Revenge Killings Take A Strange Turn

It appears that people in Eastern Australia have taken to killing stingrays. At least ten of them have been found killed and mutilated since the death of Steve Irwin in a bizarre accident involving a stingray. Some people believe it may be related to Irwin's death.

At least ten stingrays have been found dead and mutilated on Australia’s eastern coast in the last week in what conservationists believe could be revenge attacks for the death of Steve Irwin, the popular naturalist and television personality.

Irwin, known by his fans as the "Crocodile Hunter", was killed last Monday when a stingray barb pierced his chest as he filmed a new TV programme off the Great Barrier Reef. His death triggered an outpouring of grief in Australia and among thousands of admirers worldwide.

But now it is feared that fans' mourning has taken a new focus: stingray rage.

The dead stingrays have been discovered on two beaches in Queensland state, where Mr Irwin lived and ran his popular wildlife park, Australia Zoo. Two of the unfortunate rays, discovered today, were retrieved with their tails lopped off, according to local fishery officials.

Michael Hornby, a friend of Mr Irwin and executive director of his conservation group Wildlife Warriors, said he was concerned that the rays, which are usually docile creatures, were being hunted and killed in retaliation for Irwin's death, which he said, would go against everything that the television star had stood for.

"It may be some sort of retribution, or it may be fear from certain individuals, or it just may be yet another callous act toward wildlife," he said.

I guess the only thing that really needs to be asked here is how many dead stingrays turned up on average before Irwin's death? They admit later in the story that this sort of thing has happened before. If people are doing this to avenge Irwin, they really didn't understand his message, did they?