{"id":35415,"date":"2014-09-04T00:00:11","date_gmt":"2014-09-04T07:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/?p=35415"},"modified":"2014-09-02T13:22:29","modified_gmt":"2014-09-02T20:22:29","slug":"day-history-september-4th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2014\/09\/day-history-september-4th\/","title":{"rendered":"This Day in History: September 4th"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today in History: September 4, 2006<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"steve-irwin\"<\/a>“I would never blame an animal if it bit me, because I’m at fault, not them. I heal so quickly. If you cut my arm off I would grow a new one.” – Steve Irwin<\/p>\n

On September 4, 2006, popular Australian TV personality and environmentalist Steve \u201cthe Crocodile Hunter\u201d Irwin died from a stingray wound while filming a scene for his daughter Bindi\u2019s new TV series off the coast of New Queensland. He was 44 years old.<\/p>\n

Known for his fearless interactions with creatures most of us wouldn\u2019t come within 100 feet of, it sadly wasn\u2019t a huge surprise that Irwin was killed by an animal rather than as an old man comfy in his bed. But, of course, one would have thought it would have been something like a crocodile, not a (relatively) harmless stingray.<\/p>\n

Justin Lyons, who was Irwin\u2019s cameraman and was with him at the time of his death, recalls that they were filming a final sequence of the stingray swimming off before wrapping up. That was when the fatal attack occurred. Lyons recalled what happened next:<\/p>\n

All of a sudden it propped on its front and started stabbing wildly with its tail, hundreds of strikes in a few seconds. It probably thought that Steve’s shadow was a tiger shark, which feeds on them very regularly . . . I panned with the camera as the stingray swam away, I didn’t even know it had caused any damage. It wasn’t until I panned the camera back, that Steve was standing in a huge pool of blood, that I realized something had gone wrong.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The stingray had rammed its barb right into Irwin\u2019s chest, but Lyons was hopeful that it had only punctured his friend\u2019s lung and pulled him into their boat. He began to perform CPR and waited for more help to arrive.<\/p>\n

Lyons remembers saying, \u201cThink of your kids, Steve, hang on, hang on, hang on,\u201d but Irwin looked him calmly in the eye and said, \u201cI\u2019m dying.\u201d \u201cThat was the last thing he said.\u201d<\/p>\n

His wife Terri was informed of her husband\u2019s death while she was on a walking tour in Tasmania. The couple had two young children, Bindi, 8, and Bob, 3.<\/p>\n

Deaths caused by stingrays are exceedingly rare as they are known to be dangerous only if provoked. The Acting director at University of Sydney Institute of Marine Science, Ross Coleman, said to his knowledge there wasn\u2019t another incident similar to Irwin\u2019s. \u201cAs a recreational diving instructor you hear of people getting injured by standing on them … but they rarely die,\u201d Coleman said.<\/p>\n

Justin Lyons always had a feeling Steve would go out in an odd way \u2013 even by Crocodile Hunter standards:<\/p>\n

It was shocking. It was probably always going to be something weird with Steve, I mean, a crocodile or a shark, he was so good with animals, nothing was going to get him. We thought he was going to live forever, but it would always be a crazy silly accident, and as it turns out that’s exactly what it was.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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