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I remember him crawling into a hole filled with very VERY angry rattlesnakes with offspring to protect in one of his early TV specials. He was just really excited to find that many snakes to play with! The guy was a loon but a one-off.

And now he's dead. How ironic

trickyricky wrote:I actually stroked and fed Stingrays when i went to Sea World, Orlando on my recent holiday. They didnt seem aggressive at all, but then again i guess those more familiar with human contact.

The kind that killed Steve was a larger Australian kind that is venemous unlike ones in sealife centres.

Usually they probably wouldn't be agreesive, but I guess Steve was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It was only the fact that the Stingray striked in Steve's chest area, that it killed him.

If a Venomous Stingray was to be stepped on, and stung your foot, it would not prove to be fatal it would just become bacterially infected.

Thats why it has been a long time since someone has been killed by a Stringray.

Apparently there was a case a few years back, where a man was stung in the chest area by a venemous Stringray, luckily he survived as it was in a less vunerable place.

The whole thing seems unreal, Steve Irwin was a great man.

Unfortunate loss to the world.

I, for one, will miss him greatly.

RIP Steve.

One of the good guys.

He was only 44, he had half of his life ahead of him!

He obviously didn't. When your time's up..............

Take every day as it comes which I think is what he did. I bet that his premiums on his life insurance were astronomical and I hope for the sake of his family that he had plenty of it.

I could never figure out why he took such risks with a young family to live for. I have far, far more sympathy for them than I have for him.

One of my children's favourite shows and a fantastically talented presenter. Mine and my family's thoughts are with his wife, daughter and son at this tragic time and we all mourn their loss.

Australia has truly lost one of it's sons!!

I was in bed this morning (I'm lazy!) and got a text message at about 10am. Normally i'll turn over, read it, reply if its important or wait till later if its not and then go back to sleep. I forced one of my eyes open and read this message from a guy in work that said "Steve Irwin has died. He was filming a documentary when he was attacked by a Stingray. Its tail-thing pierced his chest and his heart I think and he didnt survive"

At first I though it was some stupid little joke but I still had to check, I rolled out of my pit and forced both eyes open. Switched on the monitor (PC is on 24/7, didnt need to boot up ) and went onto CNN.com and there it was on the main page. I was devastated!

The man was a legend in my book. Young people (and older ones) didnt really care for animal planet and animal documentaries then along comes Steve shouting "CRIKEY MATE! LOOK AT THIS BEAUTY!" and then jumping onto and wrestling a crocodile. He changed the face of animal shows and definately got me more interested. When I was younger, I tried to watch as much of his stuff as I could. Admittedly, I havent watched anything the past couple of years but thats not to say I got bored of him or anything. He always made me laugh and its a shame that this happened

Even though I loved the guy and I'm gutted he died, this did make me laugh:
Click Me!

Have you heard the latest? They plan on showing the footage of the fatal incident on tv. Irwins family has agreed to this saying that 'its what he would have wanted'.

Im just not sure whether i want to watch that to be honest.

ironically, stingrays are 'Usually docile, not known to attack aggressively'

but unfortunatley for steve they also are 'Equipped with venom-coated razor-sharp barbed or serrated tail, up to 20cm long'

'UK wilderness expert Ray Mears said that Mr Irwin's death was a tragedy and that his thoughts were with his family, but that the incident served as a warning that "some things in nature should be left alone".

"He clearly took a lot of risks and television encouraged him to do that," Mr Mears said. "The voyeurism we are seeing on television has a cost and it's that cost Steve Irwin's family are paying today."
'

from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-p ... 313078.stm

RIP Crazy man! He was awsome

This is a nice tribute

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8h6yXREbV0

killerfroggy wrote:Of all the things that could have killed the man like snakes and spiders and crocs/aligators i cant believe the normally docile stingray killed him. I can see this sparking off a killing spree on these magnificent creatures.

My worst fears have been imagined. According to the Daily Mirror some rays have been found killed and mutilated in Australia in "revenge" attacks for Steves death. How can anyone be so cruel to an animal. Its left me saddened and disgusted.

Saw this on the internet news as well. This is a digusting thing to do. No matter how much Steve was loved there is no need for this. I am sure he would be deeply saddened if he knew what was going on. I can only hope that there are no more of these incidents and people have the common sense to stop this now.

I hope it was a one off occurance by a bunch of small mind idiots.(I use idiots as I know im not allowed to use other words that I can think of that more suitabley describes the parantage or lack of of these persons and one that also describes what they get up to when they arnt killing animals sort of like a short jerking movement begginning with "W")

A great entertainer - eccentric and caring. Will be missed very much

Alex