I express my sincere condolences to the immediate families and relatives of the great croc hunter, Steve Irwin.

I first saw him on Discovery Channel about 4 years ago and the first impression from me was like, this man is crazy. But as I watched the show, I became addicted to his crazy stunts, approaching and get in close contacts with crocodiles like they were nothing.

It was indeed a tragic lost to the animal planet as he was a pro-active conservationist. Millions around the world paid tribute to the legend, and the MSN Messenger community had their ways of doing it, too.

Turtles everywhere on MSN Messenger. I’ve no idea why they’ve used turtles, but I suppose it symbolizes the conservation effort made by Stevo to protect endangered wildlife, and turtle is one of them; and also because there were no crocs in the emoticons.

I felt sad for the fact that I’m a part-time Australian and Steve Irwin was pretty much a symbol for the nation. I could still remember the video he made for the Australian Customs‘ Quarantine Matters campaign to remind travellers to declare prohibited goods. The video is played on board of flights to Australia prior to touch down.

Bye Stevo. You’ll be missed.
Steve Irwin (22 February 1962 – 4 September 2006)