Steve Irwin – Crocodile Hunter killed by Stingray
Later projects
In January 2006 as part of Australia Week celebrations in the USA, Irwin appeared at the Pauley Pavilion, UCLA in Los Angeles, California. During an interview on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Irwin announced that Discovery Kids would be developing a show for his daughter, Bindi Sue Irwin.
The show, Jungle Girl, was tipped to be similar to The Wiggles movies, with songs that surround a story. A feature-length episode of Australian kids TV show The Wiggles entitled “Wiggly Safari” appears dedicated to Irwin, and he’s featured in it heavily with his wife and daughter. The show includes the song “Crocodile Hunter, Big Steve Irwin”.
In 2006, the American network The Travel Channel had begun to show a series of specials starring Irwin and his family as they traveled on cross-country tours.
Having grown up in Essendon, Irwin was a fan of the Essendon Bombers, an Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League. Irwin took part in an Australian Rules football promotion in Los Angeles as part of “Australia Week” in early 2006.
Media Work
Irwin was also involved in several media campaigns. He enthusiastically joined with the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service to promote Australia’s strict quarantine/customs requirements, with advertisements and posters featuring slogans such as, “Quarantine Matters! Don’t muck with it”. His payments for these advertising campaigns were directed into his wildlife fund.
In 2004 he was appointed ambassador for The Ghan, the passenger train running from Adelaide to Alice Springs in the central Australian outback, when the line was extended all the way to Darwin on the northern coast that year. For some time he was sponsored by Toyota, in keeping with his rugged outback image.
He was also a keen promoter for Australian tourism in general and Queensland tourism in particular. In 2002 the Australia Zoo was voted Queensland’s top tourist attraction. His immense popularity in the United States meant he often promoted Australia as a tourist destination there.
Honours
In 2001 Irwin was awarded the Centenary Medal for his “service to global conservation and to Australian tourism”. In 2004 he was recognised as Tourism Export of the Year. Also in 2004, he was nominated for Australian of the Year, which was won by Steve Waugh. Doubts were cast over his nomination when the “baby Bob” incident occurred in January that year.
[...] I’m actually gutted to hear that Steve Irwin was killed today by (of all things) a stingray which struck Steve in the side of the chest whilst diving off the great barrier reef. [...]
That terrible. He was one of my favorite TV personalities and one of the main reasons I started watching the Discovery Channel to begin with.
He did some stupid things from time to time but I never thought he would die working with animals. I guess In a way it’s fitting since that’s what he loved doing. I will miss him.
The worl has lost a great bloke.
In a world where people worry more about what people think of them than what is right, Steve was a person that bucked convention.
His enthusiasm for animals was catching, and I couldn’t help watching him and getting dragged into his world a little.
His passing leaves a hole that can’t be easily filled.
My thougths are with Terri, his children and his staff at Australia Zoo.
He will be sadly missed. What a tragic way to go. May his spirit never be forgotten.
[...] We reported earlier today the extremely sad news about the Death of the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin. [...]
[...] Experts reacting to the tragic death of Australia’s “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin. have stated that deaths from the barb of a stingray are almost unheard of. [...]
[...] As we reported yesterday. Irwin was killed almost instantly when the stingray stabbed him in the heart with its poisonous 20cm barb as he snorkelled off Port Douglas, in north Queensland. [...]
[...] Many web sites crashed yesterday including the Australian, after the tragic bizarre death of Steve Irwin. What a shame some barbs are more serious than others. [...]
Steve Irwin offered State Funeral whilst Wildlife Warriors donations boom
Steve Irwin’s body has been flown back to his home region on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast ahead of his funeral.
While no details of the funeral have been revealed, Queensland Premier Peter Beattie said the man known around the world for his thick A…
[...] Brock was one of Australian motorsport’s most significant figures, having won the Bathurst 1000 nine times. His death comes only days after the death of fellow Australian celebrity Steve Irwin. [...]
may lord rest his soul in peace and give strength to his family to over come this tragedy
[...] Mr Irwin, 44, died after being struck in the chest by the stingray’s barb whilst filming on the Great Barrier Reef earlier this month. [...]
[...] It’s been nearly a month now since the crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin was killed in a tragic incident when a stingray pierced his heart with its barb. [...]