A Tragic Loss

I am devastated by the news of the death of Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin, and my heart goes out to his family. This guy was a complete joy to watch on TV, and worked wonders in the name of wildlife conservation and public education. It's easy to forget these days with dozens of "up close and personal" wildlife shows out there, but when The Crocodile Hunter first debuted, no one else was doing what Steve was doing. The only animals that were ever handled were the cute cuddly ones, and the dangerous ones were always in cages or on leashes. Then came the Croc Hunter.

I remember my freshman year of college - when the show really started to take off - it became a viewing event in my dorm (rivaled only by Monday Nitro and Tar Heel away games). People would get together and marvel at what this man's passion, at animals they had never seen anyone get that close to, and at some animals they had never seen at all. And for all the theatrics, the moral of the story was very simple: respect for the environment, respect for the power of nature, and respect for all creatures, even if they're not of the cute and cuddly sort.

One of the most frequesntly spoken expressions at those dorm gatherings (and probably anywhere else the show was being watched) was "He is gonna kill himself one of these days if he keeps this up!" And tragically, that's exactly what happened today. Maybe it was inevitable. But if it's any consolation, he went out doing what he loved, and I for one don't think that's such a bad thing.