CAIRNS, Australia - Videotape of Steve Irwins last moments shows him pulling a
poisonous stingray barb from his chest but no evidence that he had provoked the
fish, officials said Tuesday, as tributes poured in for TVs beloved "Crocodile
Hunter."
Irwin, 44, who made a career out of getting dangerously close to deadly
beasts, was stabbed through the heart Monday while swimming with the stingray
during filming of a new TV program on Australias Great Barrier Reef.
John Stainton, Irwins manager who was among the crew on the reef, said the
fatal blow that came while Irwin was snorkeling was caught on videotape, and
described viewing the footage as having the "terrible" experience of watching a
friend die.
"It shows that Steve came over the top of the ray and the tail came up, and
spiked him here (in the chest), and he pulled it out and the next minute hes
gone," Stainton told reporters in the Queensland state city of Cairns, where
Irwins body was taken for an autopsy.
Police were holding the tape as evidence for a coroners inquiry — a standard
procedure in high-profile deaths or those caused by other than natural
causes.
Experts agree human deaths caused by stingrays are extremely rare and
speculate the stingray may have felt trapped between the cameraman and the TV
star.
But Queensland Police Superintendent Michael Keating said there was no
evidence Irwin threatened or intimidated the stingray, a normally placid species
that only deploys its poisonous tail spines as a defense.
Stainton said Irwin was in his element in the Outback, but that he and Irwin
had talked about the sea posing threats the star wasnt used to.
"If ever he was going to go, we always said it was going to be the ocean,"
Stainton said. "On land he was agile, quick-thinking, quick-moving and the ocean
puts another element there that you have no control over."
Irwins American wife, Terri, and two young children returned late Monday
from a trekking vacation in Tasmania to Australia Zoo, the wildlife park where
the family lived at Beerwah in Queenslands southeast.
Australia Zoo was open Tuesday — staff said it was what he would have wanted
— but the mood was somber and most visitors paid respects at a makeshift shrine
of bouquets and handwritten condolence messages at the gate.
"Mate, you made the world a better place," read one poster. "Steve, our hero,
our legend, our wildlife warrior," read another. Khaki shirts — a trademark of
Irwin — were laid out for people to sign.
Parliament interrupted its normal schedule so lawmakers could pay tribute to
Irwin, whose body was flown home Tuesday from Cairns. No funeral plans were
announced but state Premier Peter Beattie said Irwin would be afforded a state
funeral if his family agreed.
"He was a genuine, one-off, remarkable Australian individual and I am
distressed at his death," Prime Minister John Howard said.
Irwin was propelled to global fame after his TV shows, in which he regularly
wrestled with crocodiles and went face-to-face with poisonous snakes and other
wild animals, were shown around world on the Discovery Channel.
The network announced plans for a marathon screening of Irwins work and a
wildlife fund in his name.
"Rarely has the world embraced an animal enthusiast and conservationist as
they did Steve Irwin," Discovery Networks International President Dawn McCall
said in a statement.
___
Associated Press writer Dennis Passa in Beerwah, Australia, contributed to
this report.
