Mourning for Australia

Oh, maaaaaaaan! I'm so sorry to hear of this. Steve Irwin was a fascinating person and a great advocate for animals--including the ones no one thinks worth protecting.

Likewise, I was stunned when I logged on to read the paper this morning. Billy will be heartbroken, he loved Steve Irwin and admired him greatly. So did I.

My prayers are with Australia and Irwins family.

Tina

Steve Irwin was always the same . He was Mad as a Hatter and Daft as a Brush. He couldn't sit still if you tied him down. He was what he was and that was that. He will be missed by many. He loved Australia and our animals second only to his family. It does not seem possible that such a simple error could cost him his life. Ruth, Sydney

The World has lost a wonderful advocate. How very sad. My condolences to Steve Irwin's wife and children.

From what I've been seeing reported, it wasn't so much an error as a freak accident. Hundreds of people get stung by stingrays every year. Only a handful have ever been fatal.

One of my teenagers commented that he was shocked because he thought Irwin was immortal.

The irony of all this is, of course, that he wasn't killed by a crocodile or a venomous snake or some other dangerous predator. It was a normally harmless fish that children are allowed to pet in marine touch tanks.

Poor Terri Irwin -- she's got to be devastated.

I read about it in the newspaper this morning, and it's all over the TV news now. How awful! I'm wishing his family and friends the strength to deal with the loss.

What's freakier still is that he wasn't even killed by the sting, but the tail barb went through his chest. He was such a wonderful advocate for all living creatures and the environment -- his input will surely be missed.

Nancy in NS

As of this morning his wife did not know... She is in a remote area..... I am stunned that this information was released before she was notified.....

I had read an article earlier this morning that his wife had already informed their children about the accident.

Hadn't heard the report that she was in a remote area though.

Marilyn

Steve's accident was in nrthn Queensland - the Great Barrier Reef, out of Cairns. Terri and the children were trekking down in the island state of Tasmania at Cradle Mountain which is wilderness in the centre of the island probably 4,000km away. She was contacted sometime in the late afternoon and immediately got to an airport and a private plane flew her to her home in SE Qld. She didn't go up to Cairns. The body is being returned to her home area today. It is just devastating for them and all us Aussies. Like him or love him, he was the quintessential Aussie bloke taking up where Paul Hogan, Crocodile Dundee took off. Queensland has offered a State Funeral if Terri wants it. His park/zoo is open today because that is what Steve would have wanted.

Lamenting,

-- Bronnie

Just to set the record straight, Terri was, I believe, with the kids at Cradle Mountain in Tassie. She was notifiied before the rest of us and last night was headed up to Cairns. What a shock, what a loss, what an amazing man. We all love Australa Zoo and have been there many times. We were talking of going back next year. We may still do so.

Especially during a time when we've heard so many accounts of the Taliban & similar wackos throwing grenades at zoo animals, or "fishing" with mortars and grenades. Incredible how some people think being "stewards" of nature means destroying it wantonly for convenience or fun. Steve was the antithesis of that, teaching people, in the most amazing, demonstrative ways, that all living creatures serve an important purpose and merit our respect. Like Cousteau, his passing is like a disturbance in the "force" of Nature.

Phae

This is so sad. I don't think we will find another Steve. pami

I am in shock over this horrible tragedy. He was such a force of nature and the world will miss him. It's really weird how some things like this are just so hard to comprehend. You know it's real but it's hard to accept it. My prayers go out to his family.

Mika