Firstly, I don't want anybody taking this to be morbid or disrespecting. It isn't like that at all. I'm a Steve Irwin fan just like a lot of others out there. One of the things I liked the most about him is that he never blamed the animals for anything. And he always tried to help debunk the misconceptions that certain animals are bad and evil for the way they are. He helped people to understand that that isn't true, all animals are fascinating creatures to be respected and preserved. The reason I wrote this poem is because I've seen a bit of ray hatred floating around. I think that's a shame. If we all started hating stingrays because of what happened it would be an insult to Steve and what he worked for.

I'd like to point out that I actually wrote this a couple days ago at work before hearing about the ray killings. And only just today got around to posting it. The "bit of ray hatred" that inspired this poem was just that, a few people verbally bashing stingrays. I don't mean to say that the ray killing is "a bit of hatred" in the least. The people doing it are just a bunch of idiots who needed an excuse to kill something.