O/T OMG!! Steve Irwin

[Danielle2006]

I know this has nothing to do with rugby but has anybody else heard that Steve Ulwin has died?

Mr Irwin, 44, was killed by a stingray barb to the chest while he was filming an underwater documentary in Queensland's Great Barrier Reef.

I always wondered when something would actually catch him and take a turn for the worst

Thread title modified to give some clues to the subject, and to denote Off-Tipic. Fraggle

[Vaealikis Girl]

This has been all over the news down here. He was filming his new series "Deadly Sea Creatures" when it happened. A lot of people are quite shocked. He died of a heart attack. Apparently it's very rare for a stingray to be aggressive so of all the creatures around this was probably the least likely event.

Just thought those who were interested might like a bit more info.

[Neil In Wigan]

It's very sad news. I know he came across as a bit weird at times, but he did an awful lot for wildlife conservation in Aus. Of course, in typical Steve Irwin style, he died how he lived, as reportedly the first ever person killed by a stingray in Australia. RIP Steve.

[Danielle2006]

I was fairly shocked but all was expected, the amount of things he did what put him in danger is unreal...

[Radlinski 2 stay]

I couldnt believe this when i saw it this morning. I went to his zoo in oz last year. what a shock. he was a great character

[Nine]

A perfect example of karma in action! He treated wildlife as a sideshow, a freak show, something to be challenged and treated - IMO - disrespectfully. If you behave as recklessly as Steve Irwin did, you put yourself at severe risk of being injured or killed.

I wish he were still alive so his family did not have to mourn him, and I acknowledge that some of his intentions were honourable in regard to conservation. But he reaped what he had sown.

[standishcat]

Well said, Flash.

Steve was a passionate environmentalist and conservationist and his zoo - Australia Zoo - gave a home to many endangered animals.

What a cynical world this would be if we all had a "reap what you sew" attitude to such tragic situations.

[Red Hot Mama]

Two of my sons are gutted. We are going to Aus in 6 weeks time and their first priority was to visit the Australia Zoo in Queensland. We will probably still go but it won't be the same for them. What a shame. At lease he went doing what he loved.

[Fraggle]

Nine posted:
A perfect example of karma in action! He treated wildlife as a sideshow, a freak show, something to be challenged and treated - IMO - disrespectfully. If you behave as recklessly as Steve Irwin did, you put yourself at severe risk of being injured or killed.

I wish he were still alive so his family did not have to mourn him, and I acknowledge that some of his intentions were honourable in regard to conservation. But he reaped what he had sown.

Clearly not a popular perspective, but I have to say he annoyed me quite a bit. Little things like him using sticks to try and get snakes out of their "homes" so they can be seen on television, but instead causing enough damage that the "home" could no longer be used ("I'll just push this stick in here and wave it around, see if I can get the little blighter to come out for the camera"). Sorry, that's not quite so genuine as people claim. Too often he seemed to be the primary focus for his programmes, not the animals, in a way that David Attenborough never was (although he's now starting to push himself further and further forward in his shows at the expense of the subject). And that incident with his child, claiming that his baby needed to be "croc-aware", didn't make me comfortable either. It's a sad loss, I'm sorry for his family, but I don't consider him quite as great a tv star as many people seem to do. He was certainly no Johnny Morris.

[standishcat]

Fraggle, immediately following someone's death is perhaps not the time to get into a protracted debate of this kind so I will restrict my reply to the following. Your observations above are not based upon an intimate knowledge of the man, his life or his life's work but on a few fleeting tv programmes designed to foster interest in wildlife of the MTV generation and one 'media' incident. On the tv example no harm will have come to the snake (that will have been his no.1 priority) and the effect on young minds of demystifying the vilyfied snake would have been incalcuable. I know as I have two young sons myself who watch his programmes. The media incident with his child: whilst I have some sympathy with your view and agree with it in part, it is no different to the way he himself was brought up. His dad was a 'crocodile hunter' before him. Who are we to judge the chosen lifestyles of others in this way.

Leaving aside his personal achievements for which most of us would be justifyably proud (and this next comment isn't a personal insult as it could equally apply to myself or indeed 99.9% of the world's population) when you have done as much for planet Earth as Steve Irwin, then you will have earned the right to make such prejudicial comments about a man so recently deceased. Please show some respect.

:eusa2: