Steve "Crocodile man" Irwin dead!!

[CrabGirl]

Steve Irwin killed in stingray attack near Cairns
7News - Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin has reportedly been killed in a stingray attack near Cairns on Australia's far north coast.
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LEGEND dead ... Crcocodile hunter Steve Irwin is dead after he was fatally barbed by a stingray off north Queensland.

Crikey!

I can't believe he was killed by a stingray. Of the things this guy has fucked with....a stingray.

I was just petting stingrays (at a stingray farm) when I went on a cruise back in May. I was told that as long as you don't step on one that you were cool.

When I went snorkeling, I saw a couple at the bottom of the ocean. I know that sometimes they are under the dirt on the ocean floor and to keep you feet off it.

Stingray is the common name for any ray which has a poison or barbs on its tail. There are hundreds of species like this. We even have some 40 different species around our own coasts here in Britain. The ones you petted were probably smaller species considering they were in captivity.

The one that killed Steve Irwin was, according to some reports, a bull or short tailed sting ray, which is one of the larger species (not as large as a manta though), growing upto 13 or 14 feet. The poison alone from it's sting wouldn't have been fatal though. It was the location in which he was stung. He was swimming above it and it lashed it's tail upwards. There would have been a lot of force behind it's strike hence piercing his heart. He must have been either very very close to it, or handling it for it to get his heart.

These are huge animals but it would have struck out of protection not aggression. Unfortunatly animals can't distinguish between human curiosity and a threat. Stingrays are going to get an undeserved bad press in the near future.

Although I really can't agree with some of his methods there is no doubt that his passion and enthusiasm for the natural world did a lot of good in raising awareness of environmental pressures and wildlife in general. I can't help adding that I don't think this was a man who would have wanted to die in his sleep.

[Agrajag]

Yeah right, stabbing a man in the heart doesn't deserve a "bad press".

[Proper Bo]

I want to buy it a drink on behalf of all the crocodiles and snakes he molested

[GepperRankins]

i'm lolling like crazy. thanks JP you tit

[tesco]

I saw it on tv so it must be true !

I never really watched his show but just the fact that he lasted so long doing what he was doing is pretty crazy and makes this day very sad.

[CrabGirl]

If an evil maverick rogue Stingray maliciously cornered him and stabbed him then yes. A Stingray doing what Stingrays do, and with him in full awareness of the risk, then no. It would have been one slash of the tail, and not normally fatal. This was an unlucky shot and a tragedy for his him and his family. But he was aware of the risks.

More people are killed by vending machines in a year than are by sharks, or in this case, their cousins.

[BILLY-THE-FISH]

I read that only ever been 3 deaths like it in Aussie history,
unlucky i say... :-(

[Agrajag]

More people are killed by vending machines in a year than are by sharks, or in this case, their cousins.

One would venture that the vending machines had no actual part to play in the decision making process. However I am far from being an expert on the subject.

[CrabGirl]

I didn't say murdered, or intentionally killed. A person can be killed by a dead duck falling from the sky or by lightning. The duck or weather event didn't intentionally mean to kill the person but it still occured. People shake vending machines when they don't release the confectionary of choice, the vending machine then falls on the shaker and kills them. No decision-making needed. The person still died. Cause of death, vending machine.

[Skiz]

They had a stingray farm on the cruiseship?

The cheap bastards couldn't afford proper sharks

Proper sharks with freakin' laserbeams attached to their freakin' heads.

On topic - I did read somewhere earlier today that stingrays flicking their tail up and stinging someone is an involuntary reflex.