NEWSFLASH: Crocodile Hunter’ Steve Irwin dies

[kueytoc]

from AP article:

'Croc Hunter's' last moments caught on tape.

Irwin pulled stingray barb from heart before dying on Great Barrier Reef

Updated: 3:33 a.m. ET Sept. 5, 2006

CAIRNS, Australia - Steve Irwin was videotaped pulling a poisonous stingray barb from his chest in his last moments of life, officials said Tuesday, as tributes poured in for TV’s “Crocodile Hunter.”

Police said there was nothing suspicious about Irwin’s death and no evidence he provoked the animal. Irwin, 44, was stabbed through the heart on Monday while snorkeling with a stingray during filming of a new TV program on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef.

John Stainton, Irwin’s manager who was among the crew on the reef, said the fatal blow was caught on videotape, and described viewing the footage as having the “terrible” experience of watching a friend die.

“It shows that Steve came over the top of the ray and the tail came up, and spiked him here (in the chest), and he pulled it out and the next minute he’s gone,” Stainton told reporters in Cairns, where Irwin’s body was taken for an autopsy.

Queensland state police were holding the tape as evidence for a coroner’s inquiry — a standard procedure in high-profile deaths or those caused by other than natural causes.

Threats Irwin wasn’t used to

Experts have said the stingray may have felt trapped between the cameraman and the TV star. Irwin, the popular host of “Crocodile Hunter,” rose to fame by getting dangerously close to crocodiles, snakes and other beasts.

But Queensland Police Superintendent Michael Keating said there was no evidence Irwin threatened or intimidated the stingray, a normally placid species that only deploys its poisonous tail spines as a defense.

Stainton said Irwin was in his element in the Outback, but that he and Irwin had talked about the sea posing threats the star wasn’t used to.

“If ever he was going to go, we always said it was going to be the ocean,” Stainton said. “On land he was agile, quick-thinking, quick-moving and the ocean puts another element there that you have no control over.”

Parliament took a break from the business of running the country to pay tribute to Irwin, whose body was being flown home Tuesday from Cairns. No funeral plans were announced but state Premier Peter Beattie said Irwin would be afforded a state funeral if his family agreed.

Irwin’s American wife Terri, Bindi and their son Bob, almost 3, returned late Monday from a trekking vacation in Tasmania to Australia Zoo, the wildlife park where the family lived at Beerwah in Queensland’s southeast.

'Our wildlife warrior'

At the park, hundreds of people filed past the entrance laying floral bouquets and handwritten condolence messages. Khaki shirts — a trademark of Irwin — were laid out for people to sign.

“Mate, you made the world a better place,” read one poster left at the gate. “Steve, our hero, our legend, our wildlife warrior,” read another. “I thought you were immortal. How I wish that was true,” said a third.

The park opened Tuesday because it was what Irwin would have wanted, said Gail Gipp, an animal health employee.

Irwin was propelled to global fame after his TV shows, in which he regularly wrestled with crocodiles and went face-to-face with poisonous snakes and other wild animals, were shown around world on the Discovery Channel.

The network announced plans for a marathon screening of Irwin’s work and a wildlife fund in his name.

“Rarely has the world embraced an animal enthusiast and conservationist as they did Steve Irwin,” Discovery Networks International President Dawn McCall said in a statement.

Experts differed on the number of human deaths caused by stingrays — anywhere from 3 to 17 — though they agreed that they were extremely rare.

© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[kueytoc]

Some fact about Stingrays.

How a Passive Stingray Can Become Deadly!

By Robert Roy Britt

LiveScience Managing Editor

posted: 04 September 2006

12:16 pm ET

Stingrays like the one that killed "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin are cousins of sharks. But unlike some sharks, which are fearsome predators with powerful jaws, the stingray is rarely a threat to humans and its small mouth is no threat at all.

The tail of the stingray that killed Irwin is capped with a roughly 8-inch spear made of the same stuff that makes up shark scales, known as dermal denticles. The spear, which stiffens when the stingray feels threatened, is serrated like a steak knife and packs a venom that can be deadly to predators.

The tip of a stingray's tail is serrated like a steak knife.

"The venom itself is a largely protein-based toxin that causes great pain in mammals and may also alter heart rate and respiration," according to the Mote Marine Laboratory.

"Stingrays do not attack people, however if it is stepped on, the stingray will utilize its spine as a form of defense," according to Nancy Passarelli and Andrew Piercy of Florida Museum of Natural History. "Although being pierced by the stingray’s spine is painful, it is rarely life threatening to humans."

There are about 200 species of stingrays. They live in both freshwater and in the oceans. Many do not have the ability to sting.

A stingray's mouth is on the underside of its flat body, so that it can feed on worms, crustaceans and other creatures on the seafloor. Its teeth are used to crack shells of prey.

Stingray spines have been used by coastal tribes to create spears and arrowheads, according to the Miami Museum of Science.

Irwin was likely killed not by the sting so much as the fact that the stingray's spear pierced his heart and caused him to bleed to death, according to news reports.

[Interesting]

It's seem a veri painful way to die, life isnt very fair for him for all conversational work done by him.

[FuEl]

There is a tribute on Animal planet now. 7-8 pm.

[kueytoc]

from REUTERS:

'Croc Hunter's' father says he lost his best mate

Bob Irwin refuses state funeral for Steve, saying he was an 'ordinary bloke'

Updated: 5:19 a.m. ET Sept. 6, 2006

SYDNEY - Steve Irwin’s father said on Wednesday he lost his best mate when the TV naturalist known as the “Crocodile Hunter” died in a freak diving accident, adding that his son would hate the fuss of a state funeral.

In the first public comments by Irwin’s family since his death on Monday while diving off Australia’s northeast coast, Bob Irwin thanked his son’s many fans from Australia and around the world for their messages of condolence.

“Steve and I weren’t like father and son, we never were,” Bob Irwin told reporters outside Australia Zoo, the animal park in tropical Queensland state known to his son’s millions of viewers around the world.

“We were good mates. I’ll remember Steve as my best mate ever,” he said.

Irwin, 44, died after the serrated barb of a stingray’s tail pierced his heart.

He had flirted with death many times on his “Crocodile Hunter” documentaries, seen by 200 million people, wrestling with some of the world’s most dangerous creatures.

“Both of us over the years have had some very close shaves,” Bob Irwin said outside the zoo his son took over from him.

“We made jokes of it. That’s not to say that we were careless but we treated it like it was just part of the job,” he said.

News of Irwin’s death clogged Internet news sites and drew tributes from around the world. Prime Minister John Howard interrupted parliament on Tuesday to pay tribute to him, saying he was distressed by the loss of a remarkable Australian.

Irwin’s death continued to dominate local newspapers, with the tabloid Daily Telegraph devoting seven pages to the story as well as a full-page color poster on Wednesday.

'Just an ordinary bloke'

Authorities have offered Irwin’s grieving family a state funeral but Bob Irwin, dressed in khaki shirt and shorts like those his son made famous, said they were unlikely to accept.

“The state funeral would be refused ... because he’s an ordinary guy, he’s just an ordinary bloke,” Bob Irwin said.

Irwin is survived by his U.S.-born wife, Terri, and two young children. Terri Irwin has thanked staff at Australia Zoo for their support but has not spoken publicly since his death.

“Terri’s holding up very well, considering,” Bob Irwin said.

Bob Irwin, who taught Irwin how to handle dangerous animals, said he was burying a cow which had died while calving on his farm when he heard of his son’s death.

He said that his son had died doing something he loved.

“That’s a lot better than getting hit by a bus. But there is no comfort for me at this stage in anything at all.”

Copyright 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.

[cityofangels]

Just wanted to share some video Tributes which I personally love, in memory of the amazing and larger-than-life Steve Irwin.

Tribute to Stephen Robert Irwin, 1962 - 2006

Steve Irwin: Feb 22nd 1962 - Sept 4th 2006

If you want to make a donation in memory of Stevo, kindly visit this website, Wildlife Warriors, where 100% of your donations will go directly to the conservation and preservation of wildlife.

R.I.P. Stevo, you will be greatly missed by both mankind and animals.. May the Kingdom of His Heavenly Host embrace you..