Australian nature icon Steve Irwin has been killed in a stingray attack near Cairns on Australia's far north coast. Most people will remember 44-year-old Steve Irwin by his larger than life personality and his ability to highlight wildlife conservation in a way that people from all walks of life could identify with - Steve Irwin was the host of the nature documentary series "The Crocodile Hunter" aired on television stations around the world. He was born in Victoria and found his love of animals after following in his father's footsteps, volunteering his services to the Queensland Government's East Coast Crocodile Management program. He spent years living on his own in the mosquito infested creeks, rivers and mangroves of North Queensland, catching huge crocodiles single-handed.

Apparently Steve was snorkeling at Batt Reef, a part of the Great Barrier Reef about 9 miles (about 15 kilometers) from the town of Port Douglas, when the incident happened on Monday morning. Steve was in the area to film pieces for a show called "The Ocean's Deadliest" with Philippe Cousteau (grandson of Jacques Cousteau), Steve's manager and friend John Stainton told CNN's "American Morning." The weather had prevented the crew from doing work for that program, said Stainton, so Steve decided to do some softer features for a new children's TV show he was doing with his daughter, Bindi.

"He came over the top of a stingray that was buried in the sand, and the barb came up and hit him in the chest," said Stainton.

Wildlife documentary maker Ben Cropp, citing a colleague who saw footage of the attack, told TIME that Steve had accidentally boxed the animal in. "It stopped and twisted and threw up its tail with the spike, and it caught him in the chest," said Cropp. "It's a defensive thing. It's like being stabbed with a dirty dagger."

For a guy who spent years single-handedly catching huge crocodiles, it seems bizarre that he gets taken out by a stingray - stingray attacks are extremely rare, there have only been two similar deaths reported in Australia. I've seen a bunch of stingrays in my time, and they are rarely if ever aggressive, preferring instead to run from any perceived threat - in fact you pretty much have to stomp on one to have it even attempt to nail you with it's barb. Steve once told the Animal Planet website he had "many, many close calls - too numerous to mention really." It's very unfortunate that this one happened to get Steve in just the wrong place - must've been a big bugger though. At least he went out doing what he loved best - rarking up the wildlife.

Here in NYC where New Zealanders are few and far between, I often get mistaken for an Australian (yeah, I know Aussie and Kiwi accents are distinctly different, but many Americans don't seem to pick up on the difference). In one of my classes at university I did an impromptu Crocodile Hunter impression (with the trademark "Crikey!" and "What a beauty!") - everyone immediately identified with the character of Steve Irwin I was portraying and had a good laugh over it. There's very few personalities that have such a deep level of identification with people young and old in so many different places around the planet. The fact that his passing was simultaneously the lead article on the world news sections of both CNN and BBC international speaks volumes. Steve and his antics will be sorely missed.

My deepest condolences to his wife Terri and two children, Bindi and Robert. Rest in Peace Crocodile Hunter, you nutball.