Friday, March 21, 2008

Human/Stingray relations at an all time low

We’re at war.

Sting Ray kills Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin. Despite early conspiracy theories crocodiles are not found to be in league with sting rays or to have had pior knowled of attack.

Angered Australians kills sting rays by the dozens.

A month later, an 81-year-old Florida man was lucky to survive after a stingray landed in his boat and left a foot-long barb in his chest.

Stingrays decry Danish "ray" cartoons as offensive and burn Swedish embassy claiming Danish embassy is too far from the ocean and relatively fireproof..

Then, this:
A US woman on a boat off the Florida Keys has died after a stingray leaped up and struck her in the face.

Judy Kay Zagorski was boating with her family in the Atlantic Ocean when the 75lb (34kg) spotted eagle ray hit her.

The force of the blow knocked the 57-year-old over and her head struck the deck of the vessel, in what officials called a "bizarre incident".

The stingray died in the impact. Mrs Zagorski, of Pigeon, Michigan, was pronounced dead in hospital.

"It’s just as freakish an accident as I have heard," wildlife official Jorge Pino told the Associated Press news agency.

Mr Pino said she did not appear to have been pierced by any of the ray’s barbs.

The incident occurred near the town of Marathon in southern Florida.

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