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Stingray jumps from water, kills woman in Florida
Topic Started: Mar 21 2008, 02:37 PM (55 Views)
agate
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A very sad case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time
Associated Press

MARATHON, Fla. -- A 34-kilogram stingray killed a Michigan woman Thursday when it flew out of the water and struck her in the face as she rode in a boat in the Florida Keys, officials said.

Judy Kay Zagorski, 57, of Pigeon, Mich., was sitting in a boat going 40 km/h when the spotted eagle ray, with a wingspan of 1 1/2 to two metres, leaped out of the water, said Jorge Pino, spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The woman's father was driving the boat on the Atlantic Ocean side of Vaca Key, Pino said.

"He had absolutely no warning. It just happened instantaneously,'' Pino said.

The impact likely killed the woman, but it was not immediately clear if she had any puncture wounds from the ray's barb, Pino said. An autopsy will determine an official cause of death, Pino said.

Spotted eagle rays can weigh up to 225 kilograms and have a wingspan of up to three metres. They are known to occasionally jump out of the water but are not aggressive and usually use the venomous barb at the end of their tail as a defence mechanism.

The rays are protected in Florida waters and are typically seen swimming on the water's surface.

"Rays jump to escape a predator, give birth and shake off parasites,'' said Lynn Gear, supervisor of fishes and reptiles at Theater of the Sea in Islamorada. "They do not attack people.''

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Wasn't a stingray also what killed 'Crocodile Hunter", Steve Irving?

As the title of the thread says, the lady was at the wrong place at the wrong time. We never know when we are next. That must had been quite a shock for her father.
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Kahu
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Missus
Mar 23 2008, 06:51 AM
Wasn't a stingray also what killed 'Crocodile Hunter", Steve Irving?

As the title of the thread says, the lady was at the wrong place at the wrong time. We never know when we are next. That must had been quite a shock for her father.

Yes that's right Missus.......she certainly was in the wrong place at the wrong time!

There was a similar incident here where a woman was in the bow of a launch dolphin watching, and was severely injured, not killed, when one of the dolphins jumped out of the water ahead of the boat and slapped her with its tail! From all reports the woman had not provoked the dolphin in any way. It just seemed that the dolphin had had enough of being watched by nosey humans!!
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Kahu
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For those of you who've never seen these little beasties!!!
Negotiating a way through these would be like walking through a minefield!!!
These are smallish ones feeding in the shallows at low tide. Size...... about 50 cm across and about a metre from tip to tip.

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They're bottom feeders, their mouth is on their underside, and they kind of sift food from the sand and water. Their eyes are on top towards the blunt end and slightly raised. The tail arcs away from the rear, and you can only see the barbs when its too late.
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agate
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I did this about 5 years ago in the Dominican...not sure I would do it again.

Swimming with the rays

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