Naturalist Killed by...Ego?

My first stab at a title for this blog was “Stingray Kills Egomaniac” but I was pretty appalled by my own hard-heartedness and decided to buff the corners with slightly more compassion. It is always sad to hear about an early death and Steve Irwin was only 44.

I’m just so puzzled how this death occurred. Did he try to give the stingray a bear hug or what? The “stinger” is not on the end of the tail as you might expect, but at the base of it, so you really have to work at getting hurt, much less getting it stuck in a vital organ. These are very shy and non-aggressive animals and the only time I’ve ever heard of any injury caused by a stingray was because somebody stepped on one. I’ve seen all kinds of rays and skates on the hoof many times and they are amazing and beautifully graceful creatures; but I’ve never tried to grab or even touch one. In fact I make it a habit to keep my hands to myself while snorkeling or Scuba diving. The one time I veered from that policy, and lived to regret it I might add, I was showing off and grabbed a living abalone with my bare hand only to slice a finger badly on its shell. Although I wasn’t hurt much and the scar is miniscule, trust me, it’s not good to bleed profusely while swimming in the ocean, any ocean. No explanation necessary.

Mr. Irwin’s death reminds me of that other publicity-hound, Timothy Treadwell, who devoted more than a decade to studying and “making friends” with grizzly bears in Alaska before one of them finally ate him in October of ‘03. He was only 46. He, however, had the gall to put his girlfriend in jeopardy too and she also bought the farm in the jaws of hell, age 34.

Shall we discuss Siegfried & Roy? Let’s not.

Flirting with animals is a dangerous business, even if they are only domesticated ones like pit bulls and remakes of Lassie.