Death by stingray

last updated 8 January 2015

Beerwah, Australia

Australia was planning a state funeral this week for naturalist Steve Irwin, the star of TV’s Crocodile Hunter series and a beloved national icon. Known for getting perilously close to dangerous beasts, Irwin, 44, was killed in a rare attack by a stingray while making a documentary. The ray, which evidently felt threatened because Irwin was snorkeling just a few feet above it, whipped its stinger right into Irwin’s heart. Film of the attack shows Irwin pulling the poisonous barb out of his chest just before he died. Prime Minister John Howard said Irwin’s “sudden, untimely, and freakish death” shocked and saddened the nation. “It’s a huge loss to Australia,” he said. Irwin had served as a kind of Australian cultural ambassador to the U.S., although his popularity there began waning in 2004, after he held his 1-month-old son while feeding a crocodile.