This sucks:
Television personality and environmentalist Steve Irwin has died from a stingray wound while filming off north Queensland.
Friends believe he may have died instantly when struck by a stingray as he filmed a sequence for his eight-year-old daughter Bindi’s new TV series.
Irwin’s friend of 20 years, Ferre De Deyne said Irwin had been struck by the stingray while filming. “The stingray just happened to be swimming around and out of the blue whacked his tail at him,” he said.
“It is absolutely tragic. I have dived so many times with stingrays and they are usually very placid things,” he said.
Known worldwide as the Crocodile Hunter, 44-year-old Irwin was famous for his enthusiasm for wildlife and his catchcry “Crikey!”Z
It will seem shitty of me to say this, but anyone who didn’t see something like this coming is blind. Well, maybe not seeing him die from a stingray tail to the chest, but something along the lines of an animal attack. I always loved the show, but in the back of my mind during episodewas that I felt doing this sort of thing with a wife and children was supremely irresponsible.
Otto Man
Yep. This is sad, of course, but it’s the least surprising death notice I’ve ever seen.
That guy never seemed to think anything could go wrong. Didn’t he get in trouble for having his baby in the croc pit with him last year?
Mongo
I can’t recall the last time a person died from a stingray in Oz. Usually a sting will come about through treading on a ray in shallow water, with a painful inflamation from the toxin and a nasty cut is pretty much the worst that happens.
I guess he must have been hit in the chest by an enormous ray with the sting penetrated between his ribs, or it caused an allergic reaction and cardiac arrest.
Bugger!
ThymeZone
Not at all. My wife said essentially the same thing. Sad, but not that surprising.
jill
So, should we assume that all animal trainers, doctors, keepers, showmen, etc, will die at the hands of an animal?
Tulkinghorn
There is a very sad seven year old boy in my house.
jg
No but if they are killed by an animal you can’t be surprised it happen as you would if it happened to an accountant.
Rn341
RIP Steve Irwin aka crock hunter
I am sad to hear that a personal hero of mine who time in and time again went further off the deep end the in could ever imagine(restling with aligators) has passed away. He served selflessly to the people of Austrilla. With no regard for his personal safty he time in and time again did not hesitate to jump into crock infested waters to tie up an aligator. Or puting a deadly piosonis snake that if bit him would kill before he hit the ground into a trance. He served on the frount lines of our battle with nature. He showed us that we truely are the kings of the jungle. He died in the way he lived his life wrestling with some god knows what animal. It is probaly the way he would have wanted it. We will never forget the dignity that he brought to his job. Or is bravery in tie up some dangours beast. Or the courage conviction and joy that he brought to his job. I think all of us remeber the first time we saw him. When we woundered who is this guy and more importantly why does he have his head in that aligators mouth. His death is a loss. Steve Irwin your candle has burnt out long before your legend ever will.
heisoffthedeepend.blogspot.com
p.lukasiak
can’t recall the last time a person died from a stingray in Oz. Usually a sting will come about through treading on a ray in shallow water, with a painful inflamation from the toxin and a nasty cut is pretty much the worst that happens.
true… also true is that Irwin would have doubtless hyped the lethality of the stingray in his narration of his encounter with it. Irwin lived by hype, now he’s died in a freak “accident” whose danger he would have hyped had he lived to promote himself with the footage being shot.
CaseyL
He lived by hype, but he used that hype to defend, not attack, critters that an awful lot of people think are scary and gross. He was a champion of “All things slimy and scaly.”
Had he lived, he would have woven a great tale around the encounter… and probably finished by saying, “But look at that stingray! What a beauty!”
I’m really sorry he’s gone, even though I could only take watching him in small doses. My condolences to his family, and I hope they continue his work.
Bruce Moomaw
I would mourn the fact a lot more if it hadn’t been for that totally inexcusable stunt with his baby. (Parenthetically, it seems as though half the damned animals in Australia are deadly, either by being poisonous or through the simple technique of eating people (including, it is suspected, at least one Prime Minister back in 1966).
ThymeZone
He was a great showman, and he did for the critters, not for his own aggrandizement. Or so it seemed. Too bad he was just a little too fearless.
Punchy
Can I get someone to translate this?
I bet it was “supremely irresponsible” to make all those millions so that his kids and wife could live in relative luxury. I bet it was “supremely irresponsible” to start those conservation parks, to educate millions of children AND adults, and raise awareness of some of these endangered animals.
What a loser he was, all that time, effort, and money spent helping animals. A more responsible person would have just sat at a computer and pointed at jackalopes.
Dustbin Of History
What ppgaz and Punchy said. This weekend I’ll find some good Australian beer (any recommendations?) and raise a toast to a better man than I.
CaseyL
Bruce, “that incident” was blown completely out of proportion. From what I’ve been able to gather, Irwin wasn’t hand-feeding the croc; he was tossing food to it, and it was a trick of camera angle that made him and the baby look as close to the croc as they were.
Krista
Definitely not a very surprising death. But, he always seemed to give the impression that he was always taking huge risks…he was probably much more in control of the situation than it looked. Still…you play around with so many dangerous animals, and the odds are, something’s going to happen at some point.
Pb
I think this is an interesting reaction that I don’t entirely understand, and I find it all the more interesting because kos said something practically identical at the end of this post:
To which the first poster replied:
Although I guess that all too often results in leaving parents without children too. Anyhow, people do what they love, they weigh the risks, and they take the risks. And I’m not about to judge Steve Irwin for his personal choices–I’ll leave that option to his wife.
However, I will say this: if we all lived in fear of what could happen if we took risks, nothing would ever get done. Not only would we not have soldiers in Iraq, we wouldn’t have journalists in Iraq. We wouldn’t have planes or cars either–actually, we’d probably still be hunkered down in caves. So feel free to cast stones at Steve Irwin from the safety of your cave.
Kathy
I felt doing this sort of thing with a wife and children was supremely irresponsible.
I can understand this feeling; however, it should be noted that Irwin’s wife knew what she was signing up for when they married. She is an American, and they met when she traveled to Australia to see one of his shows.
Of course, that does not address the issue of his children, who now have to grow up without a dad.
The Other Steve
The guy died doing what he loved and what he cared about, and he brought a new understanding of the animal world to millions of Americans.
This was a freak accident.
RonB
He was a hell of a nice guy. I remember he made some appearances with The Wiggles, and my little ones loved it.
Bye, Steve. And thanks.
xyzzy
John, I often agree with many things you write, but this is completely boneheaded. Lessee, a quick google search turns up the odds of being “killed by an animal” at 1/2,000,000 – compared to dying in a car crash at 1/5,000. So by your logic, every parent who gets in a car even once a day is being 40 times more “irresponsible” than Irwin. I guess that I’m glad that I work from home!
Give the guy a break. Nobody online even really knows what the circumstances were; from many reports, it sounds like it was a totally freak accident. A lot of people (like you) seem far too eager to jump on the toldja-so-he-had-it-comin’ wagon. So yeah, you’re right, it was indeed pretty shitty of you to say that.
Mary
The latest reports are that he was swimming near the bottom, filming coral (nor harassing wildlife), and that he accidentally boxed in a bull ray that he wasn’t aware was even there. There are other reports that sharks had been in the area, possibly making the animal more skittish, and when it lashed out, it was pure bad luck that it hit him in the chest instead of a limb.
He did a lot of good for Australia, especially its wildlife, and all showmanship aside, he showed much more common sense around animals than he is generally given credit for. He took risks, and it’s tragic that his family has lost him so young, but in a society where NASCAR drivers and football players also die in tragic accidents, I don’t see why he should be scolded as some sort of reckless, selfish outlier.
Darrell
That’s probably right. His job was dangerous, but with his skills and knowledge, probably less so than a cop or Nascar racer. I really liked him and I’m sad that he died. He seemed to really love and respect nature, and he inspired a love of nature in countless other people. RIP.
Darrell
Mary beat me to it on the Nascar comment.
DougJ
Classic John Cole. Not that I disagree, but I wouldn’t have said it.
Better to fight the sting rays in the barrier reefs of Australia than in the streets of our cities, though.
Darrell
Unlike the leftist enviro-freaks, Steve Irwin seemed to genuinely love nature, and he was excited to teach others.
CaseyL
It’d be a shame if the only people morally “allowed” to do things like mountain climbing, ocean exploring, fire fighting, police work, space exploration, skiing, scuba diving, soldiering, zookeeping, wild animal encountering, horse racing, car racing, kayaking, whitewater rafting, and small plane piloting were single and had no kids.
“Get married, have kids, and never do anything that you love or find interesting and challenging ever again.”
I’d say that’s not much of an advertisement for the joys of marriage and family.
John Cole
I hope you arent in the insurance industry. It would be fun to see you explain that a race car driver and a casual driver have the same odds of death in a car crash.
Perry Como
I wonder what the actuarial table looks like for “death by sting ray.”
nyrev
I feel awful for his wife and kids, and I’ll miss the guy. There were times when his stunts verged on outrageous and I know that he annoyed a good number of Australians with his over-the-top mateyness, but he was dedicated to his cause, and he truly loved his work. It’s probably not much consolation for the people he left behind, but at least he died doing what he loved.
Coopers or Cascade, if you can find them. Victoria Bitter (VB) isn’t bad either. Foster’s is kind of an Australian national joke.
John Cole
The odds are probably something like “1 in Eleventy three million”
mycat
I don’t buy the “supremely irresponsible” bit. If I married some guy who had a paasion for a certain dangerousnavocation the last thing in the world I would want to do would be to keep him from his passion. I don’t see my role as wife as being a Delilah.
mycat
Wow. Lousy typing there.
pfrets
Well said.
lard lad
Because, of course, environmentalists hate nature, and only support pro-environment causes because they hate Republicans, capitalism and America even more. And I hear they spit on paintings of Jesus, too.
Damn, Darrell, you are a jackass without peer. Is there nothing you can’t use as an excuse to spew bile at the left?
Mr Furious
Irwin’s been doing what he does for years. It’s not like he had a family and decided “hell, think I’ll start wrestlin’ crocs…”
He met his wife specifically because she came to one of his shows, and she later joined him at the zoo taking care of the same animals. Because he has a risky job, he shouldn’t have kids? Bullshit. Should my dad have quite the fire department because he had four kids?
He was what he was.
RIP, Crocodile Hunter.
The Other Steve
Hate to break it to ya, Darrell…
But Irwin was an Environmentalist, Naturalist, Conservationalist. He spent most of the money he made buying land in Australia to protect it.
God, leave it to Darrell to use this guys death as an excuse to lash out at “leftists”. Fucking Pathetic.
Otto Man
And not at all surprising.
Darrell
I think it’s obvious that most of the more extreme enviro-freaks are decidedly anti-capitalist who definitely hate Republicans too. They are far more anti capitalist than pro-nature. And Lardass and Otto, in case you aholes didn’t notice, my ‘political’ comment was in direct response to another comment which cleverly took a shot at Republicans, as I made clear in the blockquote.. I’m not the one on this thread who injected politics. How honest of you to suggest otherwise.
Darrell
Amen.. Jeff Corwin is good, but there’ll never be another Steve Irwin.
DougJ
Sorry, John, but no one could have anticipated that this would happen.
Keith
I don’t think I’d ever specifically think that a stingray spine would flip up and pierce his heart. I wouldn’t think he’d die of a snake bite since he’s likely always carrying anti-venon. I always figured he’d go by having a croc lung at him, he trips jumping backward, and gets a leg twisted off. I know it’s morbid to think that, but I’ve seen enough of his shows. The stingray death is an interesting mode to say the least. I’m really wondering if the footage will ever see the light of day.
Vladi G
No, you just rose to the bait, which is fitting considering you exhibit the intellectual development of a halibut. What an asshole.
Mr Furious
Darrell:
Too bad you couldn’t follow with any more “clever.”
And where the hell you get the idea that “enviro-freaks” are not “pro-nature” is beyond me…
The Other Steve
He just made it up would be my guess.
Wrye
I think the best analogy I have read goes something like this: This is like a NASCAR driver who gets killed when the Volvo he uses to get groceries gets rear-ended at a stoplight. That his death would have involved an animal might have been predictable; that it was a normally pretty harmless animal and a completely fluke strike (it hit him directly in the heart. Anywhere else on his body, he survives) is the weird, even ironic bit.
Godspeed, crocodile hunter.
Quiddity
Irwin was great fun to watch and, at least for the recent years, was the guy you’d think of if you had to name an Australian.
On the whole, it’s hard to know how much risk was involved with some of the stunts. The more I read about him today, the more I learn that in many cases there was extra staff around to assist, animals were often just fed before hand, the camera angles made things look more dangerous than they really were, and so on. I think “risk” was perceived due to Steve’s manic persona. If you get all excitable, you can make a friend think that anything is risky – even a trip to the grocery store. “Crikey! That can of beans is dented. Whoa! You’re not going to eat them, are you!?!”
And then, a couple of hours after eating them: “Wow, that was incredible! But remember, the key is to not show the can of beans that you’re scared of it. If they can sense that, they’ll come after you!”
xyzzy
C’mon, John. I’m just like you: overeducated and often swamped in academia. Are you really going to try to argue that it’s more irresponsible for Irwin to do what he did, and die the way he did, than to be a commuter-parent? No matter how you work the numbers, it’s easier to die on the road than to be killed by a stingray. Or by a rampaging bull. Or by a grizzly. Or a black mamba. I mean.. right? Those numbers that I quoted you are, most likely, aggregates, including all kinds of animals, and all kinds of cars. Not that I know for sure, of course. Personally, I’d expect that the probability of dying on public roads is a hell of a lot higher than dying in a NASCAR race, but that’s just my prejudiced (non-NASCAR-goin’) estimate.
Fact is, Irwin’s death was probably a random accident, and no amount of you wishing that it was his fault might make it so if it weren’t. He was an expert. He knew the risks that he was taking. I bet that he was a reasonable guy, and talked it over with his wife, and that she was okay with his choices. I’m sure that he left behind a comfortable life for his family, as well as a conservation legacy. I respect and like even the superficial television personality.
That’s all I’m saying. He was a good guy who doesn’t deserve the crap that you, and a lot of others, are giving him. If dissing Irwin is now acceptable, then I’m going to make a point to tell the next highway widower that his wife was a crapass for ever getting into the car the morning that she died. (Of course, I’ll probably get a broken jaw for my efforts.)
Pb
Freak accidents happen all the time, in the aggregate, but of course they’re way less common than all the regular accidents. Poor comfort in either case, I know.
rbl
It’s sad, but really, between a freak accident (and reportedly a very quick death) doing what he loved, or getting hit by a runaway bus, I imagine he would have chosen the former. A very freak accident, btw, apparenly this is the 3rd stingray fatality in Australia’s history.
It still sucks though.
lard lad
Here is the “potshot at Republicans” money quote that got Darrell’s panties in a twist (good one, DougJ):
And here is Darrell’s bullshit response… based on “something he read,” no doubt:
Pathetic. Let’s hear your “source” for this latest flung turd, schmuck. Let’s hear how much more Repubs “genuinely love nature” (your words), than those who busted their asses to enact hard-won laws for the protection of our land, our air, and our water… those same laws that Dubya and his business cronies would gut in a heartbeat, to bump their stock options up half a percentage point.
Because you wouldn’t want us to think that this is another of your “facts,” carefully extracted from your ass… now would you?
Krista
Jesus H. Christ, you guys. This is a thread about a good man’s death. If you want to bitch at each other about politics, you can go to any other thread on this site. Have some goddamn respect and leave politics out of this. (And I don’t want to hear any “but he started it!” crap. We’re all adults here, and are all responsible for our own behaviour.)
Nikki
He died doing what he loved. We all should be so lucky to meet our deaths that way.
The Other Steve
Amen.
Krista
No kidding. I doubt I’ll be that lucky, as the odds of having a freak reading accident are probably pretty slim.
Punchy
Picturing a giant bookshelf toppling over as you reach for the highest, most remote book in the collection….
Krista
Punchy – Now, if that really happens, try not to feel guilty, okay?
DougJ
People will have all kinds of “tut-tut” responses to this, but the man died and lived doing everything he loved – and educating millions of people about both the beauty and danger of nature’s creatures.
Amen.
Lee
A quick google determines that per miles driven, it is safer to be a NASCAR driver than a casual driver.
Pb
Lee,
Well, NASCAR drivers are trained professionals, after all.
Sam Hutcheson
He died doing what he loved. We all should be so lucky to meet our deaths that way.
I’m still at a loss as to how to convince Scarlett Johanssen of the nobility of my cause.
RonB
Sam, just watch what you say about her ass.
Darrell
Lardass, show us ‘my words’ where I EVER said that many more Repubs “genuinely love nature”? Of course I never wrote that, you simply made it up because you are a pathetic lying troll. Now skulk away.
Richard 23
What does liking pie have to do with Steve Irwin’s death?
I can respect a guy who could make a living jamming his thumb in the butthole of dangerous animals and pissing them off immensely. Well that’s how they portrayed the Crocodile Hunter in Southpark.
Godspeed, Steve Irwin!
chopper
personally, i see his death as proof that he knew all the more what he was doing on TV. i mean, everyone expected the guy to get croaked by a snake or a croc because it always looked like he was this close to getting killed. when in fact, he really did know what he was doing.
he wasn’t killed by a poisonous snake, he was killed in a freak accident by a ray. it’s like a nascar driver getting killed by a drunk driver on the way home from the grocery store.
Helene Curtis
Irwin was a loud-mouth blowhard who constantly courted danger in his never-ending search for attention. That he died like this was foreseeable.
RonB
Get back under the bridge, Helene.
Krista
She can’t. She might ruin her hairstyle. Because, as a troll, sometimes you need a little finesse…and sometimes you need a lot.
Vlad
“The odds are probably something like ‘1 in Eleventy three million'”
Probably even less; counting Irwin, there have only been three recorded ray-sting fatalities in all of Australian history, and only 17 in the entire world. (Link.)
Like almost everyone else, I think this was sad and relatively inexplicable. “Shit happens” isn’t very comforting, but that doesn’t make it any less true.
Temple Stark
Oh, so that’s how trackbacks work here. Cool. Thanks for the requote DougJ.
I only linked here because this was actually where I heard the news first. Why do holiday weekends always seem to end on a big downer?
Anyway, the guy was a champ and from all reports a genuinely nice guy. I saw him interviewed in an out-of-his-show context and he just HAD NO FEAR when it came to natural animals.
Discovery News says he will have a state funeral, if the family agrees.
Brad and Tytti Smith
We wish to send our deepest, heartfelt condolences to the Irwin family for their tradgic loss.
Steve was a energetic, funny, and informative environmentalist.
He has gone home now to be with our Lord and Saviour.
May the family find peace in their hearts through this difficult time.
amanda
when i heard the news that a wonderful animal lover died of a stingray attack i cried for two days. i have always loved his shows and enjoyed seeing him handle animals. this is a very tragic accident that could not have been helped. may god be with terri and their daughter bindi at this tragic and sad time.