You shouldn't mess with Mother Nature

[wavery]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,212126,00.html

This is so sad and so tragic. I hurt for his wonderful wife and children. What a terrible loss.

I can't tell you how many hours I spent diving and snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. There are so many deadly things there.

Sting Rays are usually so docile but I have always kept my distance. Then again, I always kept my distance from Crocodiles too..Go figure.

[dthurk]

I always enjoyed his shows.  He had such enthusiasm and sense of caring for the creatures he was working with.  What a loss to the world.

[AustinBoston]

I tend to have mixed emotions about a death like this.  I was not a fan, but that does not mean he didn't have my respect.  It really saddens me when someone is snuffed out in the prime of life.

On the other hand, when it's my time, I would rather go doing something I love.  Too many people end their years just sitting around waiting to die.  I'd rather die at 65 while cranking up a pop-up roof than at 90 in a semi-vegetative state in a facility where nobody knows their own name.  Of course, I would prefer even more going at 90 while cranking up that pop-up roof...

One other thought comes to mind.  Removing a puncture object (even one delivering poison) is bad news.  This is particularly true of chest wounds.  That thing impaled in your chest (or even arm or leg) is probably plugging one or more holes in vital places.  First aid for that kind of injury is leave it there, no matter how much it hurts.  Doctors may spend quite a bit of time and use many diagnostic tools before deciding how to remove it.  Yanking it out robs both them and you of the time needed to deal with the hole left behind.  I would be surprised to learn Steve Irwin didn't know this, but sometimes it's difficult to get the brain to override a panicky or painful instinct.  With this kind of thing, make sure your concious mind wins.

Austin

[mountainrev]

Removing a puncture object (even one delivering poison) is bad news.

True.  But unless I missed something, I believe the stringray's spine was still very much attached to said stingray.  I don't think leaving it in his chest would have been an option.  Leave it in, pull it out--either way, this was going to be fatal.

[AustinBoston]

True.  But unless I missed something, I believe the stringray's spine was still very much attached to said stingray.  I don't think leaving it in his chest would have been an option.  Leave it in, pull it out--either way, this was going to be fatal.

Every news report I have seen said he pulled the stinger from his chest.  None of them said it was still attached to the stingray.

Austin

[wavery]

Every news report I have seen said he pulled the stinger from his chest.  None of them said it was still attached to the stingray.

Austin

It matters little if it was or wasn't. In reality, anyone would have had the same instinctive reaction (as you stated previously).

I saw a guy step on a sea snail of some sort (can't remember the name) when I was in Cairns, Australia (on the Great Barrier Reef). It injected him with a paralyzing venom.

I'll never forget it. He came up on the beach and tried to pick the stinger out of his foot. He said that it hurt like hell at first but started going numb. After a few minutes of messing with it, he laid down on his back. He said that he was just exhausted. He fell asleep. His wife tried to wake him and couldn't. We could hardly find his pulse. When we did, we determined that it was about 35BPM. We got on the HAM radio to the Coast Guard. By the time we reached them, his heart just stopped beating.

I never walked in the sand again (in Australia) without Reef Walkers or diving booties on.

Edit:

I just remembered. It's called "Conus Snail".
http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/Columnists/barrygibbcolumn3.htm

[TheViking]

I live in California.  I'm within an hour from the Ocean.  I have been known to even swim in the Ocean, however, it is always in my mind all the crazy crap that lives there, and knowing there is a ton of other life in the Ocean that could potentially kill me makes me think........Ocean life never comes onto Land, into my space, why in the He!! do I go in theirs?  The minute you set foot in the Ocean you are at a disadvantage, you are in their world.  Experts say all the time, they aren't interested in humans, or they are as scared of you as you are of them, I say that is generally a crap statement.  On any given day an Ocean inhabitant can do something that makes the experts say "That is unusual".  i prefer not to be the one that happens to.  Just my opinion.