Steve Irwin dead?!?!

Not that you needed a blogger in central Australia to break the breaking news to you.

'Does that mean we have to go to work tomorrow?' someone said at work.

Will there be a state funeral at Australia's Zoo, with the animals in full attendance, I wonder?

I dunno, I always felt all that behaviour with wild animals was a bit manic or something.

<Stingray Dreaming -- Joe Saunders>

Comments

[Guy]

It scarcely seems possible doesn't it? Maybe because he was so "lively" in life?

[elsewhere]

I know. Perhaps he'll become Australia's equivalent of Princess Di.

There's already a top marine biologist saying that it's unusual for a sting-ray to kill like that and the beastie must have been provoked.

I guess *bad taste warning* we just have to be glad he didn't have Baby Bob in tow at the time...

[Pavlov's Cat]

I'm still boggling at the irony of the poor bugger having spent his life dodging crocodiles only to be killed by a stingray. I'm also having retrospective hysterics thinking about the stingrays that frequented the place where I did most of my country-childhood swimming, and about which we were all so blase at the time.

[elsewhere]

Later -- drinking duty-free gin on the couch -- watches Steve Irwin wrap on 7.30 Report. *Feels melancholy*

Oh no. Don't get all sad about Steve Irwin. It's the gin.

Opens email account and finds email from editor of anthology in which have a few humble pieces.

>Ed: Just a thought (very spooky timing to be working on this story
today) – do you want to re-jig the reference to Steve Irwin in
Shorts, put it in past tense perhaps? Not necessary, of course, given
you wrote it a while back, but it's up to you if you decide you want to.<

Oh shit.

(What is all this about SI being just an ordinary working class bloke, even from Cult Studies pundits? I thought all that 'crikey' stuff was bunged on.)

Just as well PC and I are *dances with cats* rather than *dances with Australian's deadliest* (tho she suggests otherwise in her youth).

[elsewhere]

Look, even Crikey's saying it:

Lawyer and company director Adam Schwab writes:

Despite most Australian never actually watching an episode of The Crocodile Hunter (it only briefly screened here on Channel Ten) or visiting Australia Zoo, or even seeing Steve Irwin being interviewed (he was interviewed mostly on US television), his death seemed to have a more profound effect on Australians than the passing of virtually any other celebrity in recent times, with the possible exception of Princess Diana.

[Melly]

When my daughter Jane was seven years old, we had cable tv back in Brisbane. The Crocodile Hunter was on often and I tried to encourage the children to watch the nature shows etc rather than Nickelodean. On one episode the dopey bugga showed my seven year old how to milk cane toads - which she promptly attempted with gusto including asking me for jars. Previous to that Jane had played with cane toads,... but upon learning to milk them that was it..... Steve got banned from our house. American and Canadian friends found it amusing that I went "urghhhh not Steve". I even stopped whinging about the cartoons actually. I always thought I didnt like the bloke after Jane doing that so eagerly... But I found myself saddened by his passing. (Same year though Jane downloaded pages off the internet on how to build bombs and printed them out and I didn't know until I got called into the school)

We like fishing and like PC I have never felt alarmed when I see a sting ray. I dont bother getting out of the water and once my partner pulled me back as I almost accidently stood on a huge one resting in its hole in the sand in front of me. I have teased them with small fish as I reeled them in. Once I had to beg my partner to cut the line on a sting ray he was reeling onto the bank (they are lovely eating too.. but I have only eaten them once with some Fijian student friends of mine)... only because my absolutely fishing mad kelpie dog was going to get hurt for sure. I honestly never thought they would kill you - and except that I didnt want my dog injured (nor a trip to the vet) NEVER felt anything but calm and safe and amazed at their presence. They are so close when we float over them in the shallows and I lean over and touch the water to watch them watch me. I wonder how I will feel around them now?

[elsewhere]

Scared, very scared?