Remembering Steve Irwin

Steve Irwin wrestled with crocodiles and snakes, and handled poisonous spiders, but he was also an advocate for nature and animals. His death is a tragic loss.

Today we all heard of the tragic death of Australian Steve Irwin, often referred to as the Crocodile Hunter. Ironically, his death didn't result from a clash with a crocodile, snake or venomous spider, the creatures he was so famous for fearlessly handling, but from a small stingray. The sharp barbed tip of the stingray's tail punctured Irwin's heart as he swam over it. Stingrays very rarely kill people: Irwin's death is only the second confirmed Australian death from a stingray barb.

Though Irwin was best known for his love of reptiles, he was a committed environmentalist and an advocate for all animal species, including birds. He was devoted to bringing wild animals to people - a project to educate people and help them to understand nature better. Who knows what he might have accomplished for nature and animal conservation if he had lived.

Steve Irwin and birds:

• The live animal shows at Irwin's Australia Zoo, in Beerwah, Queensland, often included a live bird show, in which untethered birds flew about above the crowd and returned to handlers scattered among the audience.
• Irwin wasn't afraid of very much, but the one animal he went on record as being terrified of was a bird. In an interview with TV Guide Online, he remarked that cockatoos were his "kryptonite," with "beaks... like bolt cutters." Apparently he was mauled by a Sulfur Crested Cockatoo when he was four - the bird attacked his nose.
• What is the Steve Irwin of the bird world? The Egyptian Plover walks into the open mouths of crocodiles to pick scraps of meat and parasites from between the reptile's teeth. The croc, grateful for the cleaning, allows the bird to exit unharmed. No doubt Steve Irwin would approve.