Fans of iconic wildlife daredevil Steve Irwin yesterday began camping out to snap up tickets for the "Crocodile Hunter's" memorial service, 24 hours before they go on sale.
Armed with lawn chairs, blankets and plenty of reading material, admirers of the Australian TV star, who was killed in a stingray attack on Sept. 4, set up camp on a pavement outside a ticket office in the city of Brisbane more than 24 hours before seats for the event go on sale.
"I think the stingray didn't know him," said 10-year-old Kiamba Rogers who began lining up outside a ticket sales office early in the morning along with her 17-year-old sister, Tahmea.
"If it knew him, it wouldn't have done it because everybody loves him," Kiamba said, amid a national outpouring of grief over the death of one of Australia's best-known sons.
Thousands of Irwin fans will be able to attend his public memorial service to be held next Wednesday at the 5,500-seater "Crocoseum" in his beloved Australia Zoo wildlife park in northeastern Queensland if they make a donation to his wildlife charity.
Irwin's widow Terri, the couple's eight-year-old daughter Bindi and Irwin's father Bob Irwin will speak at the globally-televised service that is billed as a celebration of Irwin's life.
Some 3,000 tickets will become available to the public in Brisbane, in the northern Queensland town of Maroochydore and at Australia Zoo at 9:00am today.
Beauty therapist, Melissa Power, 34, was at the head of one of the queues in Brisbane after she began her ticket vigil at 7.30am yesterday to make sure she gets to "say goodbye and just to celebrate his life."
"I just love him because he's Steve. He lived for conservation, his family, and I was just shocked and devastated by the news," she said.
Kiamba Rogers' sister Tahmea said she had written a song for Irwin that she hoped to give to his widow.
"I had my family singing it around the house ... `I need you, I love you, I just can't live without you,'" she said.
An endangered baby pygmy hippopotamus that shot to social media stardom in Thailand has become a lucrative source of income for her home zoo, quadrupling its ticket sales, the institution said Thursday. Moo Deng, whose name in Thai means “bouncy pork,” has drawn tens of thousands of visitors to Khao Kheow Open Zoo this month. The two-month-old pygmy hippo went viral on TikTok and Instagram for her cheeky antics, inspiring merchandise, memes and even craft tutorials on how to make crocheted or cake-based Moo Dengs at home. A zoo spokesperson said that ticket sales from the start of September to Wednesday reached almost
‘BARBAROUS ACTS’: The captain of the fishing vessel said that people in checkered clothes beat them with iron bars and that he fell unconscious for about an hour Ten Vietnamese fishers were violently robbed in the South China Sea, state media reported yesterday, with an official saying the attackers came from Chinese-flagged vessels. The men were reportedly beaten with iron bars and robbed of thousands of dollars of fish and equipment on Sunday off the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), which Taiwan claims, as do Vietnam, China, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines. Vietnamese media did not identify the nationalities of the attackers, but Phung Ba Vuong, an official in central Quang Ngai province, told reporters: “They were Chinese, [the boats had] Chinese flags.” Four of the 10-man Vietnamese crew were rushed
CHINESE ICBM: The missile landed near the EEZ of French Polynesia, much to the surprise and concern of the president, who sent a letter of protest to Beijing Fijian President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere called for “respect for our region” and a stop to missile tests in the Pacific Ocean, after China launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In a speech to the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday, Katonivere recalled the Pacific Ocean’s history as a nuclear weapons testing ground, and noted Wednesday’s rare launch by China of an ICBM. “There was a unilateral test firing of a ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean. We urge respect for our region and call for cessation of such action,” he said. The ICBM, carrying a dummy warhead, was launched by the
As violence between Israel and Hezbollah escalates, Iran is walking a tightrope by supporting Hezbollah without being dragged into a full-blown conflict and playing into its enemy’s hands. With a focus on easing its isolation and reviving its battered economy, Iran is aware that war could complicate efforts to secure relief from crippling sanctions. Cross-border fire between Israel and Hezbollah, sparked by Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7 last year, has intensified, especially after last week’s sabotage on Hezbollah’s communications that killed 39 people. Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon followed, killing hundreds. Hezbollah retaliated with rocket barrages. Despite the surge in
RSS