Top > Entertainment > 2007 > January > 2007-01-18

?Crocodile Hunter? Death Video Handed to Widow

A video showing the last moments of ?Crocodile Hunter? Steve Irwin was given to his wife Terri and other copies of the tape were destroyed, to avoid the footage being viewed on the internet. This was announced by the Australian coroner?s office in Queensland. Irwin ? who was famous the world over for his daredevil antics and his love for the wild ? was killed by a stingray while filming a show at the Great Barrier Reef. Documentary photographers filmed his death.

Many news organizations and private individuals expressed interest in viewing the last moments of Irwin?s life and police warned that a copy of the tape could come with a price tag of 1 million Australian dollars. As a result, only a small number of copies of the footage were made by the police for investigation purposes and these were kept locked and secure until the case was closed. In December, all copies were destroyed, except for one, which was given to Terri Irwin.

In a September interview with Barbara Walters, Terri Irwin said that the video would ?never see the light of day?. At the time, she said that she had not seen the footage herself. When Irwin?s former manager and close family friend was asked what Terri intended to do with the video, he said that he had no idea and that he had not spoken to her about it. In a statement, police officials said: "The footage has been the subject of widespread media interest and it was wholly appropriate that we took all possible steps to ensure something of such a personal and tragic nature did not fall into the wrong hands.?