posted
Yeah, my first thought wasn't a very flattering one. I thought he'd taken too many risks for too long and it was a miracle he hadn't been killed before.
Still, I'm not happy he's dead. I feel really bad for his kids and wife.
posted
Anyone who works with wild animals is taking more risks than *I* would. But is that even what happened? I may watch Larry King tonight, as John Stainton will be on, but the description I see is more that he just swam over and startled a ray that nailed him with a 'one-in-a-million' shot with it's tail. If he doesn't get jabbed in the chest, we see this on his show later, with him talking about how this was nature's way, he surprised it and it did the only thing it could to make sure he went away.
Posts: 5422 | Registered: Dec 2001
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posted
It's sort of like a Nascar driver dying trying to find a parking space at the mall. Or an infantryman with several tours in Iraq coming home to get hit by a stray bullet while walking down the street. Or a lion tamer dying because he tripped over his housecat and broke his neck.
With all the high risk activity he'd engaged in and survived, it's just astounding that it was a stingray that killed him.
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
The cameras were actually rolling when it happened, so the events with the stingray were filmed, although the cameraman shut down when Steve lost consciousness. Here's an article (don't worry, no video; Discovery hasn't decided yet if they're going to release that footage, and I hope they won't), which states that the police have decided that Steve wasn't provoking or threatening the ray when he got hit.
Steve yanked the barb out of his chest before going unconscious, and they think the damage that caused may have been what killed him. However, this article, which is a little more recent than the first one I linked, says there's some ambivalence as to whether leaving the barb in wouldn't have been just as damaging, since his heart tissue would have been beating against the barb's serrated edge.
Posts: 952 | Registered: Jun 2005
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posted
A CNN story states that they might air the footage of his death because that's what he would have wanted. He's quoted as saying that he insisted that his cameramen keep filming no matter what; if he's getting mauled by a crocodile, make sure every second of it was on tape. He'd stated that if it didn't get his death on tape it would have made him "sad".
I can understand why they would air it. I accept its airing because it was his final wish, but I certainly am not going to watch it.
I've seen pictures of what a stingray barb looks like. Basically, it's a 20" long serrated dagger that's poisonous. I'm amazed this doesn't happen more often with a weapon like that.
When he got hit by it, he was gone either way: either an inch wide hole in his chest through to his heart, or his heart bursting due to neurotoxins and the barb itself. Anywhere else on the body and he might have lived. I've heard stories of people taking half-inch wide rebar, 6" long nails or bullets to the brain and surviving; this was a polar opposite.
He may have looked like a loon, but that was his nature. He knew what he was doing every time, and knew the threshhold of safety, but nature is unpredictable that way. Nobody could have ever imagined he went out the way he did.
Posts: 3486 | Registered: Sep 2002
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posted
Anywhere else in his body and he would have lived. Stingrays can give nasty wounds, but I read that they have only caused 17 fatalities in recorded history, and only 3 in Australia.
He stood a greater chance of getting struck by lightning.
The randomness of his death just boggles my mind.
Posts: 3960 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
Proximity of the sting to his heart was certainly a factor. I think he was a goner either way. Something that is moderately poisonous is MUCH worse if it is dispersed right where your heart it. I watched on CNN as a man described the pain of a stingrays sting. He was stung on the hand and said he would have rather had somebody smash his hand with a hammer then be stung. Its a real possibility that Steve was stung, pulled it out and passed out from the pain. Though he probably would passed out from blood lose or heart stoppage just as easily.
Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
Seldom can it be said that a great man has truely passed, but this is one of those times.
Mr Irwin was a showman, but his sincerity in his love for animals and nature was real, and his showmanship helped spread it to the world.
From the age nine to the age of twelve, I wanted to be him, and I still admire him.
He was doubtless more intellegent than often portrayed, but it was not for his intellegence that he will be remembered, but for the simplicity and sincerity of his message.
Posts: 1332 | Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Teshi: I read about this this morning. I really liked Steve Irwin- such a character. He may have died in an unlikely way, but he died in mid doing.
Exactly, Teshi. I'm glad, if he had to die, that he did so doing something that he loved. Better this than to have been in a car accident, or to have had an aneurysm or something.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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quote:Originally posted by Pelegius: Seldom can it be said that a great man has truely passed, but this is one of those times.
Mr Irwin was a showman, but his sincerity in his love for animals and nature was real, and his showmanship helped spread it to the world.
From the age nine to the age of twelve, I wanted to be him, and I still admire him.
He was doubtless more intellegent than often portrayed, but it was not for his intellegence that he will be remembered, but for the simplicity and sincerity of his message.
Amen Pel! And its nice to be able to agree with you on something. Posts: 14316 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
I thought the commercial he did for the movie, Dr. Doolittle 2, was hilarious, where he is preparing to do something with a croc, and Dr. Doolittle understands the croc to be saying he is going to get Steve by surprise and grab his arm. Dr. Doolittle tries to warn Irwin, but he is just shushed up. Next thing you hear, as the camera is focused on Dr. Doolittle, is Irwin yelling "Krikey!" That commercial was better than Steve Irwin's whole movie.
I liked Irwin. His joyously cheerful, over-the-top enthusiasm for the uncuddly, unlovely, often dangerous animals in nature, was enormously entertaining, even while making you feel slightly aghast. Many others began trying to imitate him, he was so successful. How can the world be the same, as bright or as beautiful, without him?
Posts: 3742 | Registered: Dec 2001
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quote:Originally posted by Carrie: In other news, the last known person to die with a stingray barb in his chest was Odysseus.
I think Jack Hanna put it well when he said something to the effect of "Steve Irwin being killed by a stingray is the equivalent of my getting killed by a poodle."
Posts: 786 | Registered: Jun 2003
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quote: I thought the commercial he did for the movie, Dr. Doolittle 2, was hilarious...
I remember that! Dr. Doolittle hears the croc saying "Steve doesn't know that I know he's there, but when he makes a grab for me I'm gonna whip round and bite his arm off." And then a minute later from offscreen, "Aw, Croikey, me arm!!" Posts: 957 | Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
I picture the hand of God reaching down into the ocean and swiftly, gently picking up the soul of Steve Irwin, turning to all of us in the audience, and in a flawless Australian accent, say, "Croikey, isn't he beautiful."
Posts: 11895 | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
I watched his FedEx commercial from a few years ago (during the Super Bowl I think) when it wound up on YouTube.
If someone made it today, they'd be beat down for bad taste. As it was, I think it highlights that he knew full well that the unforseeable could happen and it would be his end. Even he could joke about it.
Also, I'll second Pel's sentiment above. It fairly well matches my own.
Posts: 1368 | Registered: Sep 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Dan_raven: I picture the hand of God reaching down into the ocean and swiftly, gently picking up the soul of Steve Irwin, turning to all of us in the audience, and in a flawless Australian accent, say, "Croikey, isn't he beautiful."
That made me grin sheepishly at my desk for a good two minutes. Posts: 4313 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
Hey Dan_raven, that was beautiful. I got goosebumps and a little glossy eyed. Great image. Thanks for sharing.
Posts: 1355 | Registered: Jul 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Dan_raven: I picture the hand of God reaching down into the ocean and swiftly, gently picking up the soul of Steve Irwin, turning to all of us in the audience, and in a flawless Australian accent, say, "Croikey, isn't he beautiful."
That made me grin sheepishly at my desk for a good two minutes.
posted
Yeah, I know. It's kind of surreal, for me. And, when you think about how the fifth-anniversery of the twin-towers attack is in just a week, it's even more surreal. Wow.
Posts: 438 | Registered: May 2006
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posted
Wow. A year. It still pains me to see reruns of his show on TV, because his passion and enthusiasm always impressed me the most, and to know that its gone...wow...
Posts: 1711 | Registered: Jun 2004
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posted
BB: Nathan2006 mentioned in his post that it was the fifth anniversary of the twin towers attack, which is incorrect - as they happened in 2001 - and Resh was just correcting him.
-E.
edit: shoot... I was beaten to the punch by a white whale... guess I'm gonna have to sharpen my harpoon Posts: 993 | Registered: Jul 2006
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Blayne Bradley
unregistered
posted
no eduardo you still won, because you mentioned what he meant by sixth, aka the twin towers since I had not read that far up.
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Darn, beaten by disqualification. I guess I just assumed that people could differentiate between the time the two towers fell and the death of Steve Irwin.
And eduardo, harpoons have no effect on me. Posts: 1711 | Registered: Jun 2004
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I guess I just assumed that people could differentiate between the time the two towers fell and the death of Steve Irwin. ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
