The barb probably stuck his heart but had sealed up around it (if he was lucky)..but when he pulled it out it released the plug and the sac around his heart filled with blood and he had a cardiac tamponade or it could have cut his aorta...or just put a hole in his heart...
either way, I feel for his kids. He seemed like he was a fun loving guy. He loved his mom and his dad... I saw a profile on Animal Planet...
His dad showed him how to capture crocs...
you live you die.... he looked like the type that lived full bore and loved his job... not much more you can ask the big guy upstairs..
He may have aggravated the injury by pulling the barb out because it's like a fish hook.
It's big here in the U.S. too. Steve, Terry, the children--it's like part of the family.
It's big here too. We are all mourning his loss.
By Nick Squires in Sydney
The Telegraph (UK)
(Filed: 05/09/2006)
He wrestled crocodiles, dodged deadly snakes and tormented tarantulas but, in the end, a freak encounter with a stingray brought Steve Irwin's love affair with wildlife to an abrupt end.
The effervescent Crocodile Hunter died as he lived — getting perilously close to lethal and exotic creatures while performing in front of the camera.
Australia was plunged into a state of shock yesterday after Irwin was killed by a stingray barb to the heart while being filmed snorkelling off Queensland. Irwin was famous for grappling with "salties", or saltwater crocodiles, in his khaki shorts and safari shirt.
He collapsed after being stung by the ray off the Low Isles, a clutch of sand cays near Port Douglas in the tropical north.
"He came over the top of a stingray," said his producer and best friend, John Stainton. "The stingray's barb went up and into his chest and put a hole into his heart.
"He possibly died instantly when the barb hit him. I don't think that he felt any pain."
A tearful Mr Stainton insisted that Irwin had not deliberately provoked the creature.
The camera crew called in a rescue helicopter from Cairns but medical staff were too late to revive the 44-year-old celebrity.
He had a puncture wound to the left side of his chest and was pronounced dead on his boat, Croc One. His body was taken to a mortuary, where a post mortem examination was performed last night.
Irwin won fame worldwide for his enthusiasm for wildlife and his exclamation "Crikey!"
His American-born wife, Terri, a passionate big cat conservationist who met her husband while visiting his zoo, was trekking in Tasmania when informed of his death. She once described him as a Tarzan character; he said she was his perfect woman.
Irwin attracted condemnation two years ago when he held his one-month-old son, Bob, over a crocodile pen as he fed a chicken to a 13ft-long saltie at Australia Zoo, the wildlife park he owned on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.
Despite a barrage of criticism, Irwin was unrepentant.
"What I'd do differently is I'd make sure there were no cameras around," he said.
Irwin's television programme, The Crocodile Hunter, was first broadcast in 1992 and gained huge popularity on the cable network Animal Planet, with a worldwide audience of 200 million.
Unfashionably tight shorts, a tousled mop of blond hair, wide-eyed enthusiasm and irrepressible energy became his trademarks.
He knew his audience was often willing him to get scratched, bitten or stung by dangerous animals. "Now and again I do get bitten, but I haven't been killed," he said in an interview in 2003.
"There's no use sticking your head in the sand and going, 'Oh, they're only here because I talk well.' No, they want to see me come unglued."
While his unique style won him a loyal following in nations such as Britain, America and Japan, some Australians regarded him as an over-the-top parody of the "ocker" Aussie.
He acknowledged that while he was regarded as a "wildlife warrior" abroad, in Australia "some people find me a little bit embarrassing. They kind of cringe because I'm coming out with 'crikey' and 'look at this beauty'.
Is it because they actually see a little bit of themselves [in me]? I'm fair dinkum, like kangaroos and Land Cruisers." He insisted that despite the theatrics his work on endangered species was based on "fair dinkum science".
Radio stations and websites were flooded with messages from Australians mourning his unusual and untimely death. Flowers were laid outside the zoo and tributes were paid by colleagues and politicians.
One fan laying a wreath outside Australia Zoo summed up the national mood. Rod Cameron, from Brisbane, said: "Australia just lost a bloody good bloke."
Big here in rural California too. Our family and friends are profoundly saddened by Steve's passing.
He'll be missed here as well. I loved his shows.
A timely reminder that no matter the love we may feel for wild animals, they are still wild and react from instinct.
A tragic death indeed, my heart, prayers and consolences to his faily.
No apologies needed, this is BIG everywhere.
R.I.P. Steve, go with the Angels.
Here is interesting info
It's big here too. He was a very brave man.
a life lived well though
cant imagine he'd survived any longer slappin a Dell and spending his days in a cube, churning out numbers
He'd have been miserable for sure
a mans man - enamored with Gods creatures
Its pretty big here too. Hannity & Colmes spend over half their show tonight on this story.
We are all sad. Steve was very special, one of a kind.
I was trying to think of an American counterpart, and I can't really think of one.
In one way, he was ultimately macho. I mean the guy jumped into rivers at night on top of crocodiles. You don't get more macho than that. Then, you'd see him crying over the loss of his dog, or moved to tears while holding his daughter. I think the thing that made him unique is that most people who do the crazy stuff he did would be people you'd be scared would beat you up in an alley. Irwin, though, if you saw him on the street, you'd want to run up and say hi, because you already felt like he was your friend. My condolences to the great country of Australia on this day. Thanks for sharing him with us for the last ten years.
It's been pretty big here in the States today, too. All the cable stations have tribute programs.
Irwin was absolutely fearless. I saw him get on all fours and stare down an Australian Brown (one of the most deadly snakes on earth), with his face mere inches from the head of the snake.
Reminds me of a movie I saw during a college course about the use of snakes in a church service, where the church-goers tossed Eastern Diamondbacks back and forth to each other. The pastor was bitten by one of the snakes -- his hand swelled up like a balloon -- and he said, "I must have sinned this week". The professor commented, "His sin was picking up those rattlesnakes".
Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
I seem to recall a few years back that Steve was not rather well-liked in Australia, but it seems that all changed in recent years.
This is just horrible. I feel so sorry for his wife and daughters, and those he worked with.