Is anyone surprised he died to one of the animals he spent his entire life pissing off?

Not at all.

It's sad for his family, but who DIDN'T see this coming (okay, maybe not a stingray sting, but the whole death-by-pissed-off-creature thing)?

I'm with the both of you. I'm not surprised that it eventually killed him. Nobody can really be Crocodile Dundee, after all . . .

I'm not surprised...but hey, at least he died doing what he loved. That doesn't happen often. I admired the guy, personally...he had some real balls to do half that stuff. My job may lead me to do a lot of what he did...if everything works out for me...it may seem stupid, but I'd love to do it.

~Zoo

Yeah don't get me wrong - I do feel sorry for his family. But it's gotta be the way he wanted to go. How many people have you heard of who died from a stab wound to the heart from a stingray of all things?

Just don't hold your baby while you feed raw chicken to a crock.   

Just don't hold your baby while you feed raw chicken to a crock.

He did that? Crazy bloke, man, crazy bloke.   

according to a bangkok post online report: "Steve Irwin died Monday after being speared in the heart by the barb of a stingray while he was shooting a marine documentary off Cairns..."

i'll make no claim to dasyatid expertise. still, the only way i can imagine this happening would involve irwin effectively stabbing himself with the ray's spine. it aint as if they commonly (if ever) fly backwards in order to impale predators or idiots.

Just don't hold your baby while you feed raw chicken to a crock

stingroys oyte me baoy-bee

I thought that stingray gave off some kind of electric or chemical charge that stunned the prey. But I dunno either

stingroys oyte me baoy-bee

  Nice.

It was a Sting!

The crocs that couldn't get him paid this Ray mega sand dollars to get the guy they couldn't take out themselves!! ;~D



As for the "poetic justice", no more than the guy who drives for a living, and ends up dying in an accident. We all flirt with death daily...none of us have an excuse for actually surviving the day. So have a Day on Labor Day and hope you're still around to return to work the next. :~D

i'll make no claim to dasyatid expertise. still, the only way i can imagine this happening would involve irwin effectively stabbing himself with the ray's spine. it aint as if they commonly (if ever) fly backwards in order to impale predators or idiots.

They had a tv special on today. Apparently stingrays can use their tails in a similar way to scorpions, and they reckon that's what happened - he was filming near the sea bottom and disturbed a ray, making it do the scorpion thing and stab him through the heart.

A couple of prawn trawlermen have apparently been killed in that way. So not really that unique a death.

stingroys oyte me baoy-bee

It took me a few secs to figure out that was s'posed to be strine. Heh. It nearly doesn't work in print.

This guy was a great ambassador.

He spent his life dedicated to animals and their conservation.

A man of great passion. It's sad to see him go so tragically.

I am surprised by amount of disparaging remarks about this man.

He was a man who took risks yes, that was his trademark, that and his zesty enthusiasm for the animals and other creepy crawlies.

He had an enthusiasm that literally bubbled out of every pore of his body. An enthusiasm that got your attention when you watched one of his programs.


This man took risks, and he did know exactly what he was doing most of the time if not all of the time. Those risks always came with warnings to his audience.

Personally I think his death is a great loss to education and documentary television.

I salute you Steve Irwin

Is anyone surprised he died to one of the animals he spent his entire life pissing off? It's almost poetic justice.

Maybe those cold-blooded croc's are sitting around the watering hole saying, "Served him right," but, bipedal mammal that I am, I'm more inclined to classify it as a "tragic flaw."

Ungrateful croc's -- after all that he's done for them....