Stingray kills Michigan woman in Florida Keys

Associated Press - March 20, 2008 12:44 PM ET

MARATHON, Fla. (AP) - Officials say a Michigan woman died after a
stingray jumped out of the water and struck her in the upper body in the
Florida Keys.

Wildlife officials say the spotted eagle ray hit the 55-year-old woman
in the face or neck while she was in a boat with her family Thursday.
Her name and hometown aren't being released yet.

Officials say it's not clear whether the animal's barb struck her, or if
the impact killed her. It's also not clear how big it was.

Spotted eagle rays can grow up to 17 feet in length, weigh up to 500
pounds and have a wingspan of up to 10 feet.

They are known to occasionally jump out of the water but are not
aggressive and use the venomous tip at the end of their tail as a
defense mechanism.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

On Mar 20, 1:08*pm, hk wrote:
Stingray kills Michigan woman in Florida Keys

Associated Press - March 20, 2008 12:44 PM ET

MARATHON, Fla. (AP) - Officials say a Michigan woman died after a
stingray jumped out of the water and struck her in the upper body in the
Florida Keys.

Wildlife officials say the spotted eagle ray hit the 55-year-old woman
in the face or neck while she was in a boat with her family Thursday.
Her name and hometown aren't being released yet.

Officials say it's not clear whether the animal's barb struck her, or if
the impact killed her. It's also not clear how big it was.

Spotted eagle rays can grow up to 17 feet in length, weigh up to 500
pounds and have a wingspan of up to 10 feet.

They are known to occasionally jump out of the water but are not
aggressive and use the venomous tip at the end of their tail as a
defense mechanism.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Thanks. You are the only person on earth that can read the news so we
all need you to cut and paste any article you see.

wrote
Thanks. You are the only person on earth that can read the
news so we all need you to cut and paste any article you see.

I really don't mind anyone c&p'ing a news article to try to get a discussion
started. At least this one's kind of on topic. (For the record, I'm against
stingrays jumping into boats and killing 55 year-old women.)

Ernest Scribbler wrote:
wrote
Thanks. You are the only person on earth that can read the
news so we all need you to cut and paste any article you see.

I really don't mind anyone c&p'ing a news article to try to get a discussion
started. At least this one's kind of on topic. (For the record, I'm against
stingrays jumping into boats and killing 55 year-old women.)




I used to be wary of sharks, especially when I was messing around in
Florida waters...but these damned rays, I never considered them a
problem until "Crikey" bought it last year.

"hk" wrote
these damned rays, I never considered them a problem until "Crikey" bought
it last year.

I kinda figured he was asking for it. (Whoever had stingray in the "what
animal will kill Steve Irwin" pool must have made out like a bandit.) Sounds
like this woman in Florida was minding her own business.

"hk" wrote in message
. ..
Ernest Scribbler wrote:
wrote
Thanks. You are the only person on earth that can read the
news so we all need you to cut and paste any article you see.

I really don't mind anyone c&p'ing a news article to try to get a
discussion started. At least this one's kind of on topic. (For the
record, I'm against stingrays jumping into boats and killing 55 year-old
women.)


I used to be wary of sharks, especially when I was messing around in
Florida waters...but these damned rays, I never considered them a problem
until "Crikey" bought it last year.

Ya, but Crikey was unnecessarily messing with them.

On Mar 20, 5:06*pm, wrote:


Crikey should have just gone on a tourist boat ride
to "Stingray City" in the Caymans. They drop you off in knee deep water that is infested with big stingrays and just about the only thing they tell you is not
to get on TOP of one. Let them swim over you.

I've been there (guess lots of people have!). I remember first they
have you "pet" the rays as they swim under your hand, then they give
you food to put on your palm and the animal comes over, hovers above
your hand ums it right out. During the first activity my very
squeamish wife freaked out from just touching them and just hopped
back on the boat for tue duration. Well this story has been pretty
pointless I guess. At the time of course I thought nothing of it,
years later when "Crikey" (glad you guys are referring to him with a
nickname 'coz I can't think of his actual name, Steve something I
think) happened, I was kind of scared retroactively! Wonder if that
hurt their business at Stingray City.

richforman

hk wrote:
Stingray kills Michigan woman in Florida Keys

Associated Press - March 20, 2008 12:44 PM ET

MARATHON, Fla. (AP) - Officials say a Michigan woman died after a
stingray jumped out of the water and struck her in the upper body in the
Florida Keys.

Wildlife officials say the spotted eagle ray hit the 55-year-old woman
in the face or neck while she was in a boat with her family Thursday.
Her name and hometown aren't being released yet.

Officials say it's not clear whether the animal's barb struck her, or if
the impact killed her. It's also not clear how big it was.

Spotted eagle rays can grow up to 17 feet in length, weigh up to 500
pounds and have a wingspan of up to 10 feet.

They are known to occasionally jump out of the water but are not
aggressive and use the venomous tip at the end of their tail as a
defense mechanism.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

I saw a stringray jump out of the water when it was being chased by a
nurse shark, a very impressive sight.

Everytime I am in the keys or south Florida, I always wear water shoes
and "shuffle" when walking in the water, that way you don't step on them
or other potentially dangerous fish.

On Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:31:51 -0400, Reginald P. Smithers III wrote:


I saw a stringray jump out of the water when it was being chased by a
nurse shark, a very impressive sight.

I used to fish that area quite a bit. On more than one occasion, I would
be sitting quietly fishing, and a ray would crash back into the water.
It would startle the hell out of you.

On another occasion, I was about to pull a snapper into the boat, when @
5' barracuda decided he wanted it. That sucker cleared enough water that
I was literally looking up at it. Now, that was an impressive sight.
All that remained of the snapper, was the head.

wrote:
On Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:31:51 -0400, Reginald P. Smithers III wrote:


I saw a stringray jump out of the water when it was being chased by a
nurse shark, a very impressive sight.

I used to fish that area quite a bit. On more than one occasion, I would
be sitting quietly fishing, and a ray would crash back into the water.
It would startle the hell out of you.

On another occasion, I was about to pull a snapper into the boat, when @
5' barracuda decided he wanted it. That sucker cleared enough water that
I was literally looking up at it. Now, that was an impressive sight.
All that remained of the snapper, was the head.

Catching "heads" is rather common around reefs and wrecks.