In the midst of a worldwide media story being compared to the death of JFK or Princess Di, and which crashed many websites, Cryptomundo’s “Steve Irwin Killed” apparently filled a critical niche. The tragic death of Steve Irwin was easily the major topic at the lead of most news organizations’ attention on September 4th. Why would people want to read about it here?

What quickly happened was that alternative news sources came to Cryptomundo to learn a little known fact about Steve Irwin: he had searched for cryptids too, including the Thylacine. Reportedly, Irwin devoted an entire episode of “The Crocodile Hunter” to the search for the Thylacine, and there’s even a rumor that he might have captured an elusive Thylacine on film once while he was taping for that episode. I have yet to confirm that. (For more about the Thylacine/Tasmanian Tiger, see “70 Years: Thylacines Still Rule!”.)

Running early with a mention of our story on The Anomalist, this was followed by a pickup on Xeni’s blog at Boing Boing, and a link from Coast to Coast AM with George Noory. Other links started appearing too on Rense, Meta Comments, The Debris Field, and Best Online, to name a few.

Cryptomundo’s comments, I noted throughout the day of Irwin’s death, served as an outlet for people to register how much they liked and will miss the man. His involvement in the cryptozoological world of the giant reptiles he chased and the Thylacines he hunted allowed us to consider his broadbased impact here. I was happy about that.

Cryptomundo appreciates being able to share how Irwin overlapped his passion with ours. Goodbye, mate. The wild world will miss you.