Steve On The Barbie

Steve Irwin, age 44, is dead after the spike from a stingray pierced the left front of his chest and into his heart. He leaves behind his wife Terri Irwin, 42, and two children, Bindi Sue (8) and Robert Clarence (3).

Of all radically ironic things, to be killed by the barb of a stingray -- surely a manner of death I had never even remotely imagined for Steve Irwin. I envisioned him succumbing to horrible wounds from, say, a crocodile that managed to catch him unawares; I envisioned him being the victim of the bite from a Black Mamba; but never aquatically.

Some people will likely think, say or write that Irwin got nothing more than what was due him for his history of attempting to "humanize" wild animals, not unlike Timothy Treadwell, the so-called Grizzly Man who was killed at age 46 with his girlfriend, Amie Huguenard, 37, when they were both attacked and partially eaten by a brown bear in Alaska's Katmai National Park on October 5th of 2003. In my post, Grizzly Man: Today's Allegory, I wrote that "Treadwell tried to 'understand' the bears -- he wanted to sit down and break croissants and have a nice latte with them. They tolerated him for a while or remained indifferent at best. Until one bear, one day, simply got hungry, and the food chain was complete."

Steve Irwin did not take the "humanization" route; to be sure, he was perceived many times to be the fool, jumping on the backs of crocodiles -- even causing much worldwide consternation when he held his then one-month-old baby, Robert, while feeding a snapping crocodile at his Australian zoo in 2004. His greatest fault may have been the comfort and confidence he felt around wild animals.

Certainly he pushed the envelope and we all, I suppose, knew that one day he would die at the hands (or barb!) of an animal. I guess he knew that as well -- just not suspecting the manner of his final exit. He was an environmentalist and, moreover, put his money into his Australia Zoo in Beerwah on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.

Watching Steve Irwin was not unlike watching a NASCAR race -- knowing or thinking that something bad may happen -- a guilty thrill. His episode detailing the ten most venomous snakes in Australia -- and he picked them up by the tail? You knew he would be bitten, and he was bitten by snakes on TV (though none were poisonous).



Steve also blazed the TV trail with regard to others coming after him. Certainly, Jack Hanna was the "first" person who brought animals up and close to TV audiences but it was some time before he acquired his own show. Irwin also spawned Jeff Corwin and the other guy (whose name escapes me!) who wrangles snakes. Even the Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan, owes his place on TV to Steve Irwin.

As my fiance wrote:

Well, he saw an opportunity and ran with it. He was raised by his dad to not have total respect for nature; thought he knew all about animal behavior, but the thing is, guess what? Just like humans are generally the same, we all have our idiosyncrasies -- same with animals. 99 times out of 100 animal behavior can be generally predicted, but you never really know what happened to that stingray last time something big swam over him. He may have had to fight for his life last time, and animals DO have a memory, so in terms of experience, not all stingrays act the same way.

We all knew Steve pushed and sometimes overloaded the envelope. It was why we watched.

But moreover, what about Terri and her two now-fatherless children? Steve should have factored his family into his life. But he was what he was. And Terri knew it, and bought into his life fully. She enabled his actions. Now the children shall not see their father any more. How sad.

Crikey.

BZ