Monday, September 04, 2006

Crikey!

Steve "Crocodile Hunter" Irwin died today. At least he went out doing what he loved...

Mr Irwin made his international reputation wrestling crocodiles and snakes.

But the flamboyant naturalist's final confrontation with a wild animal occurred at Batt Reef off Port Douglas on Monday morning, where he had been filming a new documentary, "Ocean's Deadliest".

Taking time off from the main project, Mr Irwin was swimming in shallow water, snorkelling as his cameraman filmed large bull rays.

"He came over the top of a stingray and the stingray's barb went up and went into his chest and put a hole into his heart," said Mr Irwin's friend and manager John Stainton.

"It's likely that he possibly died instantly when the barb hit him, and I don't think that he ... felt any pain.

Source: Daredevil Irwin dies doing what he loved (theage.com.au)

Sure, it's easy to ridicule the personality we all saw on TV. But Irwin loved animals and wanted nothing more than to share that love with the world. He also loved his family, and my heart goes out to his wife and daughter.

3 comments:

Margaret said...

It was quite a shock to hear that waking up this morning. We all wanted to hang off the edges of our sofas and half hope someday an animal would get him - but not like this.

While I'm here might as well stop by to say, YOU HAVE BEEN TAGGED! Stop by "my blog" to find out what to do about it.

Sorry 'bout that.

Anonymous said...

you are right, he was a bit over the top and easy to laugh at but he did a lot to befriend those un-loveable critters. it's easier to love a fuzzy cat then a 9ft croc - crikey!

Brainwise said...

You're right about the kitty-love, Lauren.

And to Margaret ... thanks for stopping by and for tagging me. I swear I'll get around to following through on that at some point.