Innocent stingrays who had absolutely nothing to do with the death of “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin are being tracked down and killed–presumably as payback for Irwin’s being killed by a stingray. The retribution appears random as some of the stingrays being killed aren’t even the same species as the one that killed Irwin. From ITV:

Fans of Steve Irwin have been urged not to attack stingrays after several rays were found dead since the TV naturalist was killed.

“Crocodile Hunter” Irwin was killed eight days ago when the serrated barb from a stingray’s tail pierced his heart.

Queensland state officials said up to ten of the animals have since been found dead in coastal waters.

Two were found dead with their tails hacked off on Tuesday at Deception Bay, north of the Queensland capital Brisbane.

Up to six rays had also been found dead recently further north at Hervey Bay said Wayne Sumpton, a senior biologist in Queensland’s Fisheries Department.

“We do not know if these incidents are motivated by Steve Irwin’s death. At the moment that is just speculation,” he said.

“We do find dead stingrays with their tails cut off from time to time. People usually do it if they are worried about getting stung by a stingray, or they just do it maliciously, but it is pretty rare,” Sumpton said.

Irwin’s wildlife colleagues said killing stingrays was against his conservationist teachings.

“We just want to make it very clear that we will not accept and not stand for anyone who’s taken a form of retribution. That’s the last thing Steve would want,” said Michael Hornby, executive director of Irwin’s Wildlife Warriors Worldwide.

tags: “steve irwin” crocodile hunter

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 12th, 2006 at 4:35 pm by Insider and is filed under Brilliant, but uncategorizable. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.