“Crikey, Steve, we will miss you”

It’s been two days since the news of the death of Steve Irwin spread across the world, taking the world aback and triggering an outpour of grief and praise for the Australian television presenter, wildlife expert and conservationist. After almost wall-to-wall coverage (only interrupted today, probably, by the birth of a boy, and finally a heir, to the Japanese imperial family) and a lot of things shown, it seems suddenly we haven’t got enough of him even after his death.

And, slowly details of his death are slowly creeping. His last moments, as producer and close friend John Stainton had suspected, were recorded on video - it can be recalled that he died while shooting an underwater documentary - and it seems impossible that it would be shown to the public. But of course - even Stainton said that “[it was] a very hard thing to watch because you’re actually witnessing somebody die and it’s terrible.”

After watching the video, before passing it to the police, Stainton describes what could be Irwin’s final moments: “It shows that Steve came over the top of the ray and the tail came up and spiked him here [in the chest] and he pulled [the barb] out and the next minute he’s gone,” MediaGuardian quoted him as saying. “That was it - the cameraman had to shut down.”

It has been suggested that the barb pierced his heart, killing him immediately. It can be recalled that Irwin never gained consciousness after being brought back up to the water.

Cameraman Ben Cropp, who was also in the area when Irwin was killed, suggested that the stingray that killed the television personality was scared, felt threatened, and thus had gone on the defensive. In an interview with The Australian, he said that the stingray “stopped and went into defensive mode and swung its tail with a spike. It probably fely threatened because Steve was alongside and there was the cameraman ahead, and it felt there was danger and balked.”

Cropp, who is also a producer, recalled a similar situation when a stingray went in the defensive and attacked with its barbed tail. “It missed me and then up went its tail and it went whack again. Steve was just unlucky and that’s what it boils down to,” MediaGuardian quoted him as saying.

Queensland police now have the video of what some called a “freak accident”. Superintendent Mike Keating suggests that Irwin wasn’t intimidating or threatening the stingray. “My advice is that he is observing the stingray,” he added.

Tributes have started pouring in from all over the world. Despite the mixed reactions from viewers and leaders alike, most of the reaction were of grief and praise, noting that Irwin died while doing what he loved to do. (I remember, though, seeing a comment from one person who was known to have consistently disagreed with Irwin’s methods on CNN, saying that’s its finally been time that he’s killed, or something like it. I could be wrong, though.) Australian Prime Minister John Howard remembers irwin’s contribution to the Australian people, noting his death in “quintessentially Australian circumstances”. “He was the Australian we all aspired to be,” actor Russell Crowe, a friend of Irwin’s, said. The Discovery Channel, which initially showed Irwin’s series Crocodile Hunter to people around the world, is planning to show a marathon of his shows.

One of the initial surprises what what killed Irwin - a stingray, which BBC World presenters described, in the hours after the news broke, as “one of the most docile creatures” in the sea. As a marine biologist from the Georgia Aquarium told CNN, they will not attack unless they are threatened. A week before Irwin’s death I remember watching something on the television about a theme park which offers, among others, an encounter-with-the-stingrays program, and I was then surprised they’d seem friendly. The barbs can grow, however, to around twenty centimeters long depending on the size - as Cropp mentioned, the stingray that killed Irwin, apparently a bull ray, was “about a meter aqcross the body - probably weighing about 100 [kilgorams], and it had a large spine.”

It is noted, however, that stingray attacks are very rare on humans, and they don’t attack agressively. Only one other person was known to have died in a stingray attack, back in 1945.

Irwin’s body is now in his hometown of Beerwah, in Queensland, after a post-mortem investigation in Cairns. No funeral arrangements have been annouced yet, but there have been proposals that he be given a state burial; however, Queensland State Premier Peter Beattie said this would push through only if his agrees. Irwin is survived by his wife Terri, eight-year-old daughter Bindi Sue and three-year-old son Bob.

Watching his interview, two years ago, with Larry King, I suddenly realized how much I’ve missed from him. I’ve watched him as an eleven-year-old, until our cable services stopped carrying Discovery Channel. There he was, showing off some animals and providing insight into his work. There was his plan to bring the Australian Zoo to Las Vegas, and then there was his talking about what would possibly happen. There’s no telling what could happen, Irwin said - I’m paraphrasing off my memory, so bear with me - and the animals could just attack you and kill you at some point. here’s a man, injured by crocodiles, bitten by snakes and pecked on by parrots (which he feared) just to tell us about these animals, know their plight, “give them exposure” - and, as Stainton put it, he died doing what he absolutely loved.

“As he would have said,” Stainton said in the first press conference after his detah,”‘crocs rule’.”

Crikey, I’m feeling the gap even if I’ve lost out right now.