If you say you don’t love Steve Irwin, you were watching the wrong TV channels in the early 2000s. There’s no two ways about that. Steve Irwin’s TV shows and love for animals is pure nostalgia and comfort!
Since his death, many people have lost the real meaning of his mission. Luckily, on Wednesday, February 28th, one woman went swimming with stingrays and gave us a reminder of everything Steve Irwin stood for:
@mermaid.kayleighReplying to @amy_m_16 Sting rays are such docile animals & only use their barb when they feel threatened. Steve was such an animal lover & would never want us to demonize sting rays because of such a tragic & rare accident. Just be cautious & careful around sting rays & know they are still wild animals who deserve respect. #steveirwin #stingray #ocean #diver #rays #swimwithstingrays
Mermaid Kayleigh’s videos have always been some of my favorites: I’m terrified of the ocean, and her videos have really helped me chill out about it!
Related: Steve Irwin’s Son Shares Sweet Tribute and Promises to ‘Continue His Mission’
In the video, she’s swimming with a group of stingrays. She shows no fear, because stingrays are genuinely not very scary, and shows off how gentle they really are. The video is in response to a comment: “I always think of Steve Irwin when I see these.”
Everyone can relate to that. Steve Irwin was killed in a freak encounter with a stingray on September 4th, 2006: he was filming near the Great Barrier Reef and a stingray punctured his chest with its barb. It was a devastating loss: he was only 44, and he left behind two kids, Bindi (8) and Robert (3), and his wife, Terri. They took over the Australia Zoo, which is still up and running today!
Pretty much immediately after, the stingray smear campaign began: people started to assume that stingrays were mean, that they were aggressive, and people should never go near them. Even still, jokes are made about the stingray that punctured Steve Irwin’s chest, typically about harming the animal for “revenge.” Kayleigh’s reminder that we should be kind to them is an important one to share repeatedly. Everyone needs to remember that.
Steve Irwin stood for animal rights
Steve Irwin would be 100 times angrier if someone were to harm a stingray “in his honor” than he would be knowing he died in an animal-related accident. His family have come out to denounce the idea that stingrays are “bad” just because one of them took their father’s life. They’ve said themselves that their dad would want us to understand stingrays and why one of them reacted the way it did rather than make assumptions and discredit them forever.
There are several species, but all stingrays are endangered at some level. Ocean pollution, overfishing, boating accidents, and changing temperatures all pose a massive threat to the stingray population. That’s what Steve Irwin would want people to focus on, not that one of them reacted instinctually to him in their space.
At the end of the day, Steve Irwin was a brilliant man. He was very aware of the risks he was taking when he entered the ocean that day. The animal was just doing what it is programmed to do, and we can’t blame it for that. RIP, Crocodile Hunter!
