Crocodile Hunter killed by Sting Ray. - Page 3 - The Orange Mane

sutoazul · 09-04-2006, 12:29 PM

Really sad story. Really like his shows. May he rest in peace.

rbackfactory80 · 09-04-2006, 07:17 PM

RIP Steve.

SouthStndJunkie · 09-04-2006, 09:37 PM

At least he lived life to the fullest doing what he was passionate about. He was a showman to most, but a conservationist at his core. I can respect that.

anthonypacino · 09-05-2006, 01:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dagmar

I'm glad you got your wish.

Dick.

Easy guy, I was just kidding, I'm not into the whole faces of death thing...I'm sad for his family too but it's just kinda hard for me to get a bunch of sympathy for a guy who does unnatural things for no reason, thats why they have zoo's. You don't have to stick your head into a croc's mouth for fun, or your child's.
I am sorry to anyone that was offended .

Bronco_Beerslug · 09-05-2006, 04:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anthonypacino

Easy guy, I was just kidding, I'm not into the whole faces of death thing...I'm sad for his family too but it's just kinda hard for me to get a bunch of sympathy for a guy who does unnatural things for no reason, thats why they have zoo's. You don't have to stick your head into a croc's mouth for fun, or your child's.
I am sorry to anyone that was offended .

He lived life to the fullest, done the things he loved to do and in the process enlightened and educated millions around the world to animal conservation.

Yeah, I guess that is kinda "unnatural" in this day and age of people wasting away in front of their TVs.

--------------------------------------------------------
Irwin's death clogs Web sites, stuns world fans
By Paul Tait Tue Sep 5, 4:37 AM ET

SYDNEY (Reuters) - In death as in life, iconic TV naturalist Steve Irwin captivated millions worldwide and clogged the Internet as fans from Guam to Glasgow reacted with disbelief to news "The Crocodile Hunter" was dead.

Mourners lay wreaths at the entrance to Australia Zoo in Beerwah, September 5, 2006. (Greg White/Reuters)

Some Web sites groaned to a halt within hours of the first reports on Monday that Irwin had been killed by a stingray's barb through his chest in a freak diving accident off Australia's northeast coast.

Web measurement company Hitwise said Irwin's death was the biggest news event read by Australians on the Internet since two Australian miners were trapped by a mine collapse in southern Tasmania state in late April.

"We noticed that the Web site www.crocodilehunter.com increased in popularity quite substantially. It became the number one entertainment personality Web site in Australia yesterday and in the United States it also became the third most popular," Hitwise Asia-Pacific marketing director James Borg told Reuters.

Australian news Web sites struggled to keep up with demand.

The Australian Broadcasting Corp.'s site (www.abc.com.au) had to temporarily shut down, posting a notice on Monday that it was experiencing higher than normal traffic.

It resumed soon after in a low-bandwidth format to cope with hundreds of thousands of hits.

Newspaper Web sites also wobbled but kept up with demand.

A spokesman for The Sydney Morning Herald's site, www.smh.com.au, said it had experienced a "huge" 40 percent spike in page impressions compared with the previous week's average weekday number of about 500,000.

There was also a 70 percent jump in visitors to its pages, the spokesman said.

That pattern was mirrored around the world, with Irwin's death leading major news Web sites such as CNN and U.S. and British newspaper Web sites, as well as swamping their most viewed and most emailed categories.

Web logs and Internet feedback pages were also awash with postings from shocked readers from around the world, many of them from Americans charmed by Irwin's quirky style and his typically Australian catchphrase of "crikey."

Irwin first found fame in the United States before his "Crocodile Hunter" documentaries on U.S.-based television company Discovery Communications' Animal Planet attracted a global audience of 200 million -- 10 times Australia's population.

"Crikey, I miss him so much," Tina Treece from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, posted on a CNN feedback page (http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/as...ustralia.irwin

.feedback/index.html). The site had contributions from readers in Guam, Romania, Thailand, France, Scotland, India, New Zealand, Canada, Brunei, Britain, Malaysia, Denmark and the Netherlands.

Many faced the problem of explaining to their children how one of their favorite TV characters had died.

"Why did it have to be Steve Irwin?" 11-year-old Daniel told Australian Associated Press.

http://tinyurl.com/ryvxx

Bronco_Beerslug · 09-05-2006, 04:09 PM

Irwin's last minutes of struggle caught on tape
From staff and wire reports
Steve Irwin's deadly encounter with a stingray was captured on dramatic videotape and shows TV's "Crocodile Hunter" pulling out the animal's poisonous barb that had pierced his heart moments before he died, officials said today.

Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin, poses with a three-foot-long alligator at the San Francisco Zoo in 2002.
By Justin Sullivan, Getty Images

The beloved naturalist was being videotaped snorkeling above the beast for Ocean's Deadliest, a new TV documentary. Queensland Police Superintendent Michael Keating said the footage showed nothing suspicious about Irwin's death nor evidence that he provoked the animal. Police held the tape as evidence for a coroner's inquiry, a standard procedure in high-profile deaths or those caused by other than natural causes.

News of Irwin's death shocked his native Australia, and fans around the world poured out their grief and condolences.

Parliament interrupted its normal schedule so lawmakers could pay tribute to Irwin, whose body was flown home to Beerwah today from Cairns. State Premier Peter Beattie said Irwin would be afforded a state funeral if his family agreed.

"He was a genuine, one-off, remarkable Australian individual, and I am distressed at his death," Prime Minister John Howard said.

The colorful 44-year-old Irwin, who made a career out of getting dangerously close to deadly beasts, was killed while swimming in shallow water on Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

John Stainton, Irwin's manager who was among the crew on the reef and later also watched the videotape of the attack, described 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 the Queensland state city of Cairns, where Irwin's body had been taken after the accident for an autopsy.

Human deaths caused by stingrays are extremely rare.

Stainton said that 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 (and) quick-moving, and the ocean puts another element there that you have no control over."

Immediately after the attack, Irwin was rushed to his nearby research vessel, the Croc One.

A doctor aboard the ship was unable to resuscitate Irwin, who was dead by the time a rescue helicopter arrived. "He died doing what he loved best and left this world in a happy and peaceful state of mind," Stainton said.

Irwin's American wife, Terri, and children returned late Monday from a trekking vacation in Tasmania to Australia Zoo, the wildlife park in Beerwah where the family lived. The couple, who met at Irwin's wildlife park in the Australian state of Queensland, have two children, Bindi Sue, 8, and Bob, 2.

Australia Zoo was open today — staff said it was what he would have wanted — but the mood was somber and most visitors were to a makeshift shrine of bouquets and handwritten condolence messages that emerged at the gate.

"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. Khaki shirts — a trademark of Irwin — were laid out for people to sign.

Sue Neilen, Beerwah's only florist, said she has a "huge pile of orders" for flowers from conservation groups and the general public all over the world.

"Some people are telling us they've never bought flowers before to do this sort of thing, but they feel compelled to do it for Steve," Neilen said. "It's like when Lady Diana died."

Irwin — an adventurer famous for leaping onto untethered crocodiles and for his catchphrase "Crikey!" — rose to prominence when his 1992 Australian TV show was picked up by the Discovery Channel in 1996. He made his big-screen splash with 2002's The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course. The TV show went into reruns in 2004 but remained one of the network's most popular programs, airing in 130 countries. Discovery announced plans for a marathon screening of Irwin's work and a wildlife fund in his name.

"Steve was beloved by millions of fans and animal lovers around the world and was one of our planet's most passionate conservationists," Billy Campbell, president of Discovery Networks, said in a statement.

The company said it would rename the garden space in front of its world headquarters building in Silver Spring, Md., to honor Irwin. Animal Planet also is planning a marathon of Crocodile Hunter shows, but the day has not been decided.

Irwin's daring encounters and on-camera exuberance not only brought him worldwide celebrity, but they also created a cottage industry of guerrilla-style conservationists whose close calls made wildlife shows a TV staple, particularly among children.

"I never pictured a croc killing him, but I never pictured a stingray doing it, either," says Jack Hanna, director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in Ohio. "It's like me getting killed by a poodle."

"Steve might have been a showman, but he was a great conservationist," Hanna says. He notes that 14 years ago, before Irwin's international success, there were two nationally televised wildlife shows. Now there are 29.

"We can agree or disagree on how he taught conservationism," Hanna says. "I couldn't do what he did. But he did have a way of teaching. And in the end I remember him as a conservationist, because he really believed in what he did."

Irwin's exuberant style occasionally irked wildlife officials. In 2004, he caused an uproar by holding his infant son in one arm while feeding large crocodiles inside a zoo pen. Irwin said at the time there was no danger to the child, 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 government investigation recommended that no action be taken.

"I think (the criticism) was from misunderstanding him and how he grew up around these animals," says Maureen Smith, executive vice president and general manager of Animal Planet. "He was the real deal. He had a love of family and animals that transcended his show. He became a part of pop culture."

Stainton, fighting back tears in a televised news conference, called Irwin "a passionate conservationist and one of the proudest dads on the planet. " He would have said, "Crocs rule!"

Contributing: Scott Bowles from Los Angeles; Karen Thomas, Cathy Lynn Grossman and Douglas Stanglin from McLean, Va.; Lindsey Arkley from Melbourne, Australia; and the Associated Press.

http://tinyurl.com/fl4pq

Orange_Beard · 09-05-2006, 04:15 PM

I wounder if Crocodiles consider that sting ray a "hero"

Bronco_Beerslug · 09-05-2006, 04:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orange_Beard

I wounder if Crocodiles consider that sting ray a "hero"

Ignorant arse.

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09-04-2006, 12:29 PM	#51
sutoazul Independently Owned Go Broncos!! Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Miami, Florida Posts: 1,514 Adopt-a-Bronco: Von Miller	Really sad story. Really like his shows. May he rest in peace.

09-04-2006, 07:17 PM	#52
rbackfactory80 Ring of Famer Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: New York Posts: 4,627	RIP Steve.

09-04-2006, 09:37 PM	#53
SouthStndJunkie Ring of Famer Shannon Says: Listen to The Junkman Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 15,349	At least he lived life to the fullest doing what he was passionate about. He was a showman to most, but a conservationist at his core. I can respect that.

09-05-2006, 04:09 PM	#56
Bronco_Beerslug Angling in the Deep Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Texas Riviera, Southern Mountains Posts: 24,281	Irwin's last minutes of struggle caught on tape From staff and wire reports Steve Irwin's deadly encounter with a stingray was captured on dramatic videotape and shows TV's "Crocodile Hunter" pulling out the animal's poisonous barb that had pierced his heart moments before he died, officials said today. Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin, poses with a three-foot-long alligator at the San Francisco Zoo in 2002. By Justin Sullivan, Getty Images The beloved naturalist was being videotaped snorkeling above the beast for Ocean's Deadliest, a new TV documentary. Queensland Police Superintendent Michael Keating said the footage showed nothing suspicious about Irwin's death nor evidence that he provoked the animal. Police held the tape as evidence for a coroner's inquiry, a standard procedure in high-profile deaths or those caused by other than natural causes. News of Irwin's death shocked his native Australia, and fans around the world poured out their grief and condolences. Parliament interrupted its normal schedule so lawmakers could pay tribute to Irwin, whose body was flown home to Beerwah today from Cairns. State Premier Peter Beattie said Irwin would be afforded a state funeral if his family agreed. "He was a genuine, one-off, remarkable Australian individual, and I am distressed at his death," Prime Minister John Howard said. The colorful 44-year-old Irwin, who made a career out of getting dangerously close to deadly beasts, was killed while swimming in shallow water on Australia's Great Barrier Reef. John Stainton, Irwin's manager who was among the crew on the reef and later also watched the videotape of the attack, described 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 the Queensland state city of Cairns, where Irwin's body had been taken after the accident for an autopsy. Human deaths caused by stingrays are extremely rare. Stainton said that 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 (and) quick-moving, and the ocean puts another element there that you have no control over." Immediately after the attack, Irwin was rushed to his nearby research vessel, the Croc One. A doctor aboard the ship was unable to resuscitate Irwin, who was dead by the time a rescue helicopter arrived. "He died doing what he loved best and left this world in a happy and peaceful state of mind," Stainton said. Irwin's American wife, Terri, and children returned late Monday from a trekking vacation in Tasmania to Australia Zoo, the wildlife park in Beerwah where the family lived. The couple, who met at Irwin's wildlife park in the Australian state of Queensland, have two children, Bindi Sue, 8, and Bob, 2. Australia Zoo was open today — staff said it was what he would have wanted — but the mood was somber and most visitors were to a makeshift shrine of bouquets and handwritten condolence messages that emerged at the gate. "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. Khaki shirts — a trademark of Irwin — were laid out for people to sign. Sue Neilen, Beerwah's only florist, said she has a "huge pile of orders" for flowers from conservation groups and the general public all over the world. "Some people are telling us they've never bought flowers before to do this sort of thing, but they feel compelled to do it for Steve," Neilen said. "It's like when Lady Diana died." Irwin — an adventurer famous for leaping onto untethered crocodiles and for his catchphrase "Crikey!" — rose to prominence when his 1992 Australian TV show was picked up by the Discovery Channel in 1996. He made his big-screen splash with 2002's The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course. The TV show went into reruns in 2004 but remained one of the network's most popular programs, airing in 130 countries. Discovery announced plans for a marathon screening of Irwin's work and a wildlife fund in his name. "Steve was beloved by millions of fans and animal lovers around the world and was one of our planet's most passionate conservationists," Billy Campbell, president of Discovery Networks, said in a statement. The company said it would rename the garden space in front of its world headquarters building in Silver Spring, Md., to honor Irwin. Animal Planet also is planning a marathon of Crocodile Hunter shows, but the day has not been decided. Irwin's daring encounters and on-camera exuberance not only brought him worldwide celebrity, but they also created a cottage industry of guerrilla-style conservationists whose close calls made wildlife shows a TV staple, particularly among children. "I never pictured a croc killing him, but I never pictured a stingray doing it, either," says Jack Hanna, director emeritus of the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in Ohio. "It's like me getting killed by a poodle." "Steve might have been a showman, but he was a great conservationist," Hanna says. He notes that 14 years ago, before Irwin's international success, there were two nationally televised wildlife shows. Now there are 29. "We can agree or disagree on how he taught conservationism," Hanna says. "I couldn't do what he did. But he did have a way of teaching. And in the end I remember him as a conservationist, because he really believed in what he did." Irwin's exuberant style occasionally irked wildlife officials. In 2004, he caused an uproar by holding his infant son in one arm while feeding large crocodiles inside a zoo pen. Irwin said at the time there was no danger to the child, 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 government investigation recommended that no action be taken. "I think (the criticism) was from misunderstanding him and how he grew up around these animals," says Maureen Smith, executive vice president and general manager of Animal Planet. "He was the real deal. He had a love of family and animals that transcended his show. He became a part of pop culture." Stainton, fighting back tears in a televised news conference, called Irwin "a passionate conservationist and one of the proudest dads on the planet. " He would have said, "Crocs rule!" Contributing: Scott Bowles from Los Angeles; Karen Thomas, Cathy Lynn Grossman and Douglas Stanglin from McLean, Va.; Lindsey Arkley from Melbourne, Australia; and the Associated Press. http://tinyurl.com/fl4pq

09-05-2006, 04:15 PM	#57
Orange_Beard Over Jay Cutler Todd Snider Rules! Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Leucadia, CA Posts: 7,836 Adopt-a-Bronco: Tony Scheffler	I wounder if Crocodiles consider that sting ray a "hero"