good-bye steve-o.....crocs rule!

for some strange reason, i awoke at 6 a.m. today. odd, because even on a work day, i don't get up until 6:30 a.m. perhaps it was a sense of impending doom that was waiting for me, perhaps because subconciously i wanted to watch justin timberlake on muchmusic spotlight, perhaps i just needed to have the news confirm to me that there was indeed no traffic on this last holiday of summer.

then, as i was flipping channels on my tv, i saw him. steve irwin, infamously known as the crocodile hunter, was doing an interview and i got excited, because i thought perhaps it was live and he was going to show us some animals. but then the clip ended 2 seconds later with the news anchor saying the animal world has suffered a great loss. panicked, i started flipping through the channels......no! the croc hunter couldn't be gone! but it was true :( news channel after news channel, including cnn, were reporting his devastating death. i couldn't believe it! he was killed on monday while filming an underwater documentary at the great barrier reef by a stingray.

i can no longer look forward to sunday afternoons tuning into animal planet's men on the edge series, "croc diaries" as steve takes us on a tour of australia zoo, their conservation efforts and amazing animal rescues. there's no one in the world who can replace steve's character - no one else can say "crikey!" quite like him. his accent, his excitement, his love of animals, there's no other steve irwin. he will be missed.

(photo from www.animal.discovery.com)

here are a few links to the news headlines surrounding his passing.

My Telus
Canada.com
CNN.com
Animal Planet
Crocodile Hunter