'Crocodile Hunter' cameraman: Footage of Steve Irwin death is private. By By Rene Lynch. Mar 10, 2014 at 3:12 PM 'I'm dying.' Those were 'Crocodile Hunter' Steve Irwin's final words, according to. Steve Irwin passed away on Sept. 4, 2006, and the details surrounding his death are still incredibly. Bindi Irwin Reveals She Still Cries Watching Footage of Late Father Steve Irwin People via Yahoo News.

FOOTAGE of Steve Irwin's death would never be shown on television, his wife said in her first interview since the naturalist was killed by the barb of a stingray's tail.

Asked in an interview with the American ABC news program 20/20 whether the footage of Irwin's September 4 death would ever be aired on television, Terri Irwin was blunt and emphatic.
'It won't be. No. No. What purpose would that serve,' she said, adding that she had not looked at the footage of her husband's death.
That footage shows Irwin swimming above a stingray, while filming a documentary on the Great Barrier Reef, when it lashed out and speared him in the heart with its barbed tail, according to Irwin's manager, John Stainton, who said Irwin pulled the barb from his chest before losing consciousness.
US-born Terri Irwin said her 44-year-old husband knew he would not live a long life.
'He'd talk about it often. But it wasn't because of any danger from wildlife. That was never a consideration. He just felt life could be dangerous,' she said in the interview, to be broadcast in the United States tomorrow evening.
Irwin's family and friends held a private funeral at his beloved Australia Zoo - where he was also buried.
A public televised memorial service was held at the zoo's Crocoseum last Wednesday.
His 46 Crocodile Hunter documentaries were watched by 200 million people worldwide, and his death prompted an international outpouring of grief.
His wife told of how she had been travelling in a remote part of Tasmania, conducting research, with the couple's children, Bindi Sue, 8, and two-year-old Robert Clarence, when she was told about Irwin's death.
'It was an accident so stupid. It was like running with a pencil. It was not risk he was taking,' she said.
'It was just an accident. And I couldn't fall to pieces because the children were there.'
Known for his trademark khaki shorts and shirts and catchphrase 'Crikey', Irwin grew up around wild animals, trapping crocodiles and releasing them in his parent's reptile park, which would later become Australia Zoo.
'I have to make sure the zoo keeps running,' Terri Irwin said.
'He planned all of that masterfully. He planned this wonderful business so that it could continue if anything happened to him.'
She said she was surviving 'one minute at a time' and that what she would miss most about him was that he was fun.
'Now I'm going to work really hard at having fun again .. I'm Mrs Steve Irwin. I've got a lot to live up to,' she said.

Originally published asTerri Irwin vetoes death footage

In early September 2006, 44-year-old wildlife expert and TV personality Steve Irwin was filming a documentary called Ocean’s Deadliest off the coast of north-eastern Australia. On September 4, due to bad weather, he decided to film some shots in shallow water instead, for his daughter’s TV show.

Irwin was snorkelling at Batt Reef – part of the Great Barrier Reef, near Port Douglas – when, according to cameraman Justin Lyons, they went in for “one last shot” with an eight-foot stingray.

Steve Irwin Death Footage

“All of a sudden it propped on its front and started stabbing wildly with its tail. Hundreds of strikes in a few seconds,” Lyons later said.

“I didn’t even know it had caused any damage. It wasn’t until I panned the camera back and Steve was standing in a huge pool of blood that I realised something was wrong.”

Irwin had been stabbed in the heart by the stingray’s foot-long barb. He was rushed out of the water and onto his team’s boat, Croc One, where Lyons attempted to resuscitate him.

“He just sort of calmly looked up at me and said, ‘I’m dying’. And that was the last thing he said,” Lyons later told Australian TV channel Network Ten.

“We hoped for a miracle. I did CPR on him for over an hour before the medics came, but then they pronounced him dead within 10 seconds of looking at him.”

Attacks by stingrays are extremely rare – and while their barbs are coated in venom, it was the strike to the heart, not the poison, that caused Irwin’s death.

'They have one or two barbs in the tails which are not only coated in toxic material but are also like a bayonet,” explained Australian wildlife filmmaker David Ireland.

“If it hits any vital organs it's as deadly as a bayonet.'

Australian Prime Minister John Howard led the tributes to Irwin, calling his death “a huge loss” to the country. “He was a wonderful character, he was a passionate environmentalist, he brought entertainment and excitement to millions of people,” said Howard.

“I really do feel Australia has lost a wonderful and colourful son.”

Irwin was buried in a private ceremony at Australia Zoo, the 100-acre wildlife park created by his parents and owned by Irwin and his wife Terri. Flags on the Sydney Harbour Bridge were lowered to half-mast in his honour.

On September 20, more than 5,000 people – including John Howard and actors Russell Crowe, Cameron Diaz and Hugh Jackman – attended a memorial service at the zoo’s Crocoseum stadium.

Irwin’s eight-year-old daughter Bindi spoke at the service, saying that her father had been 'working to change the world so everyone would love wildlife like he did'.

'I have the best daddy in the whole world and I will miss him every day,” she said. “When I see a crocodile, I will always think of him.'

Steve Irwin Videos

Irwin’s father Bob also paid tribute to his son. “Please do not grieve for Steve, he's at peace now,” he told the crowd. “Grieve for the animals. They have lost the best friend they ever had, and so have I.”