'Crocodile Hunter' Steve Irwin killed in accident

by **Alagrl** » September 6, 2006, 3:20 am

This was really such a freakish accident. For all their reputation, sting rays (or any type of rays) rarely react to divers. We frequently dive in the Gulf, and the manta rays in fact are quite playful. I have to concur that for some reason the ray felt trapped between diver and cameraman.

by **Kudjap or Bust** » September 6, 2006, 8:24 am

Had the pleasure of meeting Steve and Terri a while back at the Zoo, a real good hearted and charismatic guy with a pure zest for life. Gave everyone a new outlook on wildlife and conservation which he loved so much. But, his biggest pleasere was his family........He will be greatly missed by them and so many around the World.
I'm sure Terri and the Zoo staff will keep his work going. His name will never die.

Jermaine Greer can kiss my a**

by **arjay** » September 6, 2006, 11:10 am

I thought some members may be interested in this follow up article from the Bangkok Post. In any event a very sad accident.

Yanking ray's barb hastened Irwin's death

Sydney (dpa) - Australian wildlife documentary maker Steve Irwin's final act of ripping a stingray's jagged barb from his chest cut his chances of surviving the underwater wound, experts said Wednesday.

Irwin, 44, died Monday while snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef when the serrated, venomous tip of a stingray's barb pierced his heart.

"The more you start pulling things around, the more damage you do to yourself," Queensland marine biologist Peter Fenner told The Australian newspaper. "That's against the basic principles and could well have made things worse."

An autopsy on the famed Crocodile Hunter showed the cause of death was the injury to his heart, inflicted by the 20-centimetre-long spike, but did not establish whether it was blood loss, a heart attack or organ damage that took the life of the khaki-clad showman and millionaire zookeeper.

Bryan Fry of Melbourne University's venom research unit concurred with Fenner's view that Irwin would have been better to leave the barb in place.

"To pull the barb out would have taken a lot of force and could do more damage," Fry said.

"The serrations mean it would not slide out like a knife, and pulling it out could have caused more tissue damage. Stingray venom is rarely fatal. The poison is not leaking from the barb. It would have been in him regardless, so it would have made no difference to leave it in."

Only 17 people worldwide are known to have died after contact with stingrays. Irwin, who made his name wrestling crocodiles, is only the second Australian to die from a stingray barb.

The first Australian casualty was 12-year-old Jeff Zahmel, who succumbed to his wounds six days after a barb pierced his heart in 1988 in Queensland. In a bizarre accident, a stingray soared over the dinghy Zahmel was in, stabbing him in the chest as it went. The stingray swished its tail in alarm after brushing the bodies in the boat.

Stingrays are normally placid animals who deploy their deadly barbs only when they feel threatened or cornered. Police who have seized video of the incident said that Irwin had not provoked the stingray but swam near it.

by **wazza** » September 6, 2006, 1:16 pm

Up in Papua New Guinea, the local fishermen use spotlights at night to attract the fish to the boat and and make it easier to catch and net etc. One type of fish , the garfish, has a long 10cm barb, beak and when its caught up with the spotlights will jump out of the water straight at the lights.

There is very good published evidence in the Australian Medical Journals of fishermen with penetrating chest trauma , with associated fatalities etc as a result of these fishing practices.

Medical practice is to leave any penetrating object in the chest alone , as it can self seal, removing it allows an automatic collapse of the lung, a sucking chest wound and in this case the collapse of the heart as well, due to direct trauma. Having said that, individual repsonses and reactions to this underwater might be different obviously.

Steve might have survived, IF and its a huge IF, there was a cardio thoracic surgeon on his first dive boat who was able to preform a Thoracotomy ( open the chest wall right up ) and plugged the ruptured cardiac tissue with a finger and continued with internal cardiac massage , till some IV fluids / blood could be replaced, then have him transferred to a major hospital by helicopter for further life saving emergency surgery.

by **farang** » September 6, 2006, 11:17 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgsE9SQ1iCA

by **BKKSTAN** » September 7, 2006, 8:59 am

Hey farang,you have stock in youtube.com :lol:

by **polehawk** » September 7, 2006, 8:37 pm

Farang is the King of YouTube, that's all, folks. The Grand Master. Want to see old videos of Mr Bean or the Bowery Boys or Gene Autry? He can find it.

Beermonkey also pretty good at finding the vids.

Wait a minute. Are farang and beermonkey the same person? :lol:

by **beer monkey** » September 7, 2006, 11:37 pm

.farang is king of the Vids,

he has showed me a thing or two. :wink:

by **farang** » September 8, 2006, 1:38 am

king of youtube!!! not yet ,but soon

as for

Wait a minute. Are farang and beermonkey the same person?

LOL

last year it was, is farang pop pops !!!!! lol http://www.udonmap.com/udonthaniforum/v ... &start=300

this year, its nicey that says farang is lee :roll:

and polehawk says is beermonkey farang :lol:

lol what ever next!!!LOL :lol:

well, i will be at the december 2 meeting(and other meetings for 5 months) and bm will be in town and a few other members,see you all there ,i`ll bring my vid cam to the meeting and then post it on youtube :wink:

LOL

'Crocodile Hunter' Steve Irwin killed in accident

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