Wow!  For those who haven't heard yet...Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, was killed while filming a documentary in Australia.  Here's the yahoo story link.

http://deathbeeper.com/7346421.html

Even though he did do dangerous things for his career, I'm still stunned after reading this story.

StevieG

I read this a little while ago and I was thinking about writing the same post here.
I always jokingly said "He's gonna get himself killed one of these days!" Doesn't sound too funny now though.
His death is a great loss. Yeah his show was great, but more importantly Irwin's contributions to wildlife conservation have been enormous.
Go with God and thanks for everything Steve!

I heard I used to watch his show when it aired here and that man didn't know the meaning of the word "fear".  His work and teachings will live on though.

We in Australia are all very shocked by this news, it came through here this afternoon.

It is like loosing a good friend because he was a public figure we all knew.  A great loss to everyone here in Australia and the world where he was also well known from his TV specials and movies.   Jan

He also has children who won't have a father anymore. Love esther

Oh no :-(  I always enjoyed his show and really liked the way he was so enthusiastic about each and everything. How sad. I feel so sorry for his wife and his kids.

Yes I was shocked on seeing the news this morning, so sorry for his wife and children.

It's very sad. The thing that is driving me crazy is, nobody is reporting why the heck this happened?

Last summer, my whole family, including children aged 11 and 13, were swimming with stingrays in the Cayman Islands. Of course these rays are used to people, and in fact the people have to stay in one place and the rays come to them.

But still, rays don't attack for no reason. What was he doing?

It is a Sad day....One of my favorite shows to watch...Sorry to see him go like that....Here is a bit of the News clip I found.........

Irwin was at Batt Reef, off the remote coast of northeastern Queensland state, shooting a segment for a series called "Ocean's Deadliest" when he swam too close to one of the animals, which have a poisonous bard on their tails, his friend and colleague John Stainton said.

"He came on top of the stingray and the stingray's barb went up and into his chest and put a hole into his heart," said Stainton, who was on board Irwin's boat at the time.

Like most animals, stringrays will certainly "defend" even if they don't attack. Carl Hiassen has a novel that depends on an accident with a stingray for its climax, and it sounds like Irwin's mistake was comparable to the one Hiassen describes (approach read as threatening). A sad day, to lose a good person.

M

Growing up in Florida we dealt with stingrays alot. Sometimes they'd have to close the beaches during mating season because there would be so many of them. How strange to get a barb in the chest and right into the heart! Most people who do come in contact with a ray get the barb in the lower leg or foot but I guess since he was swimming and not wading I could understand the injury. How very sad I used to love to watch this guy. I feel worse for his wife and child I remember seeing programs with his wife and then later seeing both his wife and child in the programs. This is a real shocker.

To honor the man - "Crickey!"  He always did dangerous things, but he was always careful and professional.  But, as noted, animals are unpredictable at best.  We have lost a very good man.

My condolensces to the budding family that he leaves behind.

In the chat room where I hang out, one of the regulars is a friend of his (she described him as a "very dear friend", and that's where I forst heard about it was from her (even before it hit the news here).

But for years I had been thinking that he would die like this, being killed by one of the animals he was working with.

so sad.. my mom told me today..:( i have watched his shows on animal planet:)   and it always brought a smile to my face:). ... however, i hope his family will be ok..

en liten klem til familien, selv om jeg ikke kjenner de, men fordi de har vært den kuletse på  tv'nog fordi de har hjulpet mange dyr og*

Yes, this is sad news.  Steve seemed so full of life and child-like in his enthusiasm for the work he did.  I suppose he would have wanted to go out doing the things he liked most.

It is a great loss, and as said above, i always thought he'd die at the hands of one of the animals.

In my opinion he wasnt exactly nice to the anmals.... what person dangles a venomous snake by its tail and goes "oooo she's pissed now!" for entertaining purposes? You dance enough with death and risk your life like that and things like this happen.

I just feel so sorry for his famaily. His children are only about 3 and 10 and will have to grow up without their daddy. :(

This is very sad, especially for his family. An interesting point about Steve Irwin is that he was, at least initially, more famous in America than in Australia. On my first trip to the USA in 1997, Americans were talking about him and I had no idea who he was. He was possibly too "over the top" for an Aussie audience (that sort of cheerful zaniness can come across as fake in such a laid-back country).

I read he was filming stock footage when he died, in between filming for the Ocean's Deadliest movie. His young daughter has a TV show and he was filming on a reef for her. That he had "no fear" was not a point in his favour when it comes to dealing with wild animals, and this time his luck ran out.

I read about it on breaking news on MSNBC.com yesterday evening before the television stations even had the news of the accident that had occurred.  I expressed my surprise out loud at the news.  While I am filled with sadness for his family and those he leaves behind, and for conservation matters that he so strongly supported, I am also joyful that his entrance into another realm was made in doing something that he loved.

I heard it at 8am this morning (Monday) here in UK.  I didn't really watch his shows a lot, but I dearly hope he didn't suffer too much, and that his family receive all the emotional support they need at this sad time

Sheila

I'm not suprised he's dead, only that it took this long to happen, and that he wasn't killed by a croc.  Death by stingray...huh.  Would be very interesting to view the footage to see just what kind of stupid thing he was doing to manage that.

His contributions to wildlife conservation were admirable but I personally think the man was a reckless moron, not only with his own life, but also with that of his family:

 http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/auspac/01/02/australia.crocodileman/

While I think the croc/baby incident was horrendous, I just wanted to point out that the pic on that linked CNN page is misleading. There are other shots of the incident from a side-on perspective showing that he was much further away from the croc than that photo suggests.

Again, that doesn't excuses putting a baby anywhere near a croc. Irwin claimed he was teaching his kid young to get used to animals, which is ludicrous for a 1-month-old, not to mention reckless to teach children to not fear wild animals, and that he and the handlers could "tell" the croc wasn't going to pounce because crocs have a certain body language before that happens (which of course doesn't mean he could've got out of the way in time if the croc did pounce).

Steve Irwin grew up around animals, he helped his father from a young age. He took over management of the family animal park carrying on from his mother who was a fierce conservationist.  He was also and he has passed this on to his daughter Bindi also, who it has been said on the news in Aust this morning, will eventually take over managing the Park.

It was a freak accident.  Ben Cropp a well known sea life zoologist and well known film maker, said this morning, Sting Rays do not attack, but will become defensive if they feel threatened, and as their defence weapon is the barb in the tail, that is what they use.

Steve was swimming above the ray who probably became alarmed with the nearness of the cameraman and Steve, so defended itself and it was just a freak unfortunate accident that the barb penetrated Steves heart and that killed him instantaneously. 

Terri and the two kids were on a wilderness trip in Tasmania and flew home immediately they heard the news.  Floral tributes have been pouring in animal park gates.

Even our Prime Minister, John Howard and other public figures have publically expressed their shock at the news on Television. 

A sad day for all, especially his family.  Jan

I'm still in shock too! I adore Steve Irwin. Watched his show, went to see the movie too. He was very colorful. Very Australian. He and wife were very happy in love. They seemed very loving parents too. Whatever animal Steve was handling, people often rooted for the animal. lol. Irwin was "all little boy." :) I was thinking about him just yesterday too! I was wondering, "why haven't we heard much from him anymore? What's he up to?" :( There is much work to be done in wildlife conservation, and the last few years laws have slid backward in huge ways in the US. It's so sad. I was thinking maybe Irwin caused too much trouble for the current leadership. Delay, Bush, Frist, etc are VERY anti-conservation and have been busy bees eliminating protections for wildlife, air quality, drinking water, national forests and national parks. I was wondering if Steve Irwin was demonized by right wingers in order to get him and his cause out of the public eye. The last time I saw Steve Irwin was in a documentary about the WW2 shipwrecks in the Pacific. I think because he was getting older and famous, he had to take less risks then he used to. He seemed a little out of his element in the documentary because he ran into a school of jellyfish and was ill prepared to deal with jelly stings. My sisters do a lot of diving and they take precautions for things like that, but they get stung occasionally too. Perhaps Steve didn't know sea creatures as well as land animals and that was his undoing? This is so sad. :( He was so wonderful. bB

he will be greatly missed by those who  watched his shows etc:) .. its so weird ...:( and sad...:(  .

 and ,from me and my friends over here , we wil miss the coolest show on animal planet

 and our  thoughts and prayers go to  terri and family*

No matter how professional you are if you mess with fire at some point you are gonna get burned, But at least the man died doing what he loved, not many can say that. His style was unique and he will be missed.

it seems god has a sense of irony after all

billy

This is aweful aweful news I had no idea. Thank you for letting us all know it's just horrible news. Yes I knew it was coming, but who would think so young......

Some more News I found.....

Police said there was nothing suspicious about Irwin's death and no evidence he provoked the animal. Irwin, 44, was stabbed through the heart on Monday while snorkeling with a stingray during filming of a new TV program on Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

John Stainton, Irwin's manager who was among the crew on the reef, said the fatal blow was caught on videotape, and described viewing the footage as having the "terrible" experience of watching a friend die.

"It shows that Steve came over the top of the ray and the tail came up, and spiked him here (in the chest), and he pulled it out and the next minute he's gone," Stainton told reporters in Cairns, where Irwin's body was taken for an autopsy

I watched one of his shows last night..one that had his mum and dad in it..one that was taped back in 2000 I believe...showed him growing up, home movies, his wedding, the birth of their little girl {who was named after Steves fave croc and his dog Bindi Sue}...sooo sad...

But, he said right in that show, that if he ever died doing what he was doing, he wanted to be remembered for the passion he felt and for his conservation efforts...was kind of spooky really listening to him talk about it...

I'll miss him

Poor Steveo died  doing what he loved and he lived more than many many a man before and after him.  He knew he'd get killed by wht he was doing, but he love what he was doing.

personally--I would NOT do what he'd been doing for all the world!  Me and wildlife don't see eye-to-eye.  He left his kids a legasy and He'll be missed.  Good onya, Steveo!  You were a fair dinkum mate, and fun to watch,too!

A lift of the ol foster's to ya!