Stephen Robert "Steve" Irwin (22 February 1962 – 4 September 2006), nicknamed "The Crocodile Hunter", was an Australian conservationist and television personality. He achieved world-wide fame, from the television program The Crocodile Hunter, an internationally-broadcast wildlife documentary series co-hosted with his wife Terri Irwin. Together with his wife, he also co-owned and operated Australia Zoo in Beerwah, Queensland, founded by his parents.
The 4th of September he was recording one show when a fish managed to stab Steve straight into his heart...
He was one of my big heroes...
Shortly after 01:00 UTC (11:00 AEST) on 4 September 2006, Irwin was fatally pierced in the chest by a stingray barb whilst snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef, at Batt Reef, which is located off the coast of Port Douglas in Queensland. Irwin was in the area filming his own documentary, to be called The Ocean's Deadliest, but weather had stalled filming. Irwin decided to take the opportunity to film some shallow water shots for a segment in the television program his daughter Bindi was hosting, when, according to his friend and colleague, John Stainton, he swam too close to one of the animals. "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 the Croc One.
The events were caught on camera, and a copy of the footage was handed to the Queensland Police. After reviewing the footage of the incident and speaking to the cameraman who recorded it, marine documentary filmmaker and former spearfisherman Ben Cropp speculated that the stingray "felt threatened because Steve was alongside and there was the cameraman ahead". In such a case, the stingray responds to danger by automatically flexing the serrated barb on its tail (which can measure up to 25 cm or about 10 inches in length) in an upward motion.
Cropp said Irwin had accidentally boxed in the animal. "It stopped and twisted and threw up its tail with the spike, and it caught him in the chest. It's a defensive thing. It's like being stabbed with a dirty dagger". The stinging of Irwin by the bull ray was "a one-in-a-million thing," Cropp told Time magazine. "I have swum with many rays, and I have only had one do that to me."
Initially, when Irwin's colleague, John Stainton, was interviewed by CNN's Larry King late on 4 September, he denied the suggestion that Irwin had pulled the barb out of his chest, or that he had seen footage of the event, insisting that the anecdote was "absolute rubbish." The following day, when he first described the video to the media, he stated, "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". It is thought, in the absence of a coroner's report, that a combination of the toxins and the puncture wound from the barb caused Irwin to die of cardiac arrest, with most damage being inflicted by tears to arteries or other main blood vessels. It is also possible that he died quickly as a result of a punctured aorta. Until the coroner's report is released, however, the precise cause of Irwin's death remains conjecture.
Crew members aboard his boat called the emergency services in the nearest city of Cairns and administered CPR as they rushed the boat to nearby the Low Islets to meet a rescue helicopter. Medical staff pronounced Irwin dead when they arrived a short time later. According to Dr. Ed O'Loughlin, who treated Irwin, "it became clear fairly soon that he had non-survivable injuries. . . . He had a penetrating injury to the left front of his chest. He had lost his pulse and wasn't breathing."
Cairns, QueenlandIrwin's body was flown to a morgue in Cairns. His wife, Terri Irwin, was on a walking tour in Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park in Tasmania at the time, and returned via a private plane from Devonport to the Sunshine Coast with their two children.
As of 1996, only seventeen worldwide fatalities had been recorded due to stingrays, and the attack on Irwin is believed to be the only fatality from a stingray ever captured on film.
Recent questions have surfaced which suggest the footage of Steve Irwin's death may be released for broadcast on television. However, the opposite has also been stated. Irwin's friend and manager John Stainton said to CNN's Larry King "[The tape] should be destroyed".
Reaction
News of his death prompted widespread shock and loss. Australian Prime Minister John Howard expressed his "shock and distress" at the death, saying that "Australia has lost a wonderful and colourful son." Queensland Premier Peter Beattie commented in a Channel Seven television interview that Irwin "will be remembered as not just a great Queenslander, but a great Australian". Several Australian news websites went down because of high web traffic and for the first time the top 10 list of most viewed stories for Fairfax Digital news sites were swept by one topic. Talk-back radio experienced a high volume of callers expressing their grief.
The U.S. feed of the Animal Planet cable television channel aired a special tribute to Steve Irwin that started on Monday, 4 September 2006. The tribute continued with the Animal Planet channel showing highlights of Irwin's more than 200 appearances on Discovery Networks shows. The president of the Discovery Network, Billy Campbell, released a statement, saying:
Our entire company is deeply saddened by the tragic and sudden loss of Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter. Steve was beloved by millions of fans and animal lovers around the world and was one of our planet's most passionate conservationists. He has graced our air since October 1996 and was essential in building Animal Planet into a global brand.
On the evening of his death, Enough Rope re-broadcast an interview between Irwin and Andrew Denton originally broadcast in 2003. CNN showed a repeat of his interview on Larry King Live, originally recorded in 2004. The Australian federal parliament opened on 5 September 2006 with condolence speeches by both the Prime Minister John Howard and the Leader of the Opposition Kim Beazley. The Seven Network aired a television memorial show as a tribute to Irwin on 5 September 2006,, as did the Nine Network on 6 September 2006. Also on the evening of his death Triple M shock jock Spoonman called Irwin a "wanker" on air but later apologised for his comments in an online editorial called Humble Pie.
Animal Planet's Memorial WallpaperIrwin was very popular in the United States, and tributes flooded U.S. talk shows following Irwin's death.[54] Jay Leno delivered a tribute to Irwin, describing him as a great ambassador of Australia. Irwin appeared on Leno's talk show on more than ten occasions. There were also tributes on Live with Regis & Kelly and Barbara Walters' The View; on the former show, Kelly Ripa came close to tears with her praise of Irwin. The View's co-host Rosie O'Donnell described informing her son of Irwin's death as if Superman had died for him.[54] Professional wrestler Matt Striker made light of the incident — joking about stingrays on ECW and prompting an apology from WWE Chairman Vince McMahon.
Hundreds of people visited Australia Zoo to pay tribute to the deceased entertainer and conservationist. The day after his death, the volume of people visiting the zoo to pay their respects affected traffic so much that police reduced the speed limit around the Glass House Mountains Road and told motorists to expect delays.
Amid the outpouring of public grief, Germaine Greer published a criticism making statements such as "the animal world has finally taken its revenge" and referring to Irwin's rebuttal to criticism as "That sort of self-delusion is what it takes to be a 'real Aussie larrikin'". The Australian media reacted with distaste to the article amid the praise offered for Irwin. Some notable Australian politicians regarded Greer's commentary with derision; her remarks were subsequently stamped as "insensitive and, frankly, stupid" by Peter Beattie and "gratuitous, politically correct claptrap" by Shadow Foreign Affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd. Writing in The Australian, John Birmingham describes his own shock at learning of Irwin's death and his outrage at the "elites", as he describes some including Greer, and their "harsh" and "unfeeling" sentiments.
However some did come to her defense, such as Dr Clive Hamilton, the executive director of the Australia Institute, who, writing in The Sydney Morning Herald admitted that while "Irwin was generous in using the wealth he accumulated for private conservation purposes", he was a crude presenter of nature. He accuses some Australians of being dishonest in their grief, claiming that for such persons it was a relief "to find a real target for bitterness in the form of Germaine Greer, whose only mistake was poor timing." "It's the new face of the cultural cringe", writes Hamilton, "we canonise anybody who makes it in the US or Britain no matter how lowbrow the performer. Meanwhile Dan Matthews, a spokesman for the US-based organisation People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), said Irwin's death was "no shock at all", and dubbed him a "cheap reality TV star". Matthews said that "He made his career out of antagonising frightened wild animals, that's a very dangerous message to send to children."
At least ten stingrays have been found dead and mutilated on the beaches of Queensland in the wake of Irwin's death, prompting some speculation that the killings were done as revenge by fans of Irwin. Two stingrays were found near Brisbane, while eight were found elsewhere. The tails of the stingrays had been cut off. Wayne Sumpton of the state fisheries department said that fishermen who inadvertently capture stingrays sometimes cut off their tails to avoid being stung, but that the practice was "uncommon". Michael Hornby, the executive director of Irwin's conservation group Wildlife Warriors, said he was concerned the rays were being hunted and killed in retaliation for the TV star's death. He said killing stingrays was "not what Steve was about."
Funeral and memorials
Queensland Premier Peter Beattie extended the offer of a state funeral to Irwin's family, an honour also agreed to by Prime Minister John Howard. The family decided that such a funeral wouldn't be appropriate. Steve Irwin's father, Bob Irwin, stated that his son would not have wanted such an honour, and would want to be remembered as an "ordinary bloke". Irwin was farewelled by family and friends at a private funeral service held at Caloundra on the afternoon of 9 September, and is believed to have been buried at Australia Zoo soon after.
We'll remember you Steve!!!
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