Steve Irwin, the ebullient Australian whose catch cry of "Crikey!" helped him rise to global fame as television's "Crocodile Hunter," was killed yesterday by a stingray while filming on the Great Barrier Reef. He was 44.
Irwin was in the water 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, said John Stainton, a friend and colleague.
"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 aboard Irwin's boat, Croc One, at the time.
PHOTO: AP/ANIMAL PLANET
Crew members called emergency services in the nearest city, Cairns, and administered CPR as they rushed to nearby Low Isle to meet a rescue helicopter. Medical staff pronounced Irwin dead when they arrived a short time later, Stainton said.
Irwin was famous for his enthusiasm for wildlife and for regularly getting up close and personal with dangerous animals in his television program Crocodile Hunter, which was first broadcast in Australia in 1992 before it was picked up by the Discovery network, catapulting him to international celebrity.
"The world has lost a great wildlife icon, a passionate conservationist and one of the proudest dads on the planet," Stainton told reporters in Cairns. "He died doing what he loved best and left this world in a happy and peaceful state of mind. He would have said, Crocs Rule!"
Prime Minister John Howard, who hand-picked Irwin to attend a gala barbecue to honor US President George W. Bush when he visited in 2003, said he was "shocked and distressed at Steve Irwin's sudden, untimely and freakish death."
"It's a huge loss to Australia," Howard told reporters. "He was a wonderful character. He was a passionate environmentalist. He brought joy and entertainment and excitement to millions of people."
Irwin, who made a trademark of hovering dangerously close to untethered crocodiles, often leaping on their backs, talked mile-a-minute in a thick Australian drawl and was almost never seen in anything but khaki shorts and shirt, and heavy boots.
His ebullience was infectious and Australian officials sought him out for photo opportunities and to promote Australia internationally.
He rode the lovable knockabout image in 2002 into a feature film, The Crocodile Hunters: Collision Course, and developed the wildlife park that his parents opened, Australia Zoo, into a major tourist attraction.
The public image was dented in 2004 when Irwin triggered an uproar by holding his month-old son in one arm while feeding large crocodiles inside a zoo pen. Irwin claimed at the time there was no danger to his son, and authorities declined to charge Irwin with violating safety regulations.
Later that year, he was accused of getting too close to penguins, a seal and humpback whales in Antarctica while making a documentary. Irwin denied any wrongdoing, and an Australian Environment Department investigation recommended no action be taken against him.
Irwin was born Feb. 22, 1962, in the southern city of Melbourne and was immersed in the Australian bush eight years later when his parents moved to Sunshine Coast in tropical Queensland and opened a reptile park.
Irwin was given a scrub python for his sixth birthday and was catching crocodiles by nine, according to details from the zoo. He worked as a crocodile trapper in his 20s, removing problematic animals from populated areas. In 1991, he took over the Australia Zoo when his parents retired.
News of Irwin's death spread quickly, and tributes flowed in.
At Australia Zoo in Queensland, flowers were dropped at the entrance and drivers honked their horns as they passed.
"Steve, from all God's creatures, thank you. Rest in peace," was written on a card with a bouquet of native flowers.
"We're all very shocked. I don't know what the zoo will do without him. He's done so much for us, the environment and it's a big loss," said Paula Kelly, a local resident and volunteer at the zoo, after dropping off a wreath at the gate.
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