THE Crocodile Man, Steve Irwin, is dead. He was killed in a freak accident in Cairns, police sources said. It appeared that he was killed by a sting-ray barb that went through his chest, Queensland Police Inspector Russell Rhodes said.
He was swimming off the Low Isles at Port Douglas where he had been filming an underwater documentary when it occurred.

Ambulance officers confirmed they attended a reef fatality this morning at Batt Reef off Port Douglas.

Mr Irwin, 44, was killed just after 11am, Eastern Australian time.

His American wife Terri learned for the tragedy from police in Tasmania, where she had been trekking in Cradle Mountain National Park.

His friend and manager John Stainton said Mr Irwin was filming some segment for daughter Bindi's show on the reef between sessions filiming the main documentary.

It is understood Mr Irwin was killed instantly.

A source said Mr Irwin was already dead when his body was brought onto the Isle.

A source said Mr Irwin's body was being airlifted to Cairns Hospital in North Queensland for formal identification.

An Emergency Services Response Management spokeswoman said they received a call about the tragedy at 11.11 am, Australian Eastern Standard Time.

The response unit left in a helicopter for the Batt Reef at 11.18am and arrived shortly after.

Mr Irwin was pronounced dead at the scene immediately, the spokeswoman said.

Steve Irwin's activities went far beyond his universally-known roles as an international TV star and owner of Australia Zoo, north of Brisbane.

They includes assisting Australian Quarantine Inspection service with advertising campaigns warning travellers not to bring foreign matter into the country, and he was becoming a vocal critic of the slaughter of Australian wildlife.

The federal government recently dropped plans to allow crocodile safaris for wealty tourists in the Northern Territority after Irwin intervened, taking Environment Minister Ian Campbell on a tour of croc infested Cape York.

At the time, Irwin told Australian TV program A Current Affair that: ``Killing one of our beautiful animals in the name of trophy hunting will have a very negative impact on tourism, which scares the living daylights out of me.''

The Prime Minister John Howard considered Irwin a friend, inviting him to a barbecue at The Lodge for US President George W. Bush in 2003.

Irwin was a devoted father to his two children Bindi, 8, and Bob, 3.

"Bindi is the reason I was put on this earth. All I want to do is be with her and all she wants to do is be with me. We have such a great time together and it's not just a father and daughter relationship, it's also like I'm a big brother and she's my little sister,'' he told New Idea magazine in 2005.

However the previous year Irwin had created a furore when he took 'Baby Bob' into Australia Zoo's crocodile enclosure while feeding a four-metre salt water crocodile.

Irwin burst onto the media scene with his documentary The Crocodile Hunter in 1992, and his over-the-top persona soon made him a star. In 2002 he burst on to the big screen on Crocodile Hunter: The Collision Course, soon achieving A-list fame.

His celebrity friends include Russell Crowe.

Despite his worldwide popularity, closer to home Irwin got bad press after he was controversially paid $175,000 for a quarantine ad.

Irwin was named Queenslander of the Year in 2003.

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,20349534-952,00.html

*speechless*

This is very sad...But he had a true passion for what he did for a living, He really loved his work, he had a wonderful family and his friends and family truly loved him....may we all be blessed as this man was....

He died doing what he loved to do. Ironically, after all the dangerous encounters he had, he gets killed by a docile creature

RIP

Only 17 people have been killed worldwide by stingrays since records began. It was probbly the fact that people don't tend to die from stingrays that killed him.

That's a much better vid to remember him by. Thanks, Anliz, for submitting.

so incredibly sad, but he truly lived a full and happy life.

(February 22, 1962 – September 4, 2006) ... make your dash count!

RIP, Steve. Thank you for your passion...and for sharing it with the world.

I hope they keep showing his program for years to come so future generations can appreciate what he did for conservation.

Anyone remember the old "Wild Kingdom" with Marlin Perkins?

Ya, it was quite a shock. It's almost fitting that he didn't get killed by a crocodile - it would have made his work less...I don't know...now no one can say, "I knew he'd get his head bitten off" thus taking the power away from all he's done.

However, even though this WAS a freak occurance, I have to wonder if he was taking risks. He was known for that. Perhaps his nine lives were spent. Who knows.

Very good tribute. RIP

Incidentally, the fears that he overcomed would have done him no good because he ended up getting killed by something that wasnt feared. It goes to show that man's fears arent always true to nature.

I have to say, no other celebrity's death has affected me as much as his. He was a very likable guy.

i thought that clip was realy cheezy and boring i meen its sad he is dead like its sad that everyone dies just as mutch for him as anny of them people u see die in war films ore stupid clips ore just annything. i prefer seeing a funny clip ore like a clip of him doin his stuff. famouse people seem to die in stupid ways. oh and allso the dying "doing something you love" that was sead atleast 3 times on the news sutch a stupid saying death sucks however you die i meen ok it might be fitting that sumone dies during something thay r doing that thay like but noone realy wants to die evan if it is doing something thay like. i think dieing in your sleep ore from suicide is best way to go

Thankyou for that moving tribute, westy. If the Irwin family need a eulogy writer they know who to turn to.

He died doing what he loved.

We should all be so lucky.

Truly.

The vid was ok, but either way he'll certainly be missed...but the irony is that with him dying the way he did and doing what he loved...he's become larger than he ever was when he was living.

I don't agree with everything he did, but I respect the fact he had sincere passion for what he loved and was able to pursue it and share it with the world. He really affected many people's lives for the better, put Queensland on the map and made many people in the mainstream more aware of wildlife conservation.

KRIKEY! We'll miss him!

"He died doing what he loved.

We should all be so lucky."

I think it'd be better to do what you love until you reach an extremely old age, then die of natural causes.

I'm sure Steve Irwin would have taken that option too, given the choice.

He died doing something he CARED about. That is a much more befitting way to address his death in a form that people can understand and bear. Me, I hope to either go out in a spectacularly fireycrash in my race car or alone in the wilderness with no one around. Maybe he wanted to go on in such a manner as he did (minus the sting ray), but not likely that he wanted to leave behind his young children and wife. A shame he went too soon. An honor he was trying to change things when he did. Video was good.

Ya know, in retrospect I have to wonder if all this hype is dangerous. He is being revered in death for his actions in life, and I must take a moment to reflect on his behavior as an animal handler. This post won't make me popular, but I have to pontificate. ;-)

He was wildly popular with the kids, and he often - very often - didn't use the best safety in the presence of animals. Remeber him dangling his baby over a crocodile? Is this the best way to model behavior for kids?

The reality is, he wasn't careful. That, in my book, is a form of disrespect to the animal. In order to have been stung, he must have been relatively close to the stingray...the barb is located halfway down the tail, which means he was probably almost right on top of it. He invaded the stingray's comfort zone. It couldn't see a swimmer above it, and probably thought it was a shark. The truth is, it was simply protecting itself. Irwin should have known better.

Here's some info: http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/149/01/Russell.pdf#search=%22%22giant%20stingray%22%20%2Blength%22

So, be safe, all you Coral Reef swimmers. And shuffle those feet.

All this reminds me that my father caught a stingray tail barb in his foot. He wasn't careful and accidently stepped on it while he was crabbing in a bay near the Gulf of Mexico. And it went all the way through... puncture holes top and bottom. Ouch. He spent the rest of the trip in a wheel chair and one of my older brothers had to drive us home. There was another time he tried to get a cactus needle out of his big toe with his teeth and it ended up in his tongue. LOL. Ah well...

Rest in Peace, Steve. And Daddy, too.

Very lucky he did not try his antics with the cylon race,same result

*downunder

Adding video to channels (Downunder) - requested by maatc.

*length=3:26

The duration of this video has been updated from unknown to 3:26 - length declared by bareboards2.

*dead

This video has been declared non-functional; embed code must be fixed within 2 days or it will be sent to the dead pool - declared dead by eric3579.