SYDNEY (Reuters) – Steve Irwin, the quirky Australian naturalist
who won worldwide acclaim as TV’s khaki-clad “Crocodile Hunter,” was killed by a
stingray barb through the heart while filming a new documentary on
Monday.
Irwin, 44, tangled with some of the world’s most dangerous animals but
he died in an extremely rare attack by a normally placid sea creature while he
was diving on a reef off Port Douglas in northern Queensland.
He came over the top of a stingray and the stingray’s barb went up
and went into his chest and put a hole into his heart,” Irwin’s shocked manager
John Stainton told reporters in Cairns, south of Port Douglas.
A helicopter rushed paramedics to nearby Low Isles where Irwin was
taken for treatment, but he was dead before they arrived, emergency officials
said.
“It became clear fairly soon that he had non-survivable injuries,”
Dr. Ed O’Loughlin, who treated Irwin, told Nine Network
television.
“He had a penetrating injury to the left front of his chest. He had
lost his pulse and wasn’t breathing,” he said.
Irwin’s death was likely only the third recorded fatal stingray attack
in Australia, experts said. They said stingray venom was agonizingly painful but
not lethal, although the barb was capable of causing horrific injuries like a
knife or bayonet.
“It’s not the going in, it’s the coming out,” Australian Venom Research
Unit deputy director Dr Bryan Fry told Reuters.
“They have these deep serrations which tear and render the flesh as it
comes out,” he said.
“CRIKEY”
Known around the world for his catchphrase “Crikey” during close
encounters with wild animals, Irwin made almost 50 documentaries which appeared
on the cable TV channel Animal Planet. He became a virtual global industry
generating books, interactive games and even toy action figures.
Irwin was described as “a modern-day Noah” and his death shocked world
leaders, fellow naturalists and humble Australians who said he was “a bloody
good bloke.”
“I really do feel Australia has lost a wonderful and colorful son. He
brought immense joy to millions of people, particularly to children, and it’s
just such a terrible loss,” emotional Australian Prime Minister John Howard told
reporters.
British naturalist and broadcaster David Bellamy described Irwin as a
great performer and an excellent natural historian.
“He did take enormous risks, but he knew what he was doing. It was one
of the terrible, terrible, terrible accidents and I wish to God it didn’t
happen,” Bellamy told the BBC.
GREW UP WITH REPTILES
Born on February 22, 1962, in the southern Australian city of
Melbourne, Irwin moved to tropical Queensland where his parents ran a small
reptile and fauna park.
He grew up near crocodiles, trapping and removing them from populated
areas and releasing them in his parent’s park. He took over the park in 1991 and
renamed it the “Australia Zoo.”
Irwin became famous for his seemingly death-defying skill with wild
animals, including crocodiles and snakes.
He met his U.S.-born wife Terri at the zoo and the footage of their
honeymoon — which they spent trapping crocodiles — formed the basis of his
first “Crocodile Hunter” documentary.
Later shows had a worldwide audience of 200 million, or 10 times the
population of Australia. They had two children, Bindi Sue and Robert
Clarence.
Irwin triggered outrage in 2004 by holding his then one-month-old son
while feeding a snapping crocodile at his zoo.
He was also criticized for allegedly disturbing whales, seals and
penguins while filming in Antarctica.
Irwin boasted that he had never been bitten by a venomous snake or
seriously bitten by a crocodile, although admitted his worst injuries had been
inflicted by parrots.
“I don’t know what it is with parrots but they always bite me,” Irwin
once said. “A cockatoo once tried to rip the end of my nose off. I don’t know
what they’ve got against me.”
