Stingrays are not evil creatures
Mood:  not sure
Like the rest of the world I was saddened by Steve Irwin's death. I was not a fan of the show, mainly because I thought his antics encouraged people to take risks around wildlife and invade their space. I saw this first hand in my first year with the park service when some idiot thought he would pretend to be the crocodile hunter and tried to pick up a timber rattlesnake to impress his girlfriend. He ended up getting bite and having to go to the hospital. Luckily timber rattlesnake venom is not lethal in most cases but the whole thing could have easily been avoided if the man had respected the snakes space.

I do however agree with the message the Steve was trying to get out there. Just because something has scales instead of fur and would rather bite your head off than cuddle on the couch with you, it still has a purpose on this planet.

The news has been filled with stuff about Steve, which is normal when someone so popular dies. But last night I saw something that really irritated me. I believe it was on one of those entertainment news shows. They were trying to scare the public into thinking that stingrays are these evil creatures that are out to hurt humans. The basic message was that stingrays often strike without warning. This is SOOOOOO not true. I get so mad when the news tries to villainies an animal just because someone was hurt by it. The public then gets scared and wants to eliminate said animal from the planet. Steve would not stand for this and neither do I.

Stingrays are, for the most part, very gentle creatures. I had a chance to swim with them while on vacation in the Cayman Islands. They enjoyed being touched by humans and even seemed to enjoy swimming with us. After they had been fed they could have easily swam away but they stayed until the last person got out of the water. At one point while I was snorkeling along a ray past me and circled back and came up on my side. It was sort of like it was checking me out. Maybe it was laughing at the way I looked in my snorkel and mask. I found the whole thing to be very therapeutic and to this day it is one of my fondest memories.

But like every creature, even humans, it will defend itself if it feels like it is endangered. I truly believe that is what happened in this case. It was said that Steve was on one side of it and the camera man was on the other. The poor thing felt trapped and struck. I don't believe its intent was to kill Steve. Just injure him enough so that the ray could get away.

There is no reason why everything on this planet can't co-exist. I don't think anyone of us would enjoy a stranger coming into our homes and poking around or getting too close to us. Animals are the same way. So just give them the respect and space they need