# Avenge Steve Irwin - Kill a Stingray! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 13, 2006, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avenge-steve-irwin-kill-a-stingray/372484 "2006-09-13T01:31:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2006, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avenge-steve-irwin-kill-a-stingray/372484/1 "2006-09-13T01:31:47Z")
Apparently there is at least one masked (and probably snorkeled) Avenger in Australia [killing stingrays.](http://www.guardian.co.uk/australia/story/0,,1871036,00.html) Here’s an [MSNBC version of the story.](http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14795639/) I must admit, I love the opening paragraph of the first Guarsian link: > [@](#): > > The natural injustice of the death of Steve Irwin, the daredevil conservationist who wrestled with crocodiles and dangled cobras but was killed by a relatively docile fish, has apparently motivated some of his most ardent supporters to wreak revenge. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2006, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avenge-steve-irwin-kill-a-stingray/372484/2 "2006-09-13T02:05:52Z")
Yeah, that’s a great way to pay respects to Steve, do exactly what he wouldn’t want you to do. If you must kill a stingray, at least eat the damn thing, so it’s not a total waste. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2006, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avenge-steve-irwin-kill-a-stingray/372484/3 "2006-09-13T02:11:34Z")
No sting rays around here. So I declared war on starlings and skwirls. They seem to be organising a counter attack. I hope the toads maintain their traditional neutrality, otherwise I’m seriously fucked. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2006, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avenge-steve-irwin-kill-a-stingray/372484/4 "2006-09-13T02:15:43Z")
The [version](http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20403460-2,00.html) in the local paper also includes the fact that this practice has been around for many years: > [@](#): > > Bill Turner, chairman of Queensland fishing information service Sunfish, said the claims were ridiculous. > > “To tie this into what happened with Steve is just ridiculous,” he said. “I’ve been seeing this for the 50 years that I’ve been fishing.” ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2006, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avenge-steve-irwin-kill-a-stingray/372484/5 "2006-09-13T02:30:58Z")
[QUOTE=Boyo Jim] The natural injustice of the death of Steve Irwin, the daredevil conservationist who wrestled with crocodiles and dangled cobras but was killed by a relatively docile fish, has apparently motivated some of his most ardent supporters to wreak revenge. [/QUOTE] Oh man, pretty much everything is funny about that sentence. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![myskepticsight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@myskepticsight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myskepticsight)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2006, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avenge-steve-irwin-kill-a-stingray/372484/6 "2006-09-13T02:57:46Z")
That sucks. Stingrays are cool. When I was in Grand Cayman, we swam with them and they acted like dogs. You’d shuffle your feet on the botton as to not step on one, and they’d swim and rub up against you like a dog will. They felt like silky jello, if that makes sense. And the tour guide guy put one on my mom’s back. (He held it) She said it felt like it was sucking on her back. And Steve would definitely be upset at this, I am surprised someone that cares enough to “avenge” his death doesn’t realize this. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2006, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avenge-steve-irwin-kill-a-stingray/372484/7 "2006-09-13T14:57:48Z")
Has it occurred to anyone that if the number of stingrays found with tails cut off has actually increased, it might be because people are more _afraid_ due to what happened to Steve Irwin? You know, thinking “If it happened to him when he was so good and practiced with wildlife, what might happen to me or my kids?” ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2006, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avenge-steve-irwin-kill-a-stingray/372484/8 "2006-09-13T19:09:21Z")
I don’t think they’re ‘avenging’ Irwin. I’m thinking that some schmucks might want to cut off a stingray barb and try to pass it off as THE barb that killed Irwin. Sell it or something, you know? Either that, or, as some have said, this is nothing new except that people are looking for it now. ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2006, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avenge-steve-irwin-kill-a-stingray/372484/9 "2006-09-13T19:33:57Z")
So are they going after [these](http://www.taberg.info/motortraffar/2004/traff_5/bilder/Corvette-stingray-rod-fr-st.jpg) stingrays or after [this](http://www.aiai.ed.ac.uk/~bat/GA/OT-MODEL/rd-stingray-1.jpg) kind ? ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2006, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avenge-steve-irwin-kill-a-stingray/372484/10 "2006-09-13T23:40:33Z")
Has the Steve Irwin Avengers called anyone to take credit for these attacks? Has anyone been caught and wept openly, crying, “I did it for Steve!” Or are the authorities just finding dead stingrays and, in a total flight of fancy, speculating? So far I haven’t seen any indications the killings were for any known purpose. Often the best advice investigators have is to “follow the money”. Are stingrays or their parts in any way valuable in the international wildlife-smuggling trade? Sailboat ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2006, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avenge-steve-irwin-kill-a-stingray/372484/11 "2006-09-14T13:40:44Z")
But I _like_ [Stingray](http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/anderson/stingray/gallery/images/340/02stingray.jpg)! And many other fine Gerry Anderson productions, as well! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2006, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avenge-steve-irwin-kill-a-stingray/372484/12 "2006-09-14T14:16:12Z")
[QUOTE=Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor] But I _like_ [Stingray](http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/anderson/stingray/gallery/images/340/02stingray.jpg)! And many other fine Gerry Anderson productions, as well! 😃 [/QUOTE] Psst, see post # 9 ---
**Author:** ![BoBettie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@BoBettie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BoBettie)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2006, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avenge-steve-irwin-kill-a-stingray/372484/13 "2006-09-14T15:53:03Z")
HAW HAW HAW! Stingray! Like the car! Oh, that’s a good one. I hadn’t even heard that one before!!! Anyway, you do have to wonder if it’s coincidence or if people are really that stupid that they would kill stingrays because of what happened to Irwin. FWIW, there was a small spotted ray in my canal this morning, and I did not kill him in to avenge Irwin’s death, so there you go. I’m trying to even the score. ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2006, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avenge-steve-irwin-kill-a-stingray/372484/14 "2006-09-14T15:56:39Z")
Somewhere up there in heaven, the spirit of Steve Irwin, wreathed in radiant angelic light and white shining robes, is banging his head repeatedly against a brick wall. Also, I declare war pre-emptively on the squirrels. They’re out this season and they’re _everywhere_. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2006, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avenge-steve-irwin-kill-a-stingray/372484/15 "2006-09-14T16:01:18Z")
[QUOTE=Kythereia] Also, I declare war pre-emptively on the squirrels. They’re out this season and they’re _everywhere_. [/QUOTE] _And_ they have an [Air](http://www.flyingsquirrels.com/) [Force](http://www.flyingsquirrels.com/Images/Photos/Hampson/cy_glsa_flight1.jpg). 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2006, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/avenge-steve-irwin-kill-a-stingray/372484/16 "2006-09-14T16:49:34Z")
Are they commanded by Air Marshal Rocky ?