Crocodile Man' Irwin killed by stingray barb

[vengabeats]

(AP Photo)

SYDNEY: Steve Irwin, the quirky Australian naturalist who won worldwide acclaim as TV's khaki-clad "Crocodile Man", was killed by a stingray barb through the chest on Monday while diving off the country's northeast coast.

Witnesses and emergency officials said the freak accident happened while Irwin, 44, was filming an underwater documentary off Port Douglas in northern Queensland.

"Steve was hit by a stingray in the chest," said local diving operator Steve Edmondson, whose Poseidon boats were out on the Great Barrier Reef when the accident occurred.

A helicopter rushed paramedics to nearby Low Isles where Irwin was taken for treatment, but he was dead before they arrived, police said.

"He probably died from a cardiac arrest from the injury," Edmondson said.

Fellow-Australian wildlife filmmaker David Ireland said he was shocked and saddened by Irwin's death, adding that a stingray's barb could be as deadly as a rifle bayonet.

"They have one or two barbs in the tails which are not only coated in toxic material but are also like a bayonet, like a bayonet on a rifle," he told Southern Cross Broadcasting radio.

"If it hits any vital organs it's as deadly as a bayonet," Ireland said.

Known around the world for his catchphrase "Crikey" during close encounters with wild animals, Irwin made almost 50 documentaries which appeared on the cable TV channel Animal Planet. He became a virtual global industry generating books, interactive games and even toy action figures.

Grew up with reptiles

Born on Feb. 22, 1962, in the southern Australian city of Melbourne, Irwin moved to tropical Queensland where his parents ran a small reptile and fauna park. He grew up near crocodiles, trapping and removing them from populated areas and releasing them in his parent's park. He took over the park in 1991 and renamed it the "Australia Zoo".

Irwin became famous for his seemingly death-defying skill with wild animals, including crocodiles and snakes.

Irwin met his US-born wife Terri at the zoo and the footage of their honeymoon -- which they spent trapping crocodiles -- formed the basis of his first "Crocodile Hunter"
documentary.

Later shows had a worldwide audience of 200 million, or 10 times the population of Australia.

Terri became Irwin's business partner and frequent on-screen collaborator. They had two children, Bindi Sue and Bob Clarence.

News of Irwin's death shocked ordinary Australians, while government and opposition lawmakers rushed to issue statements of condolence within two hours of the first reports of his death.

Queensland Tourism Minister Margaret Keech told Sky Television. "It's a dreadful loss for the tourism industry and for nature conservation.

"Everybody who met Steve was impressed with his energy and his enthusiasm, he was a real Aussie larrikin," she said. Irwin won a global following for his dare-devil antics but also triggered outrage in 2004 by holding his then one-month-old son while feeding a snapping crocodile at his Australian zoo.

The Crocodile Hunter series ended after he was criticised for the incident with his young son and also for allegedly disturbing whales, seals and penguins while filming in Antarctica.

Irwin boasted that he had never been bitten by a venomous snake or seriously bitten by a crocodile, although admitted his worst injuries had been inflicted by parrots.

"I don't know what it is with parrots but they always bite me," Irwin once said. "A cockatoo once tried to rip the end of my nose off. I don't know what they've got against me."

Source : Reuters

[vengabeats]

SYDNEY: ‘Crocodile Hunter’ Steve Irwin cheated death many times as he stalked and played with some of the world's deadliest animals.

But in the end the animal kingdom proved too dangerous.

Irwin, who was killed on Monday by a stingray while diving on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, communicated a wide-eyed, almost child-like enthusiasm for the animal kingdom and the importance of conservation to television audiences around the world.

He boasted that he had never been bitten by a venomous snake or seriously bitten by a crocodile, and admitted his worst injuries had been inflicted by parrots.

"I don't know what it is with parrots but they always bite me," Irwin once said. "A cockatoo once tried to rip the end of my nose off. I don't know what they've got against me."

Wildlife experts said it was ironic that Irwin was killed by a marine creature not regarded as aggressive.

"Of all the animals that Steve Irwin has known to wrestle and wrangle and carry on with, to go by stingray is just almost ridiculous," said Grant Willis, senior aquarist at the Sydney Aquarium.

Wearing his trademark khaki shirt and shorts on his show, Irwin would crawl on his belly or knees as he approached deadly animals like crocodiles, pythons and spiders in the wild.

He would whisper to his audience that the creature he was approaching was dangerous but also majestic and worth protecting.

Whenever he got too close to the jaws of a crocodile or escaped the tightening grip of a full-grown python, Irwin would call out "Crikey" -- Australian slang expressing surprise.

Irwin's antics made him a global icon and won him a devoted international audience for "The Crocodile Hunter", the name of his nature documentary series.

"I think that he brought a much greater respect for animals that are normally demonised by people," Canadian scientist David Suzuki told Australian media on hearing of Irwin's death.

Growing up with crocodiles

Irwin, 44, was born in Melbourne but moved with his parents to the tropical state of Queensland where they ran a small reptile wildlife park.

Irwin grew up around crocodiles and snakes and became a crocodile trapper, removing crocodiles from urban areas for his parents' reptile park. In 1987, his parents expanded the park, making it a sanctuary for large saltwater crocodiles.

In 1991 he took over management of the reptile park and renamed it "Australia Zoo". A year later he married his wife Terri and went on a crocodile-trapping honeymoon, which became the first episode of "The Crocodile Hunter" series.

His documentaries -- almost 50 of them -- appeared on the cable TV channel Animal Planet , turning him into a virtual global industry that generated books, interactive games and even toy action figures.

As Irwin's popularity spread -- members of the U.S. Olympic track team visited his zoo during their visit to Australia for the Sydney 2000 Olympics -- so too did his conservation work.


He created The Steve Irwin Conservation Foundation and International Crocodile Rescue and became the Australian Customs spokesman for its quarantine publicity campaign aimed at keeping animal and plant diseases out of Australia.

Controversy

But his seemingly daredevil wildlife antics also raised the ire of animal rights groups.

In January 2004 during a public show at his "Australia Zoo", Irwin held his one-month-old son Bob in his arms as he fed a chicken carcass to large crocodile. Television footage of the act horrified viewers and sparked comparisons with musician Michael Jackson's dangling his baby son outside a window.

Irwin insisted his son was never in danger because of his experience in handling crocodiles. He said his son's crocodile encounter was like other children learning to swim.

In Antarctica to film a documentary in June 2004, Irwin was again engulfed in controversy when he got too close to whales, penguins and seals. Australian law prohibits people getting too close to Antarctic wildlife.

Animal Planet ended Irwin's "The Crocodile Hunter" series with a finale called "Steve's Last Adventure" in which Irwin stalked animals in the Himalayas, the Yangtze River in China, Borneo and Kruger National Park in South Africa.

Irwin was filming an underwater documentary on The Great Barrier Reef when he was struck in the chest by the stingray's barb.

Source : Reuters

[gaurav200x]

Already posted twice dude...

http://www.managementparadise.com/fo...er-hunted.html

http://www.managementparadise.com/fo...-stingray.html