The Crocodile Hunter is Dead

[Fluid]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/09/04/australia.irwin/index.html

Reports: 'Crocodile Hunter' dead

SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- Steve Irwin, the Australian TV presenter known as the "Crocodile Hunter," has died after being stung in a marine accident off Australia's north coast.

Australian media reports say Irwin was diving in waters off Port Douglas, north of Cairns, when the incident happened on Monday morning.

Irwin was killed by a stingray barb that went through his chest, according to Cairns police sources. Irwin was filming an underwater documentary at the time.

Ambulance officers confirmed they attended a reef fatality Monday morning off Port Douglas, according to Australian media.

Queensland Police Services also confirmed Irwin's death and said his family had been notified.

Irwin, 44, was director of the Australian Zoo in Queensland.

He and his American-born wife Terri Irwin became popular figures on Australian and international television through Irwin's close handling of wildlife, most notably the capture of live crocodiles.

Irwin's enthusiastic approach to nature conservation and the environment won him a global following.

But his image suffered a setback in 2004 when he held his then one-month-old baby while feeding a crocodile at his Australian zoo.

[Mr. Top Hat]

its really too bad, i always liked him

[Slyder]

wow, this is pretty upsetting...



RIP

[deltarider]

yeah he has a kid and a wife, darn

[wakemitch]

i just found out through a myspace bulletin and then i was trying to see if was real on google and then i found out here. damn. that sucks he is dead.

[JamesBoardr]

sad.

[Rob]

R.I.P

[RedXIII]

i heard abou this last night at like 2 in the morning and im sad

[Ride_2_Relax]

wow ... i always thought he was invincible ya know ...

[PIRATE]

mY prayers are with his family...............

[hammer49]

Man I always thought if he was going to go it would be by a croc, but a stingray barb to the heart? That's just bulljive.

[integrity640]

Man i was just about to post this. Hes a lil more detailed article.

Ride_2_Relax i know exactly what you mean, ive been watching his shows since i can remember(im now 16) With everything that happened to him and everywhere he went this was shocking. I def didnt expect him to die just because hed been so close to deadlier things.








CAIRNS, Australia - Steve Irwin, the ebullient Australian whose catch cry of "Crikey!" helped him rise to global fame as television's the "Crocodile Hunter," was killed Monday by a stingray while filming on the Great Barrier Reef. He was 44.

Irwin was in the water at Batt Reef, off the remote coast of northeastern Queensland state, shooting a segment for a series called "Ocean's Deadliest" when he swam too close to one of the animals, which have a poisonous barb on their tails, said John Stainton, a friend and colleague.

"He came on top of the stingray and the stingray's barb went up and into his chest and put a hole into his heart," said Stainton, who was on board Irwin's boat, Croc One, at the time.

Crew members called emergency services in the nearest city, Cairns, and administered CPR as they rushed to nearby Low Isle to meet a rescue helicopter. Medical staff pronounced Irwin dead when they arrived a short time later, Stainton said.

Irwin was famous for his enthusiasm for wildlife and for regularly getting up close and personal with dangerous animals in his television program "Crocodile Hunter," which was first broadcast in Australia in 1992 before it was picked up by the Discovery network, catapulting him to international celebrity.

"The world has lost a great wildlife icon, a passionate conservationist and one of the proudest dads on the planet," Stainton told reporters in Cairns. "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!"

Prime Minister John Howard, who hand-picked Irwin to attend a gala barbecue to honor U.S. President George W. Bush when he visited in 2003, said he was "shocked and distressed at Steve Irwin's sudden, untimely and freakish death."

"It's a huge loss to Australia," Howard told reporters. "He was a wonderful character. He was a passionate environmentalist. He brought joy and entertainment and excitement to millions of people."

Irwin, who made a trademark of hovering dangerously close to untethered crocodiles, often leaping on their backs, talked mile-a-minute in a thick Australian drawl and was almost never seen in anything but khaki shorts and shirt, and heavy boots.

His ebullience was infectious and Australian officials sought him out for photo opportunities and to promote Australia internationally.

He rode the lovable knockabout image in 2002 into a feature film, "The Crocodile Hunters: Collision Course," and developed the wildlife park that his parents opened, Australia Zoo, into a major tourist attraction.

The public image was dented in 2004 when Irwin triggered an uproar by holding his month-old son in one arm while feeding large crocodiles inside a zoo pen. Irwin claimed at the time there was no danger to his son, and authorities declined to charge Irwin with violating safety regulations.

Later that year, he was accused of getting too close to penguins, a seal and humpback whales in Antarctica while making a documentary. Irwin denied any wrongdoing, and an Australian Environment Department investigation recommended no action be taken against him.

Irwin was born Feb. 22, 1962, in the southern city of Melbourne and was immersed in the Australian bush eight years later when his parents moved to Sunshine Coast in tropical Queensland and opened a reptile park.

Irwin was given a scrub python for his sixth birthday and was catching crocodiles by nine, according to details from the zoo. He worked as a crocodile trapper in his 20s, removing problematic animals from populated areas. In 1991, he took over the Australia Zoo when his parents retired.

News of Irwin's death spread quickly, and tributes flowed in.

At Australia Zoo in Queensland, flowers were dropped at the entrance; drivers honked their horns as they passed.

"Steve, from all God's creatures, thank you. Rest in peace," was written on a card with a bouquet of native flowers.

"We're all very shocked. I don't know what the zoo will do without him. He's done so much for us, the environment and it's a big loss," said Paula Kelly, a local resident and volunteer at the zoo, after dropping off a wreath at the gate.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, who used a photograph of his family at Australia Zoo for his official Christmas card last year, hailed Irwin for his work in promoting Australia as a tourist destination through projects such as one called "G'Day LA."

Stainton said Irwin's American wife Terri, from Eugene, Ore., had been informed of his death, and had told their daughter Bindi Sue, 8, and son Bob, who will turn 3 in December.

The couple met when she went on vacation in Australia in 1991 and visited Irwin's Australia Zoo; they were married six months later.

Stingray's have a serrated, toxin-loaded bard, or spine, up to 25 centimeters (10 inches) long on top of their tails. The barb flexes reflexively if a ray is frightened, and a sting to a person is usually excruciatingly painful but not deadly, said University of Queensland marine neuroscientist Shaun Collin.

Collin said he suspected Irwin died because the barb pierced under his ribcage and stabbed directly into his heart.

"It was extraordinarily bad luck. It's not easy to get spined by a stingray and to be killed by one is very rare," Collin said.

[mario c.]

just shows how serious the stuff he was doing was. there was always talk about some of it being staged.
who woulda thought a stingray to the heart.

r.i.p. by-croicky

[SoFloSkater]

i had actually watched a televison show on him about a week ago after not seeing or hearing about him in years.. and remebered how much i used to watch his show's when i was younger

im really gonna miss him

im gonna pray for his wife ,daughter, and the rest of his family tonight

[liquid]

fiznackling sad.

the gay thing is that he was a HUGE nature conservationist and then nature comes right behind him and fvcks him up the ass.

so lame, he was rad as shizzle.

but he WAS filming the 10 deadliest animals.

[PIRATE]

liquid, YEah He did alot for Nature in some crazy ways, he started lot of nature IDK what there called but he helped save animals and zoo's and stuff, THats what he should be remembered as, as someone who tried to make the world a better place for Humans and Animals alike. Not just as some crazy alligator catcher. I think i probably learned more about wild life from steve erwin then i did my hole 4years in high school...

[bjr]

rip man

[nick]

I learned soooo much about how animals interact with each other and with people just by watching him and I was so inspired by his enthusiasm. Sometimes we forget how famous someone is until they leave this world for the next, kinda crazy.

[RC]

this sucks..and i dont even watch his show..

[-=AlexXx=-]

i was so sad when top hat told me least he didnt get killed by a crocodile.. that woulda been ironic.