Freak Death Of Steve Irwin Caught On Video

Russell Crowe On Irwin : "The Ultimate Wildlife Warrior"

By Darryl Mason

Steve Irwin boasted in 2003 that television cameras follow him around and capture almost every second of each day in his life.

It is then, not surprising, that Irwin's sudden death has been caught on any number of cameras, and not just those that were vidding him for a new TV series on Australia's deadliest creatures (the irony would have made him laugh long and loud, no doubt).

A camera crew caught the moment when a 2.5 metre long stingray pierced his heart, but tourists on a reef cruise nearby also captured the frantic attempts to revive this legendary Australian on the deck of a boat.

Right now, Queensland police are reviewing the video of the moment the stingray pumped venom straight into his heart, bringing on cardiac arrest.

It will only be a matter of time before the videos of tourists pop up online.

For a man who lived his life so publicly, should the moment of his death be private, or shared with those who wish to view it, regardless of how traumatic the footage of a dying man may be?

From news.com :

"The footage shows him swimming in the water, the ray stopped and turned and that was it," said boatowner Peter West, who viewed the footage afterwards.

"There was no blood in the water, it was not that obvious ... something happened with this animal that made it rear and he was at the wrong position at the wrong time and if it hit him anywhere else we would not be talking about a fatality."

Stingrays the size of the one that killed Irwin have a spike on the end of their tale, described as being "like a dagger", 20cm long. It seems likely now that Irwin may have died almost instantly.

Spear fisherman and fellow film-maker Ben Cropp has a few more details on what happened :

"He was up in the shallow water, probably 1.5m to 2m deep, following a bull ray which was about a metre across the body - probably weighing about 100kg, and it had quite a large spine. The cameraman was filming in the water."

Mr Cropp said the stingray was spooked and went into defensive mood.

"It probably felt threatened because Steve was alongside and there was the cameraman ahead, and it felt there was danger and it baulked.

"It stopped and went into a defensive mode and swung its tail with the spike.

"Steve unfortunately was in a bad position and copped it.

"I have had that happen to me, and I can visualise it - when a ray goes into defensive, you get out of the way.

"Steve was so close he could not get away, so if you can imagine it - being right beside the ray and it swinging its spine upwards from underneath Steve - and it hit him..."

Millions of Americans, like Australians, like people across the planet, have gone into a state of shock over the sudden death of Irwin.

Irwin once explained to US TV host Jay Leno how he goes about determining whether a crocodile is male or female :

"I put my finger in here and if it smiles, it's a girl," Irwin said. "If it bites me, it's a boy."

Interesting bit of info on just how valuable an entertainment icon Irwin was viewed as in the US

He was being wooed by cashed up Las Vegas casinos willing to pay a reported $US50 million to perform nightly, long-term shows.

Hard to imagine such a lover of the outdoors and animals in their natural state would have ever commited to a Las Vegas strip show, that would have kept in the desert city for months on end.

The RSPCA said Irwin was like "a modern day Noah" due to his devotion to conservation causes and efforts to save endangered Australian fauna :

"His loss will be felt by animal lovers not just in Australia but all over the world," said RSPCA Queensland chief executive Mark Townend.

RSPCA Queensland spokesman Michael Beatty, who first worked with Irwin when the Crocodile Hunter was just 15, said Irwin's contribution to society would only truly be recognised in the years ahead.

"He put his money where his mouth was," Mr Beatty said.

"Other people talked about it, Steve did it.

"His television series inspired millions of people all over the world to not only appreciate and understand wildlife, but to become active in the conservation movement.

"Whether he was speaking to global leaders or ordinary Australians, Steve Irwin told it like it was.

"His death truly is a tragedy.

"Wildlife has lost its most vocal champion," Mr Beatty said.

Australian actor Russell Crowe says goodbye to his mate :

He was the Australian we all aspire to be. He held an absolute belief that caring for the richness of our country, meaning specifically the riches of our fauna, was the highest priority we should have. And, over time, we might just see how right he was.

He was and remains, the ultimate wildlife warrior. He touched my heart. I believed in him. I'll miss him. I loved him and I will be there for his family.

His manager and close friend, John Stainton, says goodbye :

"The world has lost a great wildlife icon, a passionate conservationist and one of the proudest dads on the planet. He died doing what he loved best and left this world in a happy and peaceful state of mind. He would have said, 'Crocs Rule!'"

Internet forums across the world are steadily filling with millions of tributes, goodbyes and words of praise for Irwin and his work. It's truly remarkable. It's easily the most volumuous outpouring of public grief and affection since the death of Princess Diana.

The news.com forum in Australia has logged more than 3000 comments in less than eight hours since the news of his death hit the headlines. The CrocodileHunter.com homepage has been down for hours due to the millions of people trying to reach the site to say their goodbyes.

Hopefully Irwin's most important message to all of us will never be forgotten.

Treat the Earth with respect and love and conserve it for future generations.

After all, it's the only one we've got.

The Wit & Wisdom Of Steve Irwin, Wildlife Warrior

By Darryl Mason

He was a genuine, true blue Australian. He loved his wife, adored his kids, he lived his dreams and he never tried to hide who he really was. Steve Irwin also happened to be one of the biggest stars on the planet, and one of the most famous Australians in our short history.

Few know that he wrote a series of widely admired scientific papers on Australian fauna and died as one of the largest private landowners in Australia - he used his millions to buy up tens of thousands of acres of pristine Australian bush and rainforest, never to be developed, never to be touched. That's putting your money where your mouth is and putting those hard-earned dollars to a wonderfully good use.

Some Australians found him a little hard to take, he was maybe too Australian in his honesty and his vocabulary, but it was probably his unbound enthusiasm and energy that grated on the nerves of some of his fellow countrymen.

But the kids loved him. Absolutely loved him.

There's been quite a few comments from Australian bloggers who were in the US in 2000 and 2001, as I was, who were stunned to learn about this Crocodile Hunter that seemingly every American loved and couldn't stop talking about.

But how many Australians knew who he was back then? Not many.

If he was known at all by the masses in Australia it was as the over-the-top, hammy host of a kids afternoon TV show.

But in the US? Mega-star. I lost track of the amount of times Americans said, "Oh, you're an Australian? Can you say 'Crikey! Look at the size of this fella!" or variations on that theme.

Okay, and onto the subject of this post.

Steve Irwin, as well as being Australia's most enthusiastic conservationist, was also quite the philosopher, and stand-up comic, as well as a storyteller of immense talent.

Here's a selection of quotes from some of the longer, in-depth television interviews Steve Irwin gave during 2003 and 2004.

Read them and think of his voice and add the energy and laughter.

It's interesting how different these quotes read to hearing them come out of his mouth on television. Some of them seem far more powerful in type.

Quick note on the first quote : Irwin had a big problem with entreprenuers who called themselves conservationists but promoted crocodile farming (for meat and skins). Same with kangaroos. He wanted to save all Australian animals, all the time.

They're on some crusade, these wildlife perpetrating people, where they think that, you know, by eating crocodiles and whales that we'll actually save the world, and that is bullshit, and that is bad, and it is something that must stop, and it is something that I fight vehemently.

Just say what you're gonna say, mate.

I'm fair dinkum, like kangaroos and Land Cruisers, winged keels and bloody flies! I think we've lost all that. I think we've all become very, sort of, money people.

If you don't have your highs and your lows, then you're just going to have a pretty mundane sort of a boring life and and my highs are really really high and my lows are really really low...

And then you've got the detractors having a go at me. You know, "Taking tourism back to the Stone Age." It seems to me that they're actually trying to promote nice beaches, cosmopolitan cities, cafe latte. That's in every country. What haven't they got? They haven't got kangaroos, haven't got koalas, haven't got saltwater crocs, mate.

I've got a photo of my daughter and I can just sit there and start crying just looking at her. Who would have thought someone as ugly as me could bring into the world something so beautiful, such a treasure?

I think I've actually got animals so genetically inside me that there's no way I could actually be anything else. I think my path would have always gone back to or delivered me to wildlife. I think wildlife is just like a magnet, and it's something that I can't help.


You know, easily the greatest threat to the wildlife globally is the destruction and annihilation of habitat. So I've gone, "Right, well, how do I fix that? Well, making a quid here. People are keen to give me money over there. I'll buy it. I'll buy habitat."...

There's too many good ones. I'll post another round-up, or you can read the interview transcripts in full for yourself, here and here and here

Steve Irwin The Crocodile Hunter Is Dead



By Darryl Mason

Known across the planet as the Crocodile Hunter, the TV presenter, actor and conservationist
Steve Irwin was killed earlier today near Port Douglas, Queensland, hard at work making a new documentary on Australia's beautiful, and sometimes incredibly deadly, marine life.

In what is being widely described as a freak accident, the long, razor sharp barb of a large stingray is believed to have entered his chest, causing his death in less than two hours.

Here's a good, quick-read obituary. His love of Australia's wildlife, in particular crocodiles, was instilled in him from his earliest years, and he deeply admired his father, an avid wildlife protector and part-time adventurer :

...the (Irwin) family's consuming passion was rescuing and rehabilitating local (Queensland) wildlife.

In 1970 the hobby became a full time operation when the Irwins opened the Beerwah Reptile Park.

Irwin recalled how, even with the advent of a formal facility, the family home was itself a mini zoo and wildlife hospital, with makeshift marsupial "pouches" slung over the backs of chairs and snakes stashed everywhere.

The young Irwin came to share his parents' obsession with wild creatures, and he soon displayed an uncanny rapport with them, able to sense their moods and preferences intuitively

As the Australian media scrambles to cover the story, marine life experts are being innundated with questions about how many people have actually died after being stung by a stingray. Some experts in Queensland say none, never heard of it. Others outside of Australia say such deaths are not as common as shark bite deaths, but they are not completely unknown.

...stingrays have poisonous spines that can inject venom deep in to the unwary victim, causing excruciating pain. Handle all fish with care, avoiding the spinous areas along the backbone and around the gills.

From the early reports, it sounds like Steve may have been stung close to the heart, as the stingray's barb is believed to have actually pierced his chest.

Reports of divers being stung by stingrays are not uncommon, but usually the stings occur on the feet or the legs. People can become violently ill from such stings, but stings to the chest, and in particular reports where the venomous 'spike' of the tail actually entering the chest are extremely rare.

There will no doubt be much fear amongst the Queensland, and particularly Cairns, tourism industry over his death.

Dive boat operators will now be questioned by tourists on just how dangerous it is to get in the water with stingrays.

How will they be able to deny that stingrays can kill?

Steve Irwin became famous for his theatrical wrestling of crocodiles, but stingrays will be viewed with fear and dread now they have claimed the life of Australia's most famous son.

Terrible news. He was one of the best friends Australia's shrinking rainforests and increasingly threatened wildlife has had in a long time. His TV shows, watched by hundreds of millions of people around the world, regularly featured him talking about the rare beauty of the Australian wilderness, and why it was so important to preserve it for the good of the country, for the benefit of the tourism industry and for future generations of Australians.

See you later, Steve. You were a top bloke. We'll miss you plenty.

Go here to read tributes from Australian fans to Steve Irwin.

Another board of tributes and comments can be found here.

We'll post links to other news boards of comments and tributes. Can't supply the links right now. At least major Australian news comments boards have crashed due to the overwhelming number of people who want to say goodbye.

UPDATE : I should point out that the tributes and goodbyes pouring in to Australian news sites are now also coming from people in the US, the UK, all across Europe, Russia, Turkey, all across the Middle East, New Zealand...indeed, most of the known world that is hooked up to the net.


Stingray "Fear Factor" Media Freakout Begins

It only took a few hours after the death of Steve Irwin was confirmed for some of the Australia
to begin ramping up the fear over the dangers of stingrays. The best quotes so far have come from the wildlife expert and film-maker long regarded as the original Crocodile Hunter :

"...they (stingrays) are very dangerous.

"They have one or two barbs in the tails which are not only coated in toxic material but are also like a bayonet, like a bayonet on a rifle.

"If it hits any vital organs it's as deadly as a bayonet."

Go here for the most recent updates and stories, including 'The Wit And Wisdom Of Steve Irwin'