Crikey!

[harry hackedoff]

Steve"croc hunter" Irwin was killed today in a bizarre accident involving a sting ray. Irwin was filming a docu called "The Ocean`s Deadliest" when he swam over the ray in shallow water up near Cairns. Reports of the ray`s barb piercing his heart don`t ring true to me(never heared of such a thing ) and I think an anaphylactic reaction to it`s poison probably was the cause of the fatal heart attack. Irwin was forty four and leaves a wife and two young kids.
Love him or loath him, there was no in between with this guy.
Here`s to him,

[parker]

RIP steve what a great guy he was

[Bungle]

Aye yeah heard about this this morning, real shame as even though he was a bit irritating at times he was the most charismatic and enjoyable to watch programs about nature. Except the Attenbourgh.

[harry hackedoff]

I wouldn`t go that far Bungs

[Tam527]

Looks like he rolled the dice with danger once too often.
A sad end, though.

[harry hackedoff]

That`s what it looked like on telly That`s showmanship.
The reality of what Irwin does/did, is that he knew how far a croc can strike and he kept outside that distance. He knew how various snakes behave and he played up the danger aspect. He was the consumate professional and what happened today has nothing to do with risk taking. He had a four million dollar per annum enterprise in Queensland where risk taking or danger were the last things on the menu.
The post mortem will say what happened and I`d be surprised not to say stunned if the barb on a ray`s tail pierced his heart. I`ve swam over similar rays many times and not considered it a life threatening situation.

I`m a fan and mourn his passing.

[got1]

I was a fan as well Bert. I have caught hundreds of them in the gulf with no trouble. The biggest danger was standing on them in shallow water, we had a lad in Sharjha stood on one, it took some getting out as it has a serr
ated edge on the sting (stings).
Some idiot on the news here said it could use it tail like a whip it's sting is at the thick end of it's tail where it joins the body not at the other end.
I think unless he was playing silly buggers and lying on top of it, it would be unlikely to get him on the chest.
Will wait on further info.

[harry hackedoff]

Gotters, there`s many sorts of ray as you know, and I am not aware of any capable of causing death with their barb.
We`ll find out after the PM.
His missus was bushwalking in the high country in Tasmania when she got the sad news.
Sad loss, indeed

[Tam527]

His shows were entertaining and you could tell he cared very much for animal welfare and conservation. He said that he would put his life on the line to save crocs. A very committed man.
RIP.

[going grey!]

At least he died doing something he loved.
RIP.

[Rogue Chef]

Ahoy there!
My girls and I loved watching his adventures. My eldest (9) is a big fan and will often curl up to watch Steve rather than cartoon network or such like.
He will be missed in our house.
Crikey!

[Andr3w]

he was an awsome man, RIP steve

I heard on the TV today that 200million people tune in to watch his tv show

[Kiwi1988]

He was a top bloke, but did wear on you a bit.

I can say that cause I did spend time with him and Terri when I was training.

I had to learn how to handle snakes, he was the best. You be amazed how that comes in handy

Steve done so much for Aussie animals here and around the world.

You can't top that

[harry hackedoff]

I had to learn how to handle snakes

No comment

[got1]

I have just seen a photo of the likely culprit that got Steve.
I made a statement about where the stings were on the tail of the one's I had caught, these look like different beast's.
I stand corrected as Harry said there are many types and I have no experience of the ones down under.