Stephb1986

just found this on a news website when i was paying tribute

MIKE KEATING: At the time of his death Mr Irwin was interacting with a sting ray on the Great Barrier Reef, there is no evidence that Mr Irwin was intimidating or threatening the stingray. My advice is that he was observing the stingray.

I guess we can all say that it was a unfortunate accident and that it went horribly wrong! RIP Steve x

http://www.nowpublic.com/croc_hunter..._abc_interview

TopBanana

http://www.guardian.co.uk/australia/...865124,00.html

Stupid b1nt. What more can you expect from a woman though

Iwan

What a stupid b1tch.

DCI Gene Hunt

Germaine Greer the carpet munching old hag will do ANYTHING for attention..... sooner she ***** off and dies the better..........

Lee_1075

iTrader: (1)

Tribute Videos:
http://www.break.com/index/steve_irwin_tribute.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEU9w...wincesstantrum

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

Far be it from Jermaine to let the facts get in the way of a good article, eh? The police have already said that they were satisfied that Steve was not intimidating or interfering with the animal.

Ns04

KiwiGTI

Can you really take any notice of a losing contestant in Celebrity Big Brother?

Abdabz

Steve was a great entertainer, but a lot of the Bra Burning Dykes article is considered and well put together IMO... Not that I like or respect Greer nor would usually lower myself to read a Guardian article...

watto52

some amazing clips of steves work
http://animal.discovery.com/fansites/crochunter/video/video.html

Edcase

Probably a Manta Ray rather than a stingray?

Stephb1986

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4Wl3...elated&search=

this one really hit me that he is actaully gonehe was one amazing guy

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

Yes, I believe the ones in the sealife centre can't sting.

The ones in Seaworld certainly can if they wished though and you can pet and feed them- even swim with them if you go to Discovery Cove. They've beautiful, graceful, gentle and placid normally. I preferred feeding them to the Dolphins tbh as the dolphins behaviour was more directed at getting food; once they'd got this they'd be on to the next person. The stingrays would actually take the food from your hand (gently) and hang around to be petted.

Steve was just ULTRA unlucky with a big un that got spooked!!

ns04

The Snug Rhino

actually.....love Irwin and hate Greer....but her article is SPOT ON! the bloke made a good living getting animals to try and lash out at him - if it didnt look like he was in danger no one would have watched - and it killed him, sad......but inevitable with his attitude.

and i'd be VERY surprised which petting aquariums have sting rays!

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

Hard not to be moved by seeing him grieving for the dead Crocodile. The guy was an inspirational human being; as I said before, the world is truly a poorer place without people like him.

Ns04

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

Here ya go. These ARE NOT animals to be feared; this was a freak accident.

http://4adventure.com/seaworld/fla/a...ay_lagoon.aspx

Oh and you can swim with them here, and yes, they do have the barbs!

http://www.discoverycove.com/ex_feat...raylagoon.aspx


ns04

The Snug Rhino

fair enough, but its a feeding pen not an interactive lagoon like seaworld in OZ where the rays are all cowtails and similar because humans are in the water with them.

i know what a sting ray is and not saying you should fear it (i dont meet many in Reading anyway).....my point was the guy pissed of animals to get famous...and one killed him.

in fact...the only sting ray i would have "feared" is one with steve irwin swimming past it!

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

But that's NOT what the police have said about the video evidence: they clearly stated that in their opinion Steve was neither intimidating nor interfering with the Stingray and that the accident was most likely caused by the Stingray getting between the cameraman and Steve and panicing; it was an unintentional mistake and a freak accident that no-one would have reasonably have predicted.

Steve most certainly did seek to **** animals off. He interacted with some animals that are highly territorial and agressive towards humans. He did this to try and foster a bit of appreciation and respect for them, rather than fear and hatred! This naturally involved putting himself in harms way occassionally, and of course, occassionally he made mistakes. He was a wildlife expert, NOT Dr Doolittle; sometimes even the most predictable animal will surprise you. Much of Steve's antics with crocs etc wasn't done for the entertainment value, that was an incidental bonus, it was done to reduce stress on the animal and contribute to its well being! This is why he always handled crocs and didn't drug them, it's why he made them work for their food and defend their territory. He wasn't just doing it for sh*ts and giggles. If he'd have sought to **** off the kind of animals he dealt with and thrown caution to the wind for the sake of entertainment, he would have been killed long ago. This wasn't the kind of person that enjoyed teasing wildlife, he frequently let creatures go on his shows when he thought they were getting too stressed.

Ultimately, he was the expert and to have armchair critcs like Germaine Greer come along and say he had it coming etc.. and didn't know how to respect animals's space etc is -quite frankly- bollox!

Ns04

PS Sorry for the rant!

vava voom

iTrader: (6)

No matter what anyone thinks, my impression was that he loved those animals and his job and he was a top bloke

Cant say that about a lot of people

The Snug Rhino

i didnt say he pissed of a stingray (although i would be AMAZED if his proximity to it was what would normally be regarded as "sensible")....i'm saying he had a massive risk occupation because of the way he went about things....and now he's dead. It may have been a 1/million chance but i'll tell you what....the chance of ANY animal killing Steve Irwin was always going to be higher than normal because of what he did. (as an example....i can tell you the odds of me getting killed by a ray are much worse than his were!)

dont get me wrong...i liked the guy, but have a level of sympathy that is preety low for people that take those risks (race drivers, BASE jumpers, etc)

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

Oh yes, I agree that anyone dealing with potentially lethal animals on a regular basis faces significantly greater risks of being killed on the job than you or I. The problem with your analogy is that BASE jumpers etc.. do it for themselves, Steve took risks to educate the public and save the animals.

Ns04

DCI Gene Hunt

Conservation through education...... you know most things about big spiders, snakes and crocs thanks in the main part to stevo.... who in turn used his wealth to save the same animals from hunters and exterminators.....

The Snug Rhino

not quite.....base jumpers do it because they love the thrill......steve did it because he loved animals and wanted to protect them - i enjoy watching both but dont really care about base jumpers or crocodiles - so they are in the same boat as far as i'm concerned. neither do it for anything i give two hoots about.

unclebuck

Wow – an orgy of recreational grieving here.

I reckon Germain was being gentle because she's a fellow Aussie and understands the psyche of the Oz 'bloke' much better then I suspect most of us do. For the sake of broadening the debate, I'll be a bit more blunt – the guy was a **** do died a ****'s death doing what he thought was so great: ie taunting dangerous animals.

Surely people like him who make a fine living by filming cruelty to animals deserve a cruel death in the hands (or tails?) of those they torment?

Just a thought.

G00ner

I usually agree with your posts, but your way off the mark here.

Do you really think that his contribution to animal conservation was just for money? or that he really taunted animals?

Please take a look on Wiki and see what he has achieved in his relatively short life time.

Wikipedia

I suppose you'll always get somebody trying to offer an alternative point of view, even if they are talking out of their ***** about something they obviously know little about.

unclebuck

Thanks. Not looking to go to war. I admit that I never watched his programmes for the reasons above, I don't like seeing animals provoked and intimidated for entertainment in the way that he did. That it 'helped conservation' remains a mute point in spite of what Bellamy and all the other vested interest TV wildlife 'celebs' say.

Oh well, as they say down under – 'good on him mate' etc...

G00ner

All I can say is he made wildlife programmes interesting again, no offence to David Attenborough etc, but they are a boring bunch of old farts and Stevo was imo very watchable, wildlife for dummies you could say?

All my friends kids loved him, the parents watched him and even my missus liked him and she's strictly a soap watching vegetable.

oik

With you in mind, if only!

Edcase

Ladies and gentlemen, please do not feed the troll

Bubba po

If it's a mute point, then I cannot speak about it.

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

I agree. For anyone who thinks the entertainment came first, or that Steve didn't genuinely care for these animals, take a look at this link. Be warned, it's upsetting

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZP3VMgyzUU

This guy loved animals; it doesn't matter whether you appreciate crocs or not, Steves efforts weren't limited to them at all; they were just the most spectacular creatures and attracted the most attention.

Ns04