I miss Steve Irwin....

Originally Posted by Seamus Haley

Well... exactly. It's not like he's solely responsible for the massive sale of leopard geckos that Petsmart and petco have pulled off for the last ten years. When he's praised, by people who think he's praiseworthy, they heap a lot of credit on his shoulders for things he had very little to do with.

Are you saying Steve didn't actually provide all the Geckos that petsmart had when I got my little guy a serval years ago??? Those D*** liars!!!! I actually named the little guy after him =--(

Steve Irwin was a AWESOME guy I loved his shows no matter what

Originally Posted by captnemo

Also, as for how he died, I heard many people say how they saw it coming, or what did he expect. My response to them has always been, "Really? You had a feeling Steve would be killed by a stingray he was swimming with as countless divers have done in the past? People routinely hang onto their backs while diving in some of the tourist locations, but it's going to get Steve Irwin, huh?"

Yet a few weeks later a similar incident happened to another man.
Leaping stingray stabs Florida man near heart

Originally Posted by shrap

That's crap in my opinion. No person's life is all positive or all negative. Each and every one of us make positive and negative contributions during our lifetimes. To try and insinuate that all of ones contributions have to be all positive or all negative in the end is horse apples. Irwin did a lot of good in his life and he did a lot of dumb crap. Welcome to being human.

I know some did not like Irwin because, according to them, he was a jerk when the camera was off and the public was not around.

O'Shea was actually my favorite of the three. His approach was more scientific and techniques better for the animals. The only prblem with this, is that while we saw this as informative, much of the viewing public saw it as boring.

Irwin's on air demeanor, excitability, and showmanship kept people tuned in, and most developed a respect (and love in some cases) for reptiles they would not have otherwise had. His techniques and knowledge came from years of practical experience, rather than years of study. I feel this was good in some cases, and not so good in others.

As for the stingray incident, I bet that fella lifted that ray from the top...a big no-no! Again, a freak accident.

I grew up watching Wild Kingdom and I even called the toll free number once when I was about 5. I didn't know what a toll free number was and when they answered "Mutual of Omaha" I just hung up. I worried about catching heck from my parents for months. It wasn't until I got older that I started to understand the jokes about Marlin Perkins "While Jim tries to wrestle the 20 foot anaconda into a bread box I'm going to go back to the tent and have another banana daqueri" Still, I loved the show and I found his autobiography to be very interesting.

I didn't care so much for "Wild America" because, well, because it was America. Heck, I lived in America what did I care about elk and deer and foxes and black bears. I wanted to see WILD animals from Africa and South America. I did like Marty Stouffer's voice though.

I didn't get to see much of Jacques Cousteau but It seemed like every one I did see was about sharks and I don't care for shark shows.

I saw one Mark Oshea episode and they were looking for geckos in New Caledonia. After watching him rip the bark off standing trees for about 5 minutes I had enough and turned it off. I may have missed something but it sure looked to me like he was simply ripping trees apart looking for his quarry. I've always tried to live by the "leave it as you found it" motto.

Steve Irwin was way to over the top for me. The accent bugged the crap out of me and I always though he was hopped up on speed or something. I thought his handling of a lot of the animals was senseless and the entire thing had just too much of a contrived feeling to me. Flying over some desert type scrub land in a helicopter at 50 feet, spotting a tell tale track of a rattlesnake at the base of a bush, setting the helicopter down and rushing back to reach under the bush without actually seeing what might be under there and grabbing a rattlesnake by the tail. Oh yeah, that wasn't set up. I know, a lot of it is staged for all of them but his just seemed more so than others to me.

I liked Jeff Corwin but I know part of that was just trying to find an acceptable alternative to Steve Irwin.

I also like Nigel Marvin but I think his best work was in the CG dinosaur series where he didn't really work with the animals.

My Favorite by far is David Attenborough. Granted a lot of it is the fantastic camera work by the BBC crew but his shows are by far the most "professional" of all of them as far as I am concerned. I also think his voice and narration commands respect from the audience and shows it toward his subjects. A lot like Marty Stouffer in that respect. In fact I am waiting for my "Life in Cold Blood" DVD to arrive any day now.

i love Steve Irwin .....his death is a big loss ......

I recently read the book "Steve and Me", by Terri Irwin. It was a reminder of what I liked about him and why he should be missed. I don't even bother putting on Animal Planet these days.

hey anybody have any video related to his death .........plzz do share with ......

What video? The show he was filming at the time of his death has aired. It was called "Ocean's Deadliest" and really was more focused with Phillippe Cousteau.

I appreciated his enthusiasm, but deplored his seeming need to wrestle and harass everything he encountered.

I'm a SCUBA diver, and his death had a notable negative impact on new divers; many were put off trying diving because they were (and some still are) convinced that sting rays were lurking out there just waiting for unsuspecting divers...

Essentially I don't think this can really be classified as an accident, it was inevitable result of manhandling wild creatures. It was diving's misfortune that he got nailed by an aquatic creature and not a terrestrial one.

Still, I'm sorry he got it, he certainly did raise interest in many traditionally "un-fluffy" creatures.

Originally Posted by Junkyard

Yet a few weeks later a similar incident happened to another man.
Leaping stingray stabs Florida man near heart


I know some did not like Irwin because, according to them, he was a jerk when the camera was off and the public was not around.

I think that is the enigma of him. We get evidence of good and bad, people love and hate. Its a "we will never know" sort of thing. And those things just end up getting talked about forever.