ReptileMan27

[Snakes Incorporated]

Leaping stingray stabs Florida man near heart
81-year-old expected to recover from incident like one that killed Irwin
 
Updated: 8:31 a.m. ET Oct. 19, 2006
MIAMI - A leaping stingray stabbed an 81-year-old Florida boater in the chest, authorities said on Wednesday, leaving its poisonous stinger lodged close to his heart in an incident recalling the one that killed Australian TV naturalist Steve Irwin last month.
Fire Department officials in Lighthouse Point, about 30 miles north of Miami, said James Bertakis was in a small recreational boat with two grandchildren on Tuesday when the spotted eagle ray leaped aboard and struck him.
“It’s just a real freak thing,” Lt. Mike Sullivan told Reuters, saying the incident occurred on Florida’s Intercoastal Waterway, where stingrays are rarely seen leaping in the air.
“For an 81-year-old man he’s in really good shape,” Sullivan added, saying Bertakis was expected to make a full recovery after surgery at a local hospital to have the stinger removed from his chest.
“Crocodile Hunter” Irwin, 44, died when a stingray’s stinger punctured his heart off Australia’s north coast last month. It was one of only a handful of stingray fatalities on record.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/15321718/?GT1=8618

[Autoshoty]

i guess steve irwin just had some very bad luck that day./....

[FrogQueen]

Actually, I found an article from Austrailian newspaper that explained that is was not the stingray nor the venom, that killed steve irwin.. It was his pulling the barb out of his chest.. It caused his heart to hemorage.

If Irwin hadn't done that he should have survived it.. I bet anything, he knew what he did..the minute he did it.. 

Billie

[Snakes Incorporated]

I would luv to hear the Stingrays side of the story.