Crocodile Hunter dead at 44

Hi All-

Such a sad piece of news. Steve Irwin probably did more to get people interested in animals than anyone else in the past twenty-five years. I'm just sick about this tragic update.

Hopefully other great professionals like Jeff Corwin will be able to carry on his good traditions.

~ Blue Jays ~
 
NeedleRemorse here. I guess this is my first post under my new screen name (the old one stopped working).

I was a huge Crocodile Hunter fan a couple of years ago. It really helped to get me more into exotic pets, and now I have 2 Grammostola rosea tarantulas and a Poecilotheria regalis, as well as a bearded dragon. I kind of fell out of it a good while ago, but I'd still watch it if I came across it. It's really upsetting to hear about Steve Irwin dying like this. It's just a freakish and wrong death for such an animated person as rebeltf said. I still don't really comprehend that he's actually dead because he had such an invincible aura about him, and because it's unbelievable that the same guy who would hardly break a sweat catching a fear snake would end up getting bled out by a stingray. I guess it just seems really surreal and anti-climactic, and it's too bad that his tremendous celebrity couldn't have been preserved for longer. For all that he's accomplished with regard to conservation, there was so much more to be done. But if that sounds defeatist, I do have confidence that his children will pick up where he and his wife leave off, and I also have a lot of confidence in Jeff Corwin. I don't think many people would doubt that he was good-hearted and make bounds for wildlife preservation and education. And on top of all of the practical tragedy of his death is the even less fortunate situation that his family finds themselves in.

I hate to make a comparison between Steve Irwin and Timothy Treadwell, as I think that Steve Irwin was much more knowledgable, much more realistic, and, quite frankly, sane, but seeing these two men die from attacks by wild creatures kind of puts humans back into their place- isolated from other animals in the same way that a field mouse can't very well befriend an owl. When you get right down to it, that stingray didn't know Steve Irwin or the percieved importance of homosapians from a starfish.
 
Good point. Kinda like when Chris Rock says.. "People say Seigfried and Roy's white tiger "went crazy" on stage. That tiger didn't 'went crazy' - that tiger went TIGER!"

I really didn't know how to tell my 8 year old step-daughter this morning, she absolutely loves the crocodile hunter and will regularly choose Animal Planet over almost any other channel. Ridiculously enough, I had tears in my eyes when I did, and when the story ran on CNN with accompanying biography video...I lost it.

And off on a tangent..I wonder how insurable he was.
 
Glockman I don't think what you said is disrespectful at all. I think you are right on the money. I remember the first time I saw Erwin on TV before I knew anything about him and I told my wife then as he was tempting fate with one of the deadliest snakes in the world right in his face that he was going to be dead at a young age playing Russian Roulette like that with nature. Later I saw him doing equally dangerous stunts with other animals and it was just plain stupid. It was just a matter of time really before his luck ran out.

I guess I'm shocked that everyone is so shocked by this guys death. The guy was wreckless period. Too wreckless to be a family man or at least a responsible one IMO. You'd think he would tone it down after having two young ones. And as for what he did with his infant son with that Croc. That was wreckless child endangerment plain and simple. No justification for that action at all. If you ask me the real victims here are his family and friends. If anything positive can come of his death I think its probably, cruel as it may come across or sound, it is probably that his children will live longer because he died young and simply because he wasn't around long enough to instill his wreckless character into them as they grew up around his antics. I mean if he wants to risk his own life thats up to him, but when you drag the children into your own delusions its a whole different matter. I see that no different if he was a drunk that had a 12 pack before going off to get the kids from school. Both are stupid acts and both are child endangerment if not child abuse to a large extent.

I really feel for his wife and family. Hopefully his wife had a good couple million in insurance on him so at least they won't want for much now that he is gone. I hope that I don't come off as too insensitive here but the facts are the facts. He walked the line one too many times and it caught up with him. As someone else said on another post a long time ago the more miles you get under your belt doing things stupid the more the odds stack up against you. Eventually you lose.

STR
 
I dont think it was all just luck that he lived so long. He knew what he was doing. Great bloke, he will be missed.
 
I was genuinely saddened to hear about his death. He seemed like a bit of a crazy bastard but I suspect that he was more safety conscious than the TV programs let on. He did a lot to get out his message about conservation. I feel very sorry for his family, since losing such a larger than life individual must leave a tremendous void in their lives.
 
STR said:
Glockman I don't think what you said is disrespectful at all. I think you are right on the money. I remember the first time I saw Erwin on TV before I knew anything about him and I told my wife then as he was tempting fate with one of the deadliest snakes in the world right in his face that he was going to be dead at a young age playing Russian Roulette like that with nature. Later I saw him doing equally dangerous stunts with other animals and it was just plain stupid. It was just a matter of time really before his luck ran out.

I guess I'm shocked that everyone is so shocked by this guys death. The guy was wreckless period. Too wreckless to be a family man or at least a responsible one IMO. You'd think he would tone it down after having two young ones. And as for what he did with his infant son with that Croc. That was wreckless child endangerment plain and simple. No justification for that action at all. If you ask me the real victims here are his family and friends. If anything positive can come of his death I think its probably, cruel as it may come across or sound, it is probably that his children will live longer because he died young and simply because he wasn't around long enough to instill his wreckless character into them as they grew up around his antics. I mean if he wants to risk his own life thats up to him, but when you drag the children into your own delusions its a whole different matter. I see that no different if he was a drunk that had a 12 pack before going off to get the kids from school. Both are stupid acts and both are child endangerment if not child abuse to a large extent.

I really feel for his wife and family. Hopefully his wife had a good couple million in insurance on him so at least they won't want for much now that he is gone. I hope that I don't come off as too insensitive here but the facts are the facts. He walked the line one too many times and it caught up with him. As someone else said on another post a long time ago the more miles you get under your belt doing things stupid the more the odds stack up against you. Eventually you lose.

STR
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I absolutely agree STR, although Mycroft does make a good point about how we do not really know exactly what was going on, but rather only what we were shown on t.v. I thought he was foolish when I saw some episode where he was out in a small boat at night with a flashlight. He was shining the light about for crocodile eyes and then he saw one. He immediately dived over the side after the crocodile. At that point I knew it was just a matter of time. He had no idea how big that crocodile was or if there was another one or anything. He appeared to take foolish risks in life and his demise comes as no shock whatsoever. When he had children he added irresponsibility to the foolishness by continuing to behave the way he did. Even if he had a few million dollars in insurance his children are going to be growing up without a father.
 
I think Triton's suggestion that we never saw the whole picture, just what was shown on TV, is very important. They always made a big deal about how dangerous everything he did was. The wild-eyed, zany persona, I suspect was largely part of the act.

I get a little leary when folks say something is 'oh, so dangerous and irresponsible.' There are millions that think owning a gun is way, way over- the-top-dangerous, yet they think nothing of zipping down the freeway at 120 feet-per-second inches from other speeding vehicles all loaded with potentially explosive liquids. (an activity that kills thousands per year.)
If Steve Irwin was as reckless as it might appear, he wouldn't have lasted 15 or 20 years. No way. If he got chomped in half by a croc he was wrestling that's one thing, but the true irony is that he appearantly died doing something relatively benign ... sort of like a race car driver dying in a traffic accident.
 
JCaswell said:
I think Triton's suggestion that we never saw the whole picture, just what was shown on TV, is very important. They always made a big deal about how dangerous everything he did was. The wild-eyed, zany persona, I suspect was largely part of the act.

I get a little leary when folks say something is 'oh, so dangerous and irresponsible.' There are millions that think owning a gun is way, way over- the-top-dangerous, yet they think nothing of zipping down the freeway at 120 feet-per-second inches from other speeding vehicles all loaded with potentially explosive liquids. (an activity that kills thousands per year.)
If Steve Irwin was as reckless as it might appear, he wouldn't have lasted 15 or 20 years. No way. If he got chomped in half by a croc he was wrestling that's one thing, but the true irony is that he appearantly died doing something relatively benign ... sort of like a race car driver dying in a traffic accident.
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Mycroft pointed it out first not I but you may very well have the right of it and I do not discount that possibility. It was all staged, a show an act. As you say his death did seem rather prosaic compared to being eaten by a crocodile or something. Reminds me of Earnhardt's death in some way. It was the crazy flying through the air shredding the car wreck that killed him, it was a seemingly almost gentle bump against a wall.
 
Danelle O'Shea said:
And off on a tangent..I wonder how insurable he was.
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Probably about as insurable as Jackie Chan! (In a documentary once, he said he couldn't get insurance) BUT does he really need it?!?!?
 
I heard Steve Irwin spent almost all of his money on his zoo, on various conservationist concerns and on building his own wildlife preserve. It sounds like he was the kind of guy who believed in what he said, and put his money where his mouth was. Some people think he was crazy, but I think the world could use a lot more men like Steve Irwin. Like him or not, he will be remembered as an important man. He had several documentaries made about him and his life before he even died. How many other private citizens can you say that about?
 
Triton said:
Mycroft pointed it out first not I but you may very well have the right of it and I do not discount that possibility. It was all staged, a show an act.
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I wouldn't want to say it was all staged.

It's just that the viewer is not in the best position to know what is truly risky and what is not since we don't see what's going on behind the scenes, nor do most of us have the knowledge and experience of someone that's been around certain animals his whole life.

The 'act' part of it was about making things seem as dangerous and exciting as possible.
I make/forge knives. There are certainly risks involved -- in a freak accident you could die. I could do a video that shows the process, emphasizing the 'risks' to a degree that would make it seem like a very dangerous occupation.

It would probably be fun thing to watch, educational and technically accurate, but I (and others that do the same thing) would know that the risk of death and dismemberment, while present, can be faced with confidence given proper care, training, experience.
 
jcaswell, triton etc. have it right . It was a SHOW an act .Others in the 'animal world" have often said what he does is not that dangerous, let alone wreckless.

I saw on tv once this tin man walking down a yellow brick road........
 
moonwilson said:
He had several documentaries made about him and his life before he even died. How many other private citizens can you say that about?
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I think what says the most is this international reaction to his death. People loved this guy.
 
moonwilson said:
I heard Steve Irwin spent almost all of his money on his zoo, on various conservationist concerns and on building his own wildlife preserve. It sounds like he was the kind of guy who believed in what he said, and put his money where his mouth was. Some people think he was crazy, but I think the world could use a lot more men like Steve Irwin. Like him or not, he will be remembered as an important man. He had several documentaries made about him and his life before he even died. How many other private citizens can you say that about?
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I like that he put his money where his mouth is. He walked what he talked. He had a passion for life, his family, and an did great things for animals!! I respect and admire him.
 
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