I did appreciate his passion and love for all things in nature, especially the underappreciated ones. I can't imagine the void this will leave in the hearts and lives of his family and friends, not to mention his zoo. Someone like that has no one that can possibly take his place.

...at the post where they were imagining his last words.

I loved his program and was really upset about the news, but I bet he would have laughed at that joke too - he was always laughing and joking even when something poisonous bit him, so I guess the comment is more a reflection of what he would like to be remembered for - having a sense of humour and a love of animals?

One of his requests were that if he ever died during making a documentary, he would like the producers to televise and show his death.

Yeah, and that's his personality and there are people already saying that no one would broadcast it and it would be a "low" thing to do. So, already the mythologizing starts. . . .

I was really sad when I heard it. Steve was my role model and a great guy who always treated animals with kindness and respect and taught us to do the same. Its sad what happen and like I said I was very sad to hear what happen but in away it could have been Gods way of saying "You've done good Steve and now its time to come home". But lets just all never forget the things he taught us about how humans and animals can live in peace.

This was just an accident waiting to happen as far as I'm concerned. I know he was doing what he loved but he was still someone with a young family, endangering his life on a regular basis for fame and fortune. It might all sound a bit harsh but it's just what most people would say if he weren't such a "larrikin" and a "top bloke"...

I'd be delighted if he found fame and fortune, to be honest. He deserved every penny of it (or dollar, in the case of Australia). Why do I think this? Because he reached a worldwide audience of 200 million people who learned about wildlife and conservation, and had a big enough impact on the world to have even our business contacts in the legal profession now writing to all of their clients encouraging them to make donations to the wildlife charities he helped to set up and advertise.

If that got him fame and money, good. If only we could get a few more people like him with that much enthusiasm and personality, we could get a lot more done in the world.

...to coin a phrase The Australian dollar is worth much more than either the US or Australian 1-cent pieces.

Steve Irwin was a great conservationist and entertainer whose personality and love for animals will be sorely missed.

In some ways I think that Steve's death was caused by an animal has unfairly diminshed his "invincible" persona. People are saying, "well, he had it coming," when, in fact, what happened was pretty rare. Now if he had been killed by a tiger, sure, no surprise there; however, something like only 17 deaths by stingray barb had ever been recorded on the Australian coast. That's pretty rare compared to the amount of people simply going for a swim in the Gulf of Mexico who have been killed by sharks .

Rare, yes, but that probably has to do with the fact that very few people pick them up, manhandle them and do God knows what with them. Most of the time that people come to grief with stingrays it's just stepping on them when they're hiding in the sand, so they catch it the calf or ankle. But they will only ever strike in self-defence, when they feel threatened. Of course the only defence that I ever hear of Steve's treatment of animals is that he loved them, would never do anything to hurt them, that he knew what he was doing. Basically, forget what any animal behavioralist tells you, just trust Steve, he's a top bloke.

Not that I think Steve Irwin was a bad guy. I remember watching him being interviewed on Enough Rope a couple of years ago and Andrew Denton, as is his amazing talent, managed to push through all the bluster and machismo to reveal a fairly deep and philosophical person, above all one who knew he led an unusually fortunate life. But on the issue of the amount of danger that he subjected himself to, once cornered he admitted that even if his wife and kids asked him to stop, he never would. Like I say, not a bad person - but he definitely made his bed and lay in it at the end of the day. I wonder if the ABC will have the gall to rescreen it now?

And as for the amount of awareness he raised of wildlife and conservation, well yeah that's good. I can't take it away from him that some good came from his success. But you could learn much more from watching any National Geographic special and seeing how animals survive and interact in the wild, without human intervention, than you would have from watching someone play them for the cameras. Far less sensory overload for starters...

Oh yeah - and now Peter Brock! In the same week! Another Australian icon of dangerous, machismo-driven entertainment (and apparently nice guy, aside from bashing his first wife) lives and dies by the sword. Sympathies to his family and friends - but surely that's part of the appeal of motor sport?

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2006 ... htm?csp=34

''SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — At least 10 stingrays have been killed since "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin was fatally injured by one of the fish, an official said Tuesday, prompting a spokesman for the late TV star's animal charity to urge people not take revenge on the animals.
Irwin died last week after a stingray barb pierced his chest as he recorded a show off the Great Barrier Reef.

Stingray bodies since have been discovered on two beaches in Queensland state on Australia's eastern coast. Two were discovered Tuesday with their tails lopped off, state fisheries department official Wayne Sumpton said.

Sumpton said fishermen who inadvertently catch the diamond-shaped rays sometimes cut off their tails to avoid being stung, but the practice was uncommon. Stingrays often are caught in fishing nets by mistake and should be returned to the sea, Sumpton said.

Michael Hornby, the executive director of Irwin's Wildlife Warriors conservation group, said he was concerned the rays were being hunted and killed in retaliation for Irwin's death.''

Some idiots that call themselves Steve Irwin fans are killing stingrays. What a way to remember an animal conservationist.