In Reply to: Steve Irwin killed by a Stingray posted by Ken Kurtis on September 03, 2006 at 23:36:16:

Scuba courses include conservation materials that warn against approaching, drawing near, touching, startling, or otherwise harassing sea animals, particularly big sea animals.

If he was close enough to be stung in the heart by a ray, then he had violated that concept.

Although his death may seem traumatic to the public viewers at large, it certainly goes a long way towards cautioning them against what he was himself doing, in the face of conservation materials to the contrary.

His stated notion that ‘when you touch animals they are touched’ was flawed in the sense that some of them may not like it, or more scientifically, they may feel instinctively threatened or challenged.

Scuba instructors now also have more meat to back up their conservationist materials. I see it as a good thing.