Crocodile Hunter - Steve Irwin

purplesofa

sad news..........I feel for his wife and children

and yes, the many viewers that grew to love him.

I remember going to the movies with a group of people and HAD to watch that movie he made, thinking cripes!!! This guy is NUTS!

I learned alot from watching him on TV.

He will be missed.

purps

I can't believe it, I was only watching him catch a crocodile on tv yesterday.

I've never seen someone with such a passion for wildlife.

His death is a great loss. My thoughts are with his wife and kids.

MsMcDucket

I posted my thoughts on the other thread, but I had to find out what it was that killed Steve!

Irwin, 44, collapsed after being stung through the heart at Batt Reef, near the resort town of Port Douglas, about 1,260 miles north of Brisbane, police said. He was filming an underwater documentary when the accident occurred.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/australia/story/0,,1864423,00.html Here's pic of a stingray's barb:

History:

Stingrays commonly are found lying half-buried in the sand or mud of coastal temperate areas.

Injuries tend to occur when an unsuspecting person steps on the fish, causing the animal to reflexively strike the person with its defensive mechanism.

The stingray's tail has 1 or more barbed stingers and 2 ventrolateral venom-containing grooves that are encased in an integumentary sheath. The tail is thrust into the victim, usually in the foot or lower leg, producing a deep jagged laceration from the serrated spine(s).

The stinger apparatus then injects a protein-based toxin into the wound, causing immediate intense (even excruciating) pain in the victim. Injury may occur without envenomation because many stingrays lose or tear the integumentary sheath covering the venom glands.

Physical:

The wound may bleed freely and the patient may have systemic symptoms, including the following:

Syncope

Nausea

Vomiting

Diarrhea

Diaphoresis

Muscle cramps

Fasciculations

Abdominal pain

Seizures

Hypotension

http://www.emedicine.com/EMERG/topic556.htm In the heart! How awful!

SirNose586

I remember watching his show and commenting, "You know, one day he's gonna end up dead from the risks he takes." Not so funny anymore...

I also remember seeing a picture of him and his baby, so I feel for his kids, too.

Gill

What a tragic way to die!

But, WHAT a way to live!

Certainly, he took life by the balls and shook it!

I think I'd rather go that way than hooked up to a morphine drip. Wherever he is now, I'm sure he's causing havoc there....and enjoying it!

So sorry for his wife and children though1

Goodbye Steve!

lowden

Whatever people say about Irwin, he was brilliant!! A truly amazing man and IMO the risks he took, although they looked crazy to us, were measured.

This is an awfully sad loss to the wildlife enthusiasts and of course to his beloved family.

What a sad day when the world loses such a hugely talented and loving man.

Peace

Lowden

vitty

Aint life unfair, here we had someone who lived life to the full and has died, tragically young. Then we have miserable old b.....ds who live far too long.

Pubsinger

He'd have probably chosen to go like that if he could.

Totally barmy tho.

In the end he goes in a freak accidental incident as opposed to a madcap moment gone wrong.

Anyone see the time he got bitten by a deadly snake he picked up at night in the middle of the road. He got in the truck and they drove like lunatics to the nearest medical centre over an hour away. You could tell he was sh*&%ing himself!

Roski

Sad to see someone so passionate about the environment die so early. He grew up in a family of 'average' folks who loved the environment and turned their interest into a business. He created a further vision for that and worked hard to achieve what he did. He has done a lot of good for the environment and awareness of environmental issues in Australia and overseas. His zoo is not far from my home. Someone mentioned that his staff talked badly of him. Maybe he expected a similar committment from them? He missed his mum very much after her death - I hope they are together again.

Stephanus

That's absolutely uncanny! I was only thinking about him and his cockiness around animals this morning. I remembered a time he popped up amongst a group of lions in Africa and they all scarpered; he said he had an empathy with animals. Maybe with reptiles, but he's not empathic with cats; his wife had to don the gloves and remove the feral cat from the trap! I was just thinking this morning that his "sixth sense" with animals might one day fail.

Sorry to see him go, and from such a seemingly innoccuous critter.

Crocodile Hunter - Steve Irwin - DEAD!!!