Posted on 9/4/2006, 4:31:33 PM by HarmlessLovableFuzzball
FOOTAGE of Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin being fatally gored by a stingray on the Great Barrier Reef has been handed to Queensland police as fans worldwide come to grips with the "freak" death.Irwin, 44, was killed almost instantly when the stingray stabbed him in the heart with its poisonous 20cm barb as he snorkelled off Port Douglas, in north Queensland, yesterday morning.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
What's the over/under on how long it will take to show up on youtube.com?
Whoa...20cm barb...must have been a whopper of a ray. I can picture Steve gliding along on top of one too, all the while saying "Isn't it beautiful?".
The death was not from the venom. It was from the traumatic damage to the heart. The venom would have only been painful, but not necessarily deadly.
Oh, Lord. For once I hope this isn't snuck out to the public! :*( His poor wife and kids don't need this sensationalism.
Thank God for the life of Steve Irwin and God bless his family. He was certainly a courageous fellow and he gloried in God's creation.
Well, if someone gets hit by a car, I don't think it makes a bit of difference to them if we say it was the car that killed him, or just the bumper, but it is interesting. They say the poison causes death and necrosis of tissue around the injury, so I can't imagine it would have been a walk in the park to recover from regardless, being that close to vital organs.
Our prayers with your family Steve.
Gonne miss that bloke. Be well mate.
I wouldn't assume to know their attitude about it. I bet they watch it, and who knows if they'll want it released... they had a different attitude about a lot of things :~)
OK, who had "stingray" in the pool?
I always thought he would die from a snake bite. Either way, he lived and died doing what he loved. He'll be greatly missed.
"He was up in the shallow water, probably 1.5m to 2m deep, following a bull ray which was about a metre across the body - probably weighing about 100kg, and it had quite a large spine. The cameraman was filming in the water."< /snip>Mr Cropp said the stingray was spooked and went into defensive mood.
"It probably felt threatened because Steve was alongside and there was the cameraman ahead, and it felt there was danger and it baulked.
"It stopped and went into a defensive mode and swung its tail with the spike.
"Steve unfortunately was in a bad position and copped it.
"I have had that happen to me, and I can visualise it - when a ray goes into defensive, you get out of the way.
"Steve was so close he could not get away, so if you can imagine it - being right beside the ray and it swinging its spine upwards from underneath Steve - and it hit him."
I used to fish offshore a lot, and once caught a sthingray that was the size of a kitchen table. It had not one, but two stingers at the base of its tail, both about 8 to 9 inches long.
I touched the edge of one of the stingers gently with my finger..didn't even break the skin....and it started hurting as if I had been stung by a hornet.
>>The death was not from the venom. It was from the traumatic damage to the heart. The venom would have only been painful, but not necessarily deadly.
It's all academic since the 20cm barb could inflict a fatal wound by itself without any venom but wouldn't a mild venom be considerably more dangerous (perhaps lethal) if injected directly into the heart. I remember being taught that a bite from a snake with relatively mild venom could be life-threatening if the bite was directly in an artery.
Thank you. I hate converting to metrics.
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