NEW YORK - Bindi Sue Irwin, the precocious child of famed “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin made the talk-show rounds yesterday and delivered a chilling message with crystal clarity. Appearing on “Live With Regis and Kelly,” Ms. Irwin said: “I wish to enlist the aid of all good-hearted people listening to the sound of my voice. If you love my father as much as I do, I ask that you help me avenge his murder by wiping every stingray from the face of the Earth! Take to the beaches with torches and spears! Destroy all stingrays!” Ms. Irwin’s father, Steve Irwin, was killed by a stingray while snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef . When host Regis Philbin attempted to remind Ms. Irwin that her father was a conservationist who devoted his life to animals, the little girl fixed her steely gaze upon him. “My desire for vengeance has completely overwhelmed my initial reaction to the senseless murder of my father,” she said. Ms. Irwin was referring to the moving speech she gave at the memorial service for her father, in which she asked all people to dedicate themselves to the preservation of wildlife around the world. “My words were taken out of context,” she said.
Ms Irwin added that she has enlisted the aid of both Japanese and Norwegian commercial fishing ventures to achieve her dream of stingray-free seas. “They promised me that as soon as they have captured and slaughtered every last whale, they’ll go after stingrays.” When Mr. Philbin reminded her that such a job “could take quite a while,” Ms. Irwin nodded. “I’ll bide my time,” she said.
The stingray suspected in the death of Mr. Irwin remains at large. Police say he should be considered barbed, and dangerous.
