Posted on 09/05/2006 7:36:47 PM PDT by Aussie Dasher
THE footage of Steve Irwin's death should be destroyed, his manager and friend John Stainton said today.
"I would never want that tape shown," Stainton told CNN talk show host Larry King.
"It should be destroyed.
"At the moment it is in police custody for evidence. There's a coroner's inquest taking place at the moment.
"When that is finally released it will never see the light of day.
"Never. Ever.
"I actually saw it and I don't want to see it again."
Irwin, 44, died on Monday when stabbed in the chest by a stingray barb while snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef and Stainton has said footage of the incident is "terrible".
The footage shows Irwin pulling the barb out of his chest before dying.
While Stainton wants the footage kept under wraps, media experts say it may soon be circulating on the internet.
"The key point is once there's something on film, it's impossible to keep it contained," Paul Levinson, chairman of Fordham University's Department of Communication and Media Studies, said.
Mr Stainton, who broke down several times during the CNN interview, said Irwin's wife, Terri, was struggling with her husband's death.
When King asked a teary Stainton how Terri was doing, Mr Stainton replied: "A lot worse than me".
Mr Stainton told how he travelled with Irwin's body in a caske
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
I don't think it would come from Steve's staff. They were a tight knit group and would let Terri make the decision.
Hopefully the tape is safe with the police authorities
Only if people lack all common sense and decency
If it's destroyed, how can it be shown?
I gotta work on that logic.
What about use of the footage, at least of the initial "attack" for safety training?
Why should we only see the episodes when he tempted fate and came off scot free? If he wants to teach us about nature, I'd think he'd want us to be warned to be wiser than he was.
Good luck!
Fine. If that prediction comes to pass, someone should find out who the sick twisted person is, and fire his/her ass.
Shouldn't the knot be on the side of the neck for a faster kill? Of course, there are those who would want to see it slow in Saddam's case... ;-)
If someone does this without Terri's blessing, they should have a lot more coming to them than getting fired!
Same here... such a tragedy. Prayers for Steve Irwin's family and friends...
We don't know what he would have wanted. We do know however that the ghouls in the media just can't wait to sink it's teeth into it, blow it all out of proportion, and taint the legacy of Steve Irwin. You know as well as I do, that is exactly what the media will do. Heck, they've been panting and salivating over this video ever since he was killed.
That's a lot of prayers. His extended "friends" number in the tens of millions at least.
Exactly. Everyone should respect the families wishes. Irwin's fast mate John Stainton couldn't bear watching it once. The media would just show it over and over in a continuous loop on a split screen while they remember the legacy of Steve Irwin.
Back in '01, my wife and I took a Western Carribian cruise. One stop was on Grand Cayman where we went on a snorkle trip to swim with stingrays. We saw a whole bunch of them, from no more than a foot across to a few that were as big as the one that got Steve. Heck, one of the guides even picked a few up partially out of the water, and would help you hold one just in the water for photos.
No accidents or stings. Then again, many of these stingrays were somewhat accustomed to being touched and handled.
I can understand the draw of swimming with stingrays. Very neat experience. We were thoroughly warned about the sting, and what to do to avoid it in the first place.
Does anyone know if he is to be buried on the zoo grounds? I think that would be perfect---in his khaki's.
Reminds me of the media fighting to get the autopsy pictures of Dale Earnhardt
I appreciate what you are saying about media schadenfreude (sp?). Actually, I think it's good for people to see the reality of suffering and death -- in an appropriate way, of course.
When I was a boy, I did see the suffering marines and soldiers in Viet Nam, but I also saw the pictures of the dead and still alive but starving Jews (and possibly the Poles and Christians) in Nazi camps. The latter helped to put the former into perspective, since it is a lasting image of the suffering caused by all evil autocrats.
The impact was worthwhile.
As a pre-teen, I also recall seeing a dog run over by a car. It was a painful thing to witness. Near that time, I also saw shoes in the road, of a young person who had been hit by a car.
Witnessing suffering instructs one not to ignore the behavior that leads to it.
I was thinking the same thing!
I petted a whole bunch of them at the stingray petting zoo at the Mall of America. It didn't take much to attract them. You could just put the tips of your fingers into the water, and they would swim gracefully by, rubbing against your fingertips. Fascinating creatures. The most surprising thing for me was their skin is very soft, and reminded me of silk.
I hope and pray Discovery Channel will exercise good sense and never air the film.
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