Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin dies

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   World mourns 'wildlife warrior' 
September 5, 2006 - 12:09PM 

Shockwaves are being felt around the world over the death of Australia's colourful son, crocodile hunter Steve Irwin, killed by a stingray on the Great Barrier Reef yesterday. 

Interest in the story has jammed leading media websites since the news broke, particularly that of Animal Planet, which runs Irwin's shows that are seen in 130 countries. 

The most visited stories on international websites today, including BBC News, relate to his death. Sites worldwide have been flooded with condolences. 

Television networks, particularly in the United States, where 44-year-old Irwin was an even bigger celebrity than he was at home, caught news of the death on late night bulletins. 

The New York Times on its front page fondly remembers "Steve Irwin, the khaki-clad wildlife stalker who won global fame with his televised death-defying crocodile stunts and whose booming voice made 'Crikey!' in a ripe Australian accent an international catchword." 

Irwin's death has clearly touched fans in the US, many of whom have grown up watching him. 

"I don't think any of us have ever been so devastated by the loss of a television personality," writes Sarah on the Animal Planet website. 

Other comments describe the bond viewers felt with the Irwins. "I feel as though you all are members of my own family," says one message. 

"My husband and I grew up watching Steve and Terri in America," writes Mandy on theage.com.au tribute forum. "His enthusiasm and zest for life was incredibly inspiring and will not be forgotten." 

The BBC obituary describes a "natural showman" whose "popular image, wrestling crocs and other creatures, belied the fact that he was implacably opposed to the hunting, not just of crocodiles, but of any animal." 

Time (CNN) honours a "daredevil wildlife documentarian" who "leapt fearlessly on to the backs of man-eating crocodiles, wrestled Komodo Dragons and deftly juggled snakes." 

"His ebullience was infectious and Australian officials sought him out for photo opportunities and to promote Australia internationally," says The Independent. 

In Germany, Berlin news site Die Welt, with the curious headline "Er hatte gesagt (as he would have said): Crocs Rule!" reports that "Australia mourns a wonderful man", while Swiss site Tages Anzeiger writes of "the Australian with trademark khaki shorts and shirt". 

The Times pays tribute to a "wildlife warrior" who was called a thrill-seeker by many, but "was in fact a highly knowledgeable natural historian, whose mission was to educate people by enthusing them." 

To share your memories about Steve Irwin, visit Your Say. 

theage.com.au, with AAP

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Angel Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 03 July 2001 Status: Offline Points: 6641	Post Options Post Reply Quote Angel Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin dies Posted: 05 September 2006 at 2:58am
	World mourns 'wildlife warrior' September 5, 2006 - 12:09PM Shockwaves are being felt around the world over the death of Australia's colourful son, crocodile hunter Steve Irwin, killed by a stingray on the Great Barrier Reef yesterday. Interest in the story has jammed leading media websites since the news broke, particularly that of Animal Planet, which runs Irwin's shows that are seen in 130 countries. The most visited stories on international websites today, including BBC News, relate to his death. Sites worldwide have been flooded with condolences. Television networks, particularly in the United States, where 44-year-old Irwin was an even bigger celebrity than he was at home, caught news of the death on late night bulletins. The New York Times on its front page fondly remembers "Steve Irwin, the khaki-clad wildlife stalker who won global fame with his televised death-defying crocodile stunts and whose booming voice made 'Crikey!' in a ripe Australian accent an international catchword." Irwin's death has clearly touched fans in the US, many of whom have grown up watching him. "I don't think any of us have ever been so devastated by the loss of a television personality," writes Sarah on the Animal Planet website. Other comments describe the bond viewers felt with the Irwins. "I feel as though you all are members of my own family," says one message. "My husband and I grew up watching Steve and Terri in America," writes Mandy on theage.com.au tribute forum. "His enthusiasm and zest for life was incredibly inspiring and will not be forgotten." The BBC obituary describes a "natural showman" whose "popular image, wrestling crocs and other creatures, belied the fact that he was implacably opposed to the hunting, not just of crocodiles, but of any animal." Time (CNN) honours a "daredevil wildlife documentarian" who "leapt fearlessly on to the backs of man-eating crocodiles, wrestled Komodo Dragons and deftly juggled snakes." "His ebullience was infectious and Australian officials sought him out for photo opportunities and to promote Australia internationally," says The Independent. In Germany, Berlin news site Die Welt, with the curious headline "Er hatte gesagt (as he would have said): Crocs Rule!" reports that "Australia mourns a wonderful man", while Swiss site Tages Anzeiger writes of "the Australian with trademark khaki shorts and shirt". The Times pays tribute to a "wildlife warrior" who was called a thrill-seeker by many, but "was in fact a highly knowledgeable natural historian, whose mission was to educate people by enthusing them." To share your memories about Steve Irwin, visit Your Say. theage.com.au, with AAP
	~ Our feet are earthbound, but our hearts and our minds have wings ~

Angel Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 03 July 2001 Status: Offline Points: 6641	Post Options Post Reply Quote Angel Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 05 September 2006 at 3:03am
	Croc Hunter news consumes the web Stephen Hutcheon and Louisa Hearn September 5, 2006 - 1:17PM When news of Steve Irwin's sudden and bizarre death broke, it spread rapidly across the internet and around the world. Web measurement company Hitwise said Australian internet traffic to print news and media websites yesterday hit its highest point since mid-May when the country was transfixed on the rescue of the Beaconsfield miners. The first signs that this story was choking the internet and chewing up bandwidth came about 2.30pm yesterday. The SMH site and its sister site, theage.com.au, slowed to a crawl as thousands hopped on, trying to see if the rumours were true. All the while, waves of emails, instant messages, text messages and phone calls would have been fuelling a massive online migration of the curious and the shocked. Within 30 minutes of the story appearing on smh.com.au site, it hit the No. 1 spot of the day's most viewed stories - the fastest moving story that we can recall. The BBC site's new live internet monitor reported that traffic was 50-plus per cent above normal activity. Other key news sites also showed signs of strain and some, including CNN, had to switch to a "lite" mode, ditching bandwidth-hungry elements on the home page in order to cope with the surge in usage. In Australia, the ABC news site temporarily crashed under the weight of clicks and came back shortly after with a home page that only displayed the one story that everyone wanted to read. The story quickly climbed to the top of news aggregator Google News, which tracks 45000 news sources from around the world. It was a leading story on many of the world's leading news websites including CNN, USA Today, The New York Times, CBS, The Guardian in Britain, the Swedish newspaper website Aftonbladet and De Telegraaf in the Netherlands. It was also the most blogged-about story on the internet. Technorati, which tracks 53 million blogs worldwide, is showing its top three search terms as: "Steve Irwin", "Crocodile Hunter" and "Irwin". The first search term records more than 25,000 mentions of Irwin, the overwhelming majority of them having been logged in the past 24 hours. The official Crocodile Hunter website rocketed to number one entertainment personality website yesterday in Australia and number 3 in the US, according to Hitwise. On the previous day it was ranked 36th most popular in Australia and 516th in the US. It also claimed 18.32 per cent of local web traffic within that category. Compared with last week's weekday averages on smh.com.au, yesterday's traffic statistics showed a 40 per cent spike in page impressions and a 70 per cent jump in visitors. Today on both smh.com.au and theage.com.au, reports about Irwin's death have made a clean sweep of the spots on the top 10 list of most viewed stories, the first time this has happened. It's also the most popular or most-emailed story or most-searched for term on scores of other news websites including the The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and The Guardian. On the BBC news site it scored the trifecta, claiming top spot in the most viewed and most emailed story categories and the most watched video report. On Wikipedia, "Steve Irwin" and "stingray" are the top two topic-specific search terms. The top two most popular stories on the leading social networking site Digg are also Irwin-related. Opportunists did not waste time in placing Irwin paraphernalia on internet auction site eBay with 149 items of the total 152 placed today and yesterday. The items, mainly being sold by Australians, included Steve Irwin mugs and figurines, as well as copies of national and local newspapers. A signed "Crikey!" postcard placed on the site yesterday has already attracted bids of $1025. Fans have also begun posting tributes and snippets from television news reports on video-sharing sites such as YouTube and Google Video. Although news sites took a heavy hit yesterday, general internet traffic in Australia appears to have coped with the surge, according to some internet service providers. Telstra reported a 5 per cent peak in traffic about 4pm yesterday, and Optus said it had registered no perceptible spike. MacLeonard Starkey, security analyst at computer emergency response team Auscert, said the agency had not yet intercepted any internet scams seeking to exploit interest in Irwin's death. "What I would expect to see in the next couple of days or weeks is some kind of malicious code or Trojan using Steve Irwin's death as a hook to click on some links," he said. http://www.theage.com.au/news/web/croc-hunter-news-consumes- the-web/2006/09/05/1157222114384.html?page=fullpage#contentS wap1
	~ Our feet are earthbound, but our hearts and our minds have wings ~

ZEA J Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 01 June 2005 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 224	Post Options Post Reply Quote ZEA J Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 05 September 2006 at 10:35am
	my simpathy is with his family and friends, he will sadly be missed .. Edited by ZEA J
	"You will never attain piety and righteousness,(and eventually paradise)until you spend of that which you love."(Al-Imran:92)

Luke2605 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Starter Joined: 15 October 2006 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 3	Post Options Post Reply Quote Luke2605 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 15 October 2006 at 10:50pm
	I went to Australia Zoo After he died....it just did not seem right