Blimey

[mandragora]

So Steve Irwin has been killed whilst filming a wildlife documentary by a stingray.

It did seem that he took risks - I remember the cocodile and poisonous snakes vividly - but I didn't expect the poor man to actually die from it. I know some Aussies found him to be a bit of an embarrassment, but I am sorry to hear the news.

I suppose he died doing something he loved, however I doubt very much he wanted to die from it. He was aged 44.

Comments

[keletkezes.livejournal.com]

It'd never have been a croc: they were both in their home environment (within reason). With a stingray it's one in the watery home, one in the watery hell: the odds are nasty, especially because they're vicious buggers.

[mandragora1.livejournal.com]

Well, actually, he was incredibly unlucky. There have only been 17 people worldwide killed by sting rays in the past 10 years, and his is only the third recorded death in Australian history.

So although he regularly did risky things with the most dangerous wildlife on the planet, he wasn't doing anything that should have been intrinsically risky. Seems the sting ray was buried beneath the sand, so he didn't realise it was there and he and a camera man got too close to it and scared it, so it lashed out. The barb venon probably wouldn't have killed him, but the barb pierced his heart and it was the physical damage to the heart that caused his demise.

[keletkezes.livejournal.com]

See, as a child, at the Sealife Centre, we were always told they were vicious buggers in the wild (though yes, unless allergy means otherwise, it's unlikely to kill a person). Amazing how you get different scientific views 10 years later.