Steve Irwin ('Crocodile Hunter') was only 44 years old! And how many times had he been criticised for getting too close to the wild creatures he loved and lived for? How terrible and ironic that getting too close to a stingray would end with a deadly barb piercing his heart.
A couple years ago we almost got him for the parade when we had the giant alligator, one of our most amazing floats of all time. (I'm convinced if it had been a croc, he would have come.) His wife Terri is from Eugene, and was a friend or relative of someone who worked for the float builder.
Whether you liked him or not, he was a champion of animal rights and of conservationism, and he used his outrageous style to get attention for his causes, as well as himself.
Still, this is probably the way he would have chosen to go . . .
Irwin made nature and conservancy a whole lot more engaging. I learned a lot watching the programs he helped produced. I didn't know about his *many* projects preserving wildlands and animals.
We've lost a dynamic personality in Steve Irwin, a friend to Nature and animals, and a loving family man.
RIP Crocodile Hunter.
He really seemed such an amazing man!
But well, he lived an amazing life doing what he loved, and that is definitely worth something too!!