Steve Irwin overleden door stingray

quote:

BRISBANE, Australia - Steve Irwin, the Australian television personality and environmentalist known as the "Crocodile Hunter," was killed Monday by a stingray during a diving expedition, Australian media said. He was 44.

Irwin was filming an underwater documentary on the Great Barrier Reef in northeastern Queensland state when the accident occurred, Sydney's The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported on its Web site.

The Australian Broadcasting Corp. said Irwin was diving near Low Isles near the resort town of Port Douglas, about 1,260 miles north of Brisbane.

A helicopter carrying paramedics flew to the island, but he died from a stingray barb to the heart, ABC reported on its Web site.

Telephone calls to Australia Zoo, Irwin's zoo in southern Queensland, were not immediately answered.

Irwin is famous for his enthusiasm for wildlife and his catchcry "Crikey!" in his television program "Crocodile Hunter," which was first broadcast in Australia in 1992 and has aired around the world on the Discovery channel.

He rode his image into a feature film, and developed the Australia Zoo as a tourist attraction.

Irwin had received some negative publicity in recent years. In January 2004, he stunned onlookers at his Australia Zoo reptile park by carrying his 1-year-old son into a crocodile pen during a wildlife show. He tucked the infant under one arm while tossing the 13-foot reptile a piece of meat with the other.

Authorities declined to charge Irwin for 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.

quote:

Stephen Robert "Steve" Irwin (22 February 1962 – 4 September 2006) in Melbourne, Australia was the owner and manager of the Australia Zoo at Beerwah, Queensland, Australia. He was best known as The Crocodile Hunter, which was the name of the unconventional nature documentary series on television he hosted, assisted by his American-born wife, Terri Irwin. His larger-than-life persona and seemingly outrageous antics (including the close handling of both common and rare species of wildlife and, perhaps most famously, the capture of live crocodiles and other reptiles on-screen) were key features in the presentation, which provided a forum for educational information about wildlife conservation and conflicts with humans in various parts of the world. The program made the Irwins television personalities on several continents