Crocodile Hunter died ?!? *single perfect tear*

[G.Irish]

It kinda pisses me off when people say stuff like, "I saw it coming" or "It was gonna happen sooner or later" like somehow they know more than he does or that he didn't know what he was doing. Its easy for the average person who takes zero risk in their life to criticize those that take great risks for a passion they have or a cause that they believe in. That's what makes great people great, and I admire him for it.

no disrespect to him, but he did live dangerously. sure i dont know much about animals compared to him, but his passion is waht got him killed. from what it seems like, it is basically a freak accident that a sting ray was able to get him in the heart, but those dont normally kill unless it feels threatened. it most likely stung him because it was threatened by him, just so happens it was in his heart. most animals dont attack unless they feel threatened by your presence or you're in their territory or you're provoking it and this seems to be no different. his popularity was based on all the risks that he took wit the animals as goodspeed said, not just on showing some film footage shot with a super zoom lens from several hundreds of feet away. regardless, it is really sad and he truely was passionate about what he'd done and you can't knock him for that.

From all accounts (and there is video to back it up) he was not provoking or harassing the stingray at all. He just happened to be swimming over it in shallow water and the camera man was in front of it and it probably felt cornered.

I don't know how anyone could say the man didn't respect the animals he was interacting with. Not once did you ever see him pinning a snake's head down or choking them or stepping on them. He rarely if ever tranquilized any of the crocodiles because it would be more dangerous for the animal. The man rescued crocodiles since he was a child. He cried like a baby on international television when his oldest crocodile died.

He got close to the animals to show that they are not vicious monsters intent on killing or harming people. He showed that even some of the deadliest snakes were perfectly content to hang out once they knew he wasn't trying to harm them. One of his colleagues was saying that they got letters/email from people who said that they'd run over snakes or kill them for no reason before they started watching his show and gaining an appreciation for them.

Was it dangerous? Sure, he always made sure to emphasize that people shouldn't emulate what he does. But he was skilled and experienced with handling the animals, if he were being reckless he wouldn't have made it to 44 years of age.

I guess it rubs me the wrong way because people say the same crap about racers and motorcyclists. Usually people who don't have any idea of what they're talking about.