Posted on 09/04/2006 4:51:22 AM PDT by LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget
Edited on 09/04/2006 5:46:47 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
A DOCTOR and witnesses have told of the desperate efforts to save Australian icon Steve Irwin after the Crocodile Hunter was struck in the chest by a stingray barb today.
Irwin, 44, died this morning after being fatally injured while filming a nature documentary off Queensland.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
OMG...so sad. It's on film probably and his daughter was there....sad....sad....sad.
I surely hope that he didn't have his daughter swimming near the stingray.
Irwin was being given CPR at Low Isles, off Port Douglas, as the helicopter arrived less than one hour after the incident, but Dr O'Loughlin said nothing could be done to save him.
Not much can be done if the heart is punctured. The people who were with him would need our prayers, also. That's a pretty traumatic thing to witness. What a loss.
Just went to the head of the line for Darwin Award candidates
Sympathies and Prayers for all.
In his documentaries, he worked so hard to convince us that there was really nothing to fear from his "friends". I could never bear to watch him take such chances, knowing I would have nightmares afterwards.
I mentioned this on another thread, but we have been swimming with stingrays many times. My son, when he was as young as 5 would be completely surrounded by stingrays as we fed them at Stingray City (we used to live on Grand Cayman.)
To be fatally barbed by a stingray is a really freak accident. You'd have to be practically laying on top of one, and in a particular position for the barb to strike the heart. Their tail whips up when they're disturbed(the barb usually strikes a person in the heel as they step on one without knowing it.)
I've heard of stingray deaths from people being allergic to the venom, but then some people die from bee stings.
IMHO, swimming with stingrays would be one of the less dangerous things that Irwin did. Handling the snakes and crocs was much more dangerous. Unfortunately it just proves that life is fragile.
That was much ado about nothing, IMHO. He was on his own zoo property at the time, dealing with an animal he knew well, and he was not that close to it with the baby.
That said, I never liked the way he went out of his way to put himself into hazardous conditions or taunt the animals. His TV show highlighted the danger as part of the appeal. I always preferred Jeff Corwin, who always respects the hazards on camera and never puts himself in an apparently dangerous position in order to create dramatic footage.
It is a tragedy. Millions of children around the World loved Steve Irwin and his program. I know my daughter will be heartbroken when she hears the news.
I can honestly say I didn't see that one coming. At least not that way.
As I see it, the reality is there are folks who sit on the couch and watch their lives go by, so afraid of dying that they don't know how to live. Then, there are other folks who go out and live their lives to the fullest, blazing a trail, taking risks, seeing what is under that next rock. Irwin was the latter and we are all better for it. I wonder if the folks who are aghast by his death would feel better if he died at 90 in a hospital somewhere having never done the things he's done?
Irwin brought the best and worst of nature into our living rooms and conveyed the adventurous spirit that lies within all of us. Rest in peace, Croc man.....
Sounds like the stingrays didn't want to be "demystified"...
Sorry to ruin your schadenfreunde, but the rules say they have to die before reproducing.
I believe my children have touched stingrays at aquarium parks. What would your response be to me? The odds of a fatal stingray barb are extremely rare. Many people swim with them, now step on one, and that is when there is trouble.
I've long thought of Steve as a modern day Dr. Doolittle.
I believe the spines are clipped on aquarium sting rays but guys that do what Irwin did actually provide a wonderful service for all of us.
If it weren't for Wild Kingdom when I was a kid I may not have developed my interest in nature and science. Jeff Corwin is another great wildlife "teacher". Corwin got bit by a cobra a few years back while filming in India.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.