OT: the Crocodile Hunter (Steve Irwin) is dead

[Atrocities]

At least he died doing what he loved. The rest of us could only be so lucky. Man what a tragedy for the world loosing him.

[Randallw]

Here's a bit of news. I hear they were filming when it happened, so the police have been watching the footage showing what happened.

[geoschmo]

No offense intended but this "good day to die" talk is all a bit much don't you think? This is a tragedy plain and simple. The man died too young and left people behind that care about him. And expert or not he died because he was reckless and took chances. That was part of his shtick and the reason why people liked watching his shows, but let's not turn it into something noble. It's not like he was risking his neck to save lives or anything. He was doing it simply to make compelling television.

Lot's of "experts" die every day because they get complacent and make a mistake in a dangerous situation. How many people that watched any of his shows can honestly say at some point or another they didn't see him do something and think, "this dude's gonna get himself killed someday."

Sadly there is a reason that people like Marlin Perkins and Jacques Cousteau died as old men surrounded by their grandchildren and people like Steve Irwin and Timothy Treadwell didn't.

[Starhawk]

Geoschmo first off it was never as risky as you'd think if you actually watched the series you'd know that, he knew when NOT to get to close to an animal and did so most of the time, grabbing the snakes by the tail even wasn't as dangerous as you'd think, a lot of snakes are totally unable to go from a fully streight position to folding back on themselves for a strike, (they can curl up in a "ball" but they apparently can't fold their bodies properly to strike) even Irwin said this a few times when he grabbed a snake, you notice he also never continued to antagonize the animal, he'd show the viewer what it could do and let it on it's way, Not like this one idiot who kept harassing a poor cobra even after it spit in his eye and bit him, he went ot hospital got treated and came right back to harass it.

Anyway this also had nothing to do with reckless or careless it was a simple tragic fowl up that no one will get, and from what I've heard of the video basically no one even SAW the stingray until it had stabbed steve through the heart....even the Cameraman had no idea what was going on until later.

[dogscoff]

Geo, you got it exactly right.

[geoschmo]

I have seen his shows, although I admit I was not a regular viewer. It doesn't take being a regular viewer to see that what Irwin was doing was intentionally pushing the boundaries. He was saying in effect watch how close I can get to this animal and still get away without getting hurt.

I'm not saying he didn't take his work seriously and I'm not saying there wasn't some educational value in his shows. But a lot of it was voyueristic and sensationalistic. He sought out the most dangerous animals and tried to get as close to them as he could, cameras rolling. That's how he was marketed, and that's what his audience wanted to see. Of course since I wasn't a regular viewer I might have missed the episode where he spent the day swimming with the docile school of tuna.

I'm sure his people are going to do what they can to paint his demise as a fluke accident, one in a million, could have happened to anyone. Because doing so makes them feel better for helping him get in that situation and us feel better for watching.

It's also interesting to know that if I'm ever facing a venomous snake I can pull it's tail and maybe, just possibly it won't be able to bite me. But personally I'll stick to the tried and true method of walking away instead.

[Strategia_In_Ultima]

geoschmo said:
But personally I'll stick to the tried and true method of walking away instead.

On a side note, one thing you should NOT do when facing a snake is walk away. Stand stock still, don't move a muscle, and they'll go away. IIRC, stamping on the ground may help too, but I'm not sure about that. If you stand still, the snake certainly won't perceive you as a threat (if there are snakes that see us as food, they're bound to be limited to oversized anacondas and those of the Hollywoodius genus) and they'll slither their merry way away. Walking away might prompt the snake to attack you, even though it was merely being cautiously threatening before.

[geoschmo]

Strategia_In_Ultima said:

On a side note, one thing you should NOT do when facing a snake is walk away. Stand stock still, don't move a muscle, and they'll go away.

Do you have something to back that up? Snakes aren't usually out in the open and most strikes happen because people are tromping about in places where snakes like to hide. Knowing your suroundings and walking away from those areas is the best way to avoid getting bit I'm sure we can agree. Usually the person is hit before they even know the snake is there.

But everything I've read says if you are faced with the classic "stare-down" situation the best thing to do is calmly and slowly move directly away from the snake. It will most likely want to avoid you anyway so the key is to give it the room it needs to go where it wants as quickly as possible. Of course you don't want to turn on your heels and start running away and screaming, but standing still doesn't sound like a very good idea. The snake may be feeling cornered and if you don't move they are going to make you move.