For the very last time, he did not intentionally provoke the animal that killed him, and the police have determined that from watching the videotape of the entire event:
As the article states, Steve Irwin was not as experienced with creatures in the ocean as he was with those in the outback. However, stingrays are ordinarily placid creatures and deaths caused by them are rare. Irwin swam over the creature, presumedly to pass over it, not approach it directly, and it felt trapped between him and the cameraman and defended itself.
If blame is to be laid, it could just as easily have been laid with the cameraman—he was in close proximity to the animal before Steve was. In any case, neither one of them could have predicted what happened. These animals are not ordinarily known to attack like that. It could have just as easily turned on the cameraman, except the cameraman was protected by the camera.
At the time of his death, Steve Irwin was filming a series called The Ocean's Deadliest—the stingray does not fit that description. He may have planned to refer to it with a voiceover as he passed over it in the footage, as all good documentary filmmakers do, but he would have no reason to focus on it in the filming that day because the animal was not a subject for the series.
Now, for the love of God, and for the sake of all reason and respect, please let that end of the argument for once and for all because it's gotten ridiculous. Whatever he did that was controversial in his lifetime, it doesn't matter anymore. The man is dead now.
An eight-year-old girl's heart is broken, as is her mother's, and a little boy will never know his father, because he isn't even three yet. His wife always knew that what they did together was dangerous work, and that was the life she chose when she married him. They worked together as conservationists, she was by his side for many years doing that dangerous, risky work with him and she supported him in it and believed in what he was doing, but that won't make her grief any easier, nor will it make it any easier for her to help her daughter through it.
If all you can do is be ignorant of the facts and blame him for his own death because of the risks he took in his life, then kindly keep your remarks to yourself. You only make them to be mean-spirited because you can't find it in yourself to be kind.
Would you appreciate people making these remarks about you after you were gone if your death was accidental, but people cruelly assumed you deserved it because you took risks in your job when you were alive?
Many, many people do stupid things that many of us wouldn't that lead to their deaths—extreme sports, walking high wires, scaling the sides of skyscrapers, skydiving, base jumping, etc. They weren't doing those for a cause like the conservation of animals—they were doing them for the sheer thrill of risking their lives. Those are the kind of idiots who truly have a death wish, because people like that really stand for nothing—they live for nothing but the brush with death and ultimately to die prematurely, and stupidly. These are people who really do cause their own death, but nobody deserves to die and it's grossly and inhumanly disrespectful to say, or even imply such a thing!
That's not even close to what Steve Irwin was doing—he was living his dream, the way he always did. What happened was an accident—a completely unanticipated and unprovoked accident—plain and simple. He did not intentionally meddle with the animal that killed him and there is film footage to back that up.
The time has come to accept that and end the arguments for once and for all with a respectful silence.
As the article states, Steve Irwin was not as experienced with creatures in the ocean as he was with those in the outback. However, stingrays are ordinarily placid creatures and deaths caused by them are rare. Irwin swam over the creature, presumedly to pass over it, not approach it directly, and it felt trapped between him and the cameraman and defended itself.
If blame is to be laid, it could just as easily have been laid with the cameraman—he was in close proximity to the animal before Steve was. In any case, neither one of them could have predicted what happened. These animals are not ordinarily known to attack like that. It could have just as easily turned on the cameraman, except the cameraman was protected by the camera.
At the time of his death, Steve Irwin was filming a series called The Ocean's Deadliest—the stingray does not fit that description. He may have planned to refer to it with a voiceover as he passed over it in the footage, as all good documentary filmmakers do, but he would have no reason to focus on it in the filming that day because the animal was not a subject for the series.
Now, for the love of God, and for the sake of all reason and respect, please let that end of the argument for once and for all because it's gotten ridiculous. Whatever he did that was controversial in his lifetime, it doesn't matter anymore. The man is dead now.
An eight-year-old girl's heart is broken, as is her mother's, and a little boy will never know his father, because he isn't even three yet. His wife always knew that what they did together was dangerous work, and that was the life she chose when she married him. They worked together as conservationists, she was by his side for many years doing that dangerous, risky work with him and she supported him in it and believed in what he was doing, but that won't make her grief any easier, nor will it make it any easier for her to help her daughter through it.
If all you can do is be ignorant of the facts and blame him for his own death because of the risks he took in his life, then kindly keep your remarks to yourself. You only make them to be mean-spirited because you can't find it in yourself to be kind.
Would you appreciate people making these remarks about you after you were gone if your death was accidental, but people cruelly assumed you deserved it because you took risks in your job when you were alive?
Many, many people do stupid things that many of us wouldn't that lead to their deaths—extreme sports, walking high wires, scaling the sides of skyscrapers, skydiving, base jumping, etc. They weren't doing those for a cause like the conservation of animals—they were doing them for the sheer thrill of risking their lives. Those are the kind of idiots who truly have a death wish, because people like that really stand for nothing—they live for nothing but the brush with death and ultimately to die prematurely, and stupidly. These are people who really do cause their own death, but nobody deserves to die and it's grossly and inhumanly disrespectful to say, or even imply such a thing!
That's not even close to what Steve Irwin was doing—he was living his dream, the way he always did. What happened was an accident—a completely unanticipated and unprovoked accident—plain and simple. He did not intentionally meddle with the animal that killed him and there is film footage to back that up.
The time has come to accept that and end the arguments for once and for all with a respectful silence.
