R.I.P. Crocodile Hunter

Wow.

Stingray Kills 'Crocodile Hunter' Irwin

CAIRNS, Australia (AP) -- Steve Irwin, the hugely popular Australian television personality and conservationist known as the "Crocodile Hunter," was killed Monday by a stingray while filming off the Great Barrier Reef. He was 44.

What irks me the most about this article is the coverage towards the end of the article of the one or two negative press pieces probably ever written about Irwin. Why mention anything negative at all? Can't the media be entirely positive in their reflection on a guy's life for once?

I thought a stingray death seemed pretty odd. It is.

Stingrays have a serrated, toxin-loaded barb, or spine, on the top of their tail. The barb, which can be up to 10 inches long, flexes if a ray is frightened. Stings usually occur to people when they step on or swim too close to a ray and can be excruciatingly painful but are rarely fatal, said University of Queensland marine neuroscientist Shaun Collin.

Collin said he suspected Irwin died because the barb pierced under his ribcage and directly into his heart.

"It was extraordinarily bad luck. It's not easy to get spined by a stingray and to be killed by one is very rare," Collin said.

And of course, there are those left behind.

Stainton said Irwin's American-born wife Terri, from Eugene, Ore., had been informed of his death, and had told their daughter Bindi Sue, 8, and son Bob, who will turn 3 in December.