Australia's love him / hate him "Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin died 
yesterday (September 4th) after being struck in the heart by a sting 
ray barb. He was aged 44.

Steve had a larger than life naive & super enthusiastic style of 
presenting the joys of Australia's wilder wildlife to the general 
population. While many were repulsed by his style, at least as many 
loved it and he managed to greatly increase the average Australian's 
awareness of the joys of and threats to many of Australia's more 
formidable animals. The animals Steve said he was most afraid of were 
Parrots :-).

If we'd heard that Steve had died after an encounter with a croc', or 
a python or a poisonous snake we wouldn't have been at all surprised. 
To die from sting-ray strike was most unexpected and very unusual 
indeed. While stingrays can be extremely dangerous and can cause 
substantial injuries with their barbed "stings", such injuries are 
almost never fatal during the initial encounter and seldom fatal 
subsequently if medical help is available. In Steve's case the strike 
apparently pierced his heart and it is believed he died almost 
instantly.

Steve will be greatly missed by many and it will be hard to find a 
person of such visibility and enthusiasm to fill Steve's role of 
'ambassador to animals'.



        RM

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