Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin dead

News.com.au ^ | September 4, 2006

[lunarbicep]

He was killed in a freak accident in Cairns, police sources said. It is understood he was killed by a sting-ray barb that went through his chest.

He was swimming off the Low Isles at Port Douglas filming an underwater documentary and that's when it occured.

[blondee123]

Thanks, going to go watch it.

[kcvl]

Ambulance officers received a call to a reef fatality this morning at Batt Reef. The Queensland Ambulance Service said the call was received about 11am and an emergency services helicopter was flown to the boat with a doctor and emergency services paramedic on board.

Irwin had a puncture wound to the left side of his chest and he was pronounced dead at the scene.


http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/

[dixiechick2000]

It is very sad for his wife and kids.

My three grands love him.
It's going to be hard on them.

[blondee123]

Turned on CNN and it's BUBBA! UGH!

[kcvl]

Too bad CNN thinks Bill Clinton is more important than the death of Steve Irwin.

[Phibes]

Well Jeff, as I waded in the waters off Padre Island waste deep a little baggie swam by me with tenticles over 10 ft. long and wrapped themselves around my waste. The Man-O-War proceeded to paralyse me. Fellow sailors rubbed sand on me and while in the ER, I was futher rubbed with Adolfs meat tenderizer to counteract the poision. I hope this description helped.

[CindyDawg]

Can this be in breaking? Many people watched his shows .

[HelloooClareece]

Steve Irwin was a global treasure. I have no idea how many times I watched his show and laughed until I cried at how entertaining he was. I feel like I have lost a family member tonight.

His family deserves our prayers tonight and the Crocodile Hunter deserves our thanks for teaching us, and our children, about the importance of wildlife conservation. May he rest forever in peace.

[kcvl]

OMG!

10 ft tenticles?!!!

That would be the end of me.

[HAL9000]

"After someone's dead, then people want to pretend it was all somehow unfair that someone got killed. I suppose it helps absolve them of their involvement in the performer's demise."

I'm sure the real George W. Bush would disagree with you.

'Crocodile Hunter' tucks into Aussie barbie with George Bush

[mom4kittys]

Sorry,
I don't normally watch CNN. It is Fox news all the time, but they aren't live at night so I was flipping channels. They were talking to an Australian journalist about Steve for a while.
I guess Animal Planet is on auto pilot right now. I would imagine that they will be doing a memorial special as soon as they can.

[HarmlessLovableFuzzball]

Port Douglas, QLD

[blondee123]

One time in Fort Lauderdale, I was with a friend who got stung by a man-o-war. It was in shallow water where many people were, it looked like a plastic bag with yarn ties on it. It was just floating on the water & next thing, it stung the friends leg and left very bad red burns that burned for at least 24 hours. Guess the friend was luckier than you Phibes.

[FreedomCalls]

You can listen to a radio talk show in Sydney, Australia with Philip Clark on 2GB at this link. It's afternoon drive-time there. They are taking calls with rememberances about him. There's a 10-year old on the line right now.

[JeffAtlanta]

Wow! I didn't mean to bring up bad memories but I've never seen a jellyfish in the wild, but I've heard they can be very dangerous.

It sounds like you didn't make any mistakes but just were in the wrong place and the wrong time. I'm glad you're ok.

[blondee123]

Too bad CNN thinks Bill Clinton is more important than the death of Steve Irwin.

Well, that is CNN for you!!! What else would we expect? Probably gave Steve a whole 20 seconds!

[kcvl]

Beautiful!

[Ptarmigan]

I got to feel for his family too. My condolences to his family. Getting stung is no fun. Stingray venom is very potent.

[Phibes]

And to think I told the unfortunate Jeff "waste" when I really meant "Waist"

[Bernard Marx]

In the middle of his dialog, he suddenly noticed one of these snakes right at his feet as he was talking to the camera. He went dead silent and didn't move or say a word for about 20 seconds until it slithered away. The look on his face was priceless, imminent danger. That was the only time I think I've ever seen him display true fear on camera.

I remember that episode vividly. The snakes were American diamondback rattlesnakes. He stated on several occasions they are among the highest-evolved and most dangerous snakes. He respected and feared them.

Just yesterday I watched an episode of his show set in Sri Lanka where he was charged by a wild elephant. The only thing that saved him was a tree that happened to be in exactly the right place. Maybe he planned it that way but he had the same frightened look on his face as he did with the rattlesnakes. I told my wife I thought he was going too far afield from the animals he knew and understood just for the sake of making the show dramatic, and he'd probably end up being killed by one. I take no pleasure at being prophetic.

I've long worried, though, that young children might be tempted into trying to handle snakes and other dangerous creatures the way Steve did, thinking it is easy. I don't think his shows placed enough emphasis on dangers to the inexperienced.