"Crocodile Hunter" killed

[8X56MS]

I always get a chuckle out of 'he died doing what he loved'. Bet if he had his druthers, he would prefer to be doing something he loved less, but could love longer.

Still, any one's death is sad, and his seems to be particularly serendipitous.

[M.T. Pockets]

If Steve Irwin ever showed hunters in a positive light, I apologize. Again, I could take or leave him and his shows, they just didn't interest me.

The piece I did happen to catch a few years ago was in Africa when he was trying to see how close he could sneak up on a Lion. Then he went on to tell us how magnificant these species were and that he couldn't believe how people were still hunting them and that it needed to be stopped to save the species. He wasn't talking about poachers, he was very clear that Hunters were threatening the existance of Lions in Africa.

Well I'm no biologist, but if it weren't for the modern day hunter there are many species in Africa that would no longer exist.

Again, I don't like to see anyone getting killed, but I'll save my tears for the National Guard soldier from just North of here that was killed in Iraq last week.

[Aim to maim]

Originally posted by M.T. Pockets

Again, I don't like to see anyone getting killed, but I'll save my tears for the National Guard soldier from just North of here that was killed in Iraq last week.

Amen!

[Steverino]

It appears as though Irwin was an 'Anti'



With his trademark khaki shorts, chirpy manner and an obvious love of wildlife, Steve Irwin was known to television viewers around the world simply as "the crocodile hunter".
But Steve Irwin's popular image, wrestling crocs and other creatures, belied the fact that he was implacably opposed to the hunting, not just of crocodiles, but of any animal.

A natural showman as well as a conservationist and zoo owner, Irwin was committed to educating people about wildlife.

He often did this by putting himself at great risk, confronting crocodiles, venomous snakes and other dangerous beasts in their own environment. This fascinating television was often punctuated by his trademark yell of "Crikey!"

But his unconventional approach drew criticism from those who believed his idiosyncratic style to be irresponsible and cavalier.

Family tradition

Steve Irwin was born in Essendon in Victoria, Australia, in February 1962. In 1970, his parents founded the Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park, later to become Australia Zoo, on the country's Sunshine Coast.

The park specialised in rehabilitating ill or injured baby kangaroos, wallabies, wombats and koalas, and Steve Irwin grew up surrounded by wildlife.




Irwin in pictures
When his father, Bob, decided to do something about the hunting which threatened to destroy Australia's crocodile population, Steve played his part, working for Australia's Crocodile Relocation Programme which captured and moved the reptiles to safer areas, often to the Australia Zoo.

When television director John Stainton first encountered Steve Irwin, while shooting an advertisement at Australia Zoo, he immediately realised that he had a new star on his hands.

The first episode of Stainton's show, The Crocodile Hunter, was built around a crocodile trapping trip that Irwin and his Oregon-born wife Terri Baines undertook for their honeymoon.

Discovery Channel bought the programme in 1996 and it rapidly became a phenomenon, being screened in 130 countries and bringing both Stainton and Irwin great wealth.


Serious commitment

In January 2004, Irwin faced a barrage of criticism after being filmed holding his infant son in one arm while feeding a chicken carcass to a 4-metre saltwater crocodile with the other. At the time, he said: "I was in complete control of the crocodile."


Irwin took over the wildlife park his parents had set up
Despite his often light-hearted manner, Steve Irwin's commitment to protecting crocodiles was serious. "Every chance I get, I will put my life on the line to save crocs," he told one interviewer.

Irwin's other programme The Croc Files, The Crocodile Hunter Diaries and New Breed Vets, were also great hits, especially in the United States, and he was feted by television interviewers like Jay Leno, Larry King and Oprah Winfrey.

He even played a cameo role in the 2001 Eddie Murphy film, Dr Doolittle 2, before hitting the big screen the following year with his own movie, The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course.

And a measure of Steve Irwin's fame came when Australia's Prime Minister, John Howard, who described him as "one of Australia's great conservation icons," personally invited the environmentalist to a barbecue for President George W Bush in Canberra in 2003.

[gregarat]

Even though he assulted my team mascot("Albert the Gator" U.F.).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pU0UFbxZDGM

Im still sad for his family .


Personaly Im not suprised that he died, but in the manner in which he died. Stingray deaths are extreamly rare. From what I hear, he alwayes knew he was going to "bite it" in the water. You are not as quick and nimble in water, as on land.