This morning I woke up with the RTL4 morning news as usual and learned that the famous “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin (44) had died. Now of course one should not gloat over a persons death, but to me it wasn’ a shock or big surpirise. My first thought was: “well, that’s what you get from messing with dangerous animals”. I mean: with all due respect, it’s like learning that a firefighter died in a fire.
So I kind of excpected him to have died from a fatal ‘croc’ bite, or by some snake bite. But it turns out he was fatally pierced in the chest by a short-tail stingray barb while diving in Queensland’s Batt Reef (part of the Great Barrier Reef). What’s ironic about that is, that those stingrays are not at all agressive and usually only sting people when they are startled. And that usually happens when people step on them in shallow water. Also, chances of that being lethal are almost nill. This was only the third known fatality in Australian history from a stingray attack, and only 17 worldwide fatalities have taken place since 1996.
Irwin was in the area filming his own documentary, to be called The Ocean’s Deadliest, but weather had stalled filming. Irwin decided to take the opportunity to film some shallow water shots when, according to his friend and colleague John Stainton, he swam too close to one of the animals. “He came on top of the stingray and the stingray’s barb went up and into his chest and put a hole into his heart,” said Stainton, who was on board Irwin’s boat at the time.
After reviewing the footage of the incident and speaking to the cameraman who recorded it, marine documentary filmmaker and fisherman Ben Cropp speculated that the stingray “felt threatened because Steve was alongside and there was the cameraman ahead…”
In such a case, the stingray responds by automatically flexing the serrated barb on its tail, which is up to 25 centimeters (roughly 10 inches) in length. “He came over the top of a stingray that was buried in the sand, and the barb came up and hit him in the chest,” Stainton said.Wildlife documentary maker Ben Cropp, citing a colleague who saw footage of the attack, told Time.com that Irwin had accidentally boxed the animal in. “It stopped and twisted and threw up its tail with the spike, and it caught him in the chest,” said Ben Cropp. “It’s a defensive thing. It’s like being stabbed with a dirty dagger.” The Bull Ray that stung Irwin was “a one-in-a-million thing,” Cropp told Time magazine.
So Irwin did not go “out in a blaze of glory” but just was the victim of a freak accident. Like a fireman forgetting to fill his oxygen tank before running into a burning house.
Steve Irwin to many was the kind of person that you either loved or loathed. My girlfriend is someone that fell in the first category (but then again: I always questioned her taste in men. I mean: she likes me) while I fall in the last category: I thought Irwin was an obnoxious loudmouth “ozzy” and a prime example of someone that suffered badly from Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
I never questioned his motives: Irwin was known a passionate conservationist and believed in promoting environmentalism – but to me his show was nothing short of sensationalism and that really annoyed the hell out of me.
I mean let’s face it: a considerable part of his fame came from the fact that he provoked and antagonized animals. For instance, after jumping clear of a 600-pound crocodile, who was previously minding its own business, he turned to the camera and exclaimed, “Blimey! She’s a beauty, isn’t she?” Why bother the animal? What could you teach people better from jumping on its back then you could from filming it from a distance? Sure, it brought the ratings up. But is that the kind of people Animal Planet wants to attract?
In his wellknown way Irwin would just utter one catchphrase after another: “Crocs are the most dangerous creatures in the wild! Crickey, I would have died if I didn’t have these Timberland boots on! These snakes can weigh up to 300 pounds mate! These gentle mother crocodiles roll their eggs in the mouth to release their young! Also often not doing more than stating the obvious and previously known: “Crocodiles have powerful jaws, lots of sharp teeth and they don’t enjoy being annoyed by guys who poke them with long sticks.”
With Irwin it was always an endless line-up of various “kill-100-men-instantly-with-their-venom snakes”, Tasmanian devils (Auzzie glorified rats), Dingoes (Auzzie glorified dogs), deadly lizzards, spiders etc. etc.. Let’s face it: the sensational stuff.
A big contrast to this: “The Jeff Corwin Experience” also from Animal Planet and similar to the “Crocodile Hunter”. Unlike Irwin, his entertainment value is found in his eagerness to fascinate and educate rather than make a Windsor knot with a python. Corwin would point out and gently handle some of the indigenous wildlife rather than antagonizing it into taking a bite out of him. In short: Corwin earned the spotlight by not deliberately aiming it on himself.
Which brings me to the conclusion that Steve Irwin’s TV-shows where rather a “personality show” than an animal wildlife show.
In that way I see a big parallel with my favorite TV show about cars: Top Gear. People often mistake that for a TV show about cars: it is not. It’s the Jeremy Clarkson show. It’s all about personality. There is nothing to learn; it’s entertainment. It’s just that Clakson appeals more to me than Irwin did. Hmm, just a matter of taste?
