Steve Irwin Killed
Posted by: Loren Coleman on September 4th, 2006
“I have no fear of losing my life. If I have to save a koala or a crocodile or a kangaroo or a snake, mate, I will save it.” – Steve Irwin
Steve Irwin who once devoted time in the hunt for the Thylacine has been killed. Crikey!
Irwin, the hugely popular Australian television personality and conservationist known as the "Crocodile Hunter," was killed Monday, September 4, 2006, by a stingray while filming off the Great Barrier Reef. He was 44.
Irwin was at Batt Reef, off the remote coast of northeastern Queensland state, shooting a segment for a series called "Ocean’s Deadliest" when he swam too close to one of the animals, which have a poisonous barb on their tails, his friend and colleague John Stainton said.
"He came on top of the stingray and the stingray’s barb went up and into his chest and put a hole into his heart," said Stainton, who was on board Irwin’s boat at the time.
Irwin appears to have had a mild interest in cryptozoology. In August 6, 2002, Irwin was on the radio talk show, "Coast to Coast AM with George Noory." Noory asked Irwin about the Yowie/Bigfoot and Irwin replied that he had traveled extensively and hadn’t seen anything. He felt that he might have seen something by now, if they were real.
Additionally, Steve Irwin had gone on expeditions in search of Thylacine, although he reportedly had found no physical sightings. Nevertheless, he would tell people that there are some areas so remote that it is difficult to explore them fully and that if there is a small population of Thylacine they could easily go undiscovered. (For more about the Thylacine/Tasmanian Tiger, see “70 Years: Thylacines Still Rule!”.)
Good-bye, mate.
Our thoughts are with his kids, wife, family, and friends.
Update
Animal Planet is running repeats of the biographical episodes of “Crocodile Hunter” and other tributes all day, Labor Day, September 4, 2006.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
i was in korea when i heard about this horrible event and i felt like i just lost someone who taught me alot about wildlife.there was alot of wanna be steve irwins out there but their shows show was boring. Steve you was the greatest ever and even though you didn’t know me i knew you and i just wanted to thank you. your wife terri your daughter bindi and your son robert had the real SUPERMAN living and loving them. GOD BLESS YOU and YOUR FAMILY
REST IN PEACE STEVE!!!!!!!!!!!
steve you will be missed