Steve Irwin. Crocodile Hunter. Dead at 44. Crikey. We all knew you'd go like this-attacked by one of the creatures you so cavalierly risked your life to muck about with. We've known it since 1992, when the Discovery Channel started beaming images of you cuddling with crocodiles and swimming with sharks throughout Australia to millions of international television sets. Dying quietly in your sleep just didn't seem like an attractive option, did it?

Because let's face it: No matter how much training you had, no matter how many snakes you wrestled as a child or years you spent working at the Australia Zoo as a grown man, there were only so many death-defying experiences you could have before death defied you.

You were always a bit reckless. Hell, that's why we all loved you. Steve Irwin, the guy who would happily lecture audiences about the extraordinary toxicity of a Death Adder while crouched near a prime example of the species. Steve Irwin, the guy who traumatized Oprah by bringing out his daughter (Bindi Sue, born in 1998) with a snake wrapped around her tiny shoulders; Steve Irwin, the guy who thought nothing of tossing a dead chicken to a 13-foot croc with one hand and cradling his son (Bob, born in 2003) under the other.

In the end, though, you always did mean well. With some help from your wife (and sidekick) Terri and talented team of filmmakers, you catapulted yourself into a short but distinguished list of folks who made conservationism cool-Jane Goodall, Jacques Cousteau, Sir David Attenborough-as you fought tirelessly against wildlife hunts and promoted the natural beauty of your home continent.

Still, of all the animals you've encountered during your adventures, why was it that the ignoble stingray would be the one to take you down? It's bad enough that you had to meet your maker while shooting a documentary on the Great Barrier Reef called Ocean's Deadliest, about all the things in the sea that can kill a man (talk about showing by demonstrating). But a stingray barb to the heart? Stingrays don't even attack unless provoked. What were you doing to it, mate?

Whether your death was accidental or not, however, certain responsibilities don't fall by the wayside. Terri, you know what you have to do. Find the stingray that killed your husband and destroy it. Possibly with dynamite.