Cue Debbie Downer Music

"Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin, the Australian naturalist killed by a stingray on Monday, was videotaped pulling a poisonous barb from his chest just before he died, according to news reports.

Now, I know that he's dangled his children in front of ravenous, hungry crocks in the past, but no one deserves to die like this. One report I read suggested that the pain of being attacked by a stingray is similar to being stabbed with a knife in the heart. Oy.

Irwin's manager John Stainton, who was among the television crew on the reef, said the accident was caught on videotape.
He described the footage of his friend dying as "terrible.".

"It shows that Steve came over the top of the ray and the tail came up, and spiked him (in the chest), and he pulled it out and the next minute he's gone," John said. Click the souce button below and watch a video on just how stingrays strike.

"That was it. The cameraman had to shut down (after that)," John said.

He is survived by his wife Terri, and their two children, Bindi Sue, 8, and Robert (Bob), 3.

[source]