Agnes..they are very shy, gentle creatures and getting stung by one is almost never heard of unless you step on them. In the Caymans,and other places you can go out in the ocean and swim with them,even in shallow water. They seem to enjoy touching humans and will almost wrap themselves around you with their velvet soft skin. Of course they want to be fed too. I would have no qualms about getting into the water with one of those beautiful animals.

{{gwi:187310}}

I wonder if Steve Irvin would agree right now.

I always thought they were fairly harmless too. I was always taught to shuffle along instead of just wading at the beach to get them to move along. Last night, our local TV station was talking about Steve Irvin and they had checked the ray activity with the life guards at our beach. Now, I think this must be a gross exageration, but they said that the life guards had treated over 300 people this summer for stings. It's usually just on the feet and lower legs. I simply can't believe that number. I think they must be getting them mixed up with jelly fish stings.

I agree totally with what Marda said. Steve Irwin would be flipping over in his grave at the bad press the rays are getting right now. It totally is the exact opposite about the message he was trying to give. Mr. Irwin's incident was a freak accident, sort of like a meteor crasing from the sky and hitting you in the head. Death by sting ray has got to be somewhere at the very bottom of mortality charts, very bottom.

They are gentle and shy creatures. BTW, my son was trampled several years ago by a herd of cattle he was offloading from a trailer. He was extraordinarily fortunate that the hooves missed his head or vital organs, but he was bruised and the thought of that incident still makes my shackles stand at attention. We don't think of a cow as a mean or bad animal. Sheer size and anatomy makes many creatures potential dangers and it isn't until we get careless or into a unique and freaky situation they become a hazard.

I think sting ray attacks are more common than you think. They sell lower leg protectors for people who fish in shallow waters.
And that place in the Bahamas where you can swim and feed the rays is called Stingray Beach or Stingray Cove or something like that....and the rays have been conditioned to come in for food. Humans are not invading their territory, they are coming to the humans to be fed.
The thing about a sting ray sting is the venom. Supposedly to be so painful that once stung you will every be wary of entering the water without protection of some sort.
The article I have linked states that there are 1500 reported sting ray stings in the US every year.
They may seem to be gentle creatures, but when they sting the injuries can be horrific.
Don't forget that Steve Irwin was filming a feature called "The Most Deadly" when he was struck.
Linda C

Here is a link that might be useful: Bad guy

How many mortalities have there been, Linda? Wasp stings are painful as well, and very common and much more lethal.

I've been to Stingray City in Grand Cayman--the rays are nonaggressive, except for not always being able to tell the difference between an arm or hand and a piece of squid--one can easily end up with a stingray hickey (they have grinding plates instead of teeth).

From what I've noticed when scuba diving (and snorkeling) near stingrays is that they pretty much sit in the sand hoping not to be noticed as predators (and humans) swim by, but if you get too close, they rise up a bit and dart off in a flurry. If you and a stingray are both swimming, it'll make some effort not to be swimming too close to you--about like a flounder, which is about the unscariest fish ever. The sting-to-the-heart scenario is indeed a pretty freaky thing, even if it's now happened at least twice. I would never be afraid of a stingray, but I guess it'll give me pause about making sure I don't invade any comfort zones next time I'm diving.

I won't presume to guess whether or not Steve Irwin was closer than people usually get to such animals while diving, and it's unfortunate in any case. I've seen people do a lot of things underwater that are possibly inappropriate and potentially dangerous--crowding resting nursesharks, waggling fingers in front of (occasionally venomous) fish that are trying to maintain their camouflage, or carrying bits of food. And few divers can resist doing things like seeing how close they can get to a patch of garden eels before they notice and retract en masse into their holes. I've touched a moray eel and been touched by an octopus. It almost always works out okay.

Overall, tsunamis and hurricanes aside, the sea has much more to fear from us than we do from it. Ask the tasty skate on your plate.

Not sure which place you mean Linda..there are many places where you can swim with the rays,either close to shore,where indeed they do come in,or out in the ocean where one can either dive or snorkle to be with them as people do with the turtles and anything else that happens to be coming by. If you want to do the google thing,you'll find many more sites emphasizing the fact that rays almost never attack people.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bad Guys

The BBC reported that the last fatal stingray attack in Australia was in 1945.

That hardly seems like an epidemic.

I'm not sure that 'attack' is the right word as these animals use their barbs for what they feel is defense.

I became very familiar with sting rays when I lived on the beach a few years back. They were incredibly interesting and curious creatures. I remember strolling in the shallows one day, and saw that a small hoard of rays appeared to be following me. Sure enough, when I turned and went back the other way, so did they! I ended up standing still and letting them 'sniff' my bare feet, and even put my hands in the water to pet them.

Dorie

I can't imagine the pain of that barb going in. It can't be compared to a wasp sting as the size makes a good sized hole. I was struck in the foot by a large catfish barb once, and it was unbelievable!! I can imagine what a big ray would be like. Even a small one would make a sizable puncture.

I have seen them accidently caught while fishing. It's probably nearly impossible to get the hook out as there is nothing to hold on to. And he's trying real hard to protect himself with that barb. I believe the usual thing is to just clip the hook off the line and let him go.

I've lived by the ocean many times in my life, and have been stung by jellyfish and certain anemnoe. Yes, it's very painful. I'm sure these are the same waters sting ray were in. I've never had the priveledge to even see one up close. Any human in the sea is an invasion of their territory, isn't it? We are land creatures.

Of course the barb would be painful, but depending on the species and the human reaction, not necessarily any worse than the pain from hornets or wasps. To me, a wasp sting is literally life threatening, but I allow hornets to build their nests on my property and have peacefully coexisted with them for many years unharmed. Again, as usual, it's the humans who thought it was cute to feed wild things who are responsible for rays to come in numbers to populated beaches for handouts. Just like it is for the bears in Yellowstone or the deer here where I live, totally ignoring signs to please NOT.

I guess it depends on which article you are reading about how common stingray stings are.
And here's a link to another in Texas.
http://www.kristv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5363493
The sites in Australia seem to downplay the dangers, either because Of Aussie Machismo or fear or scaring tourists, or perhaps truth.
But if you are swimming in very shallow water and a ray feels threatened and whips up his tail and punctures your body cavity, you are in for some very serious medical stuff.
Here is an eye witness account from someone who witnessed a "minor" stingray sting.
http://www.jerrylabella.com/stingray.html
Of course wasp stings are much more common! There many wasps to the square mile all over most of the US. And by that measurement, lions aren't very dangerous either. When did you last hear of someone killed by a lion? But there are several reports a year of a child being killed by a pit bull.
There are many conflicting reports on stingrays, but all agree that they are capable of causing "horrific injuries" and that the venom causes extreme pain and that some people may be allergic to the venom.
As for swimming with the rays, there are quite a few places where you can swim with the mantas, but I don't believe too many where you can swim with the stingrays.
As for doing the "stingray shuffle"...Yeah, I've done it and had a few skitter away. Had I known then what I know now, I would have been more of a beach sitter than a water wader.
Linda C

Here is a link that might be useful: stingrays

I've never been stung by a ray but Katrina has. I was with her when it happened.
She is a tough lady but that sting has kept her sitting on the beach for the rest of her life. We were playing in the ocean when she accidently stepped on a small ray. I will never forget it. She has a scar on her foot as a reminder.

She will tell you today that it hurt worse than anything she had ever experienced before or since. Pain meds didn't touch it although the heat compresses that were applied
helped the most.

Thanks Janice! So she thought it was worse than a wasp sting eh?

I'd sure hate to step on one too..much better to swim with them.

I KNOW I'm not going wading at the beach now. They had a segment on them on the local news. Our beach and water are sort of muddy colored and the rays just lie there on the bottom and wait for food to float by. They can easily be stepped on if a wader is not careful.

Anyway, the barb on our small local rays is about 6 inches long and about the thickness of a pencil. It's stiff like a pencil too. It's coated with a poison and the barbs extend and rip the flesh as it's pulled out. Therefore, the advice is to break off the barb and get the swimmer to an ER so that it can be removed with the patient sedated. Horrid looking thing!!!

I can see that swimming around with them would be a lot safer than walking around with them lying on the bottom.

What I was getting at is that there are painful and even dangerous situations everywhere and all the time. That doesn't mean you don't respect the creature who can inflict the pain. Creatures are never in and of themselves "bad". It's how we react with them putting us in compromising situations. The media frenzy this freaky accident is causing could cause a lot of people to stay out of the ocean forever and that is certainly their prerogative. But it would be a pity for this to happen because of irrational fears of death from sting ray attacks. To me it's all about impartial facts........and the facts are you are more at risk for death in an orchard than swimming with a sting ray nearby.

Never worried about wading in the ocean in Florida, till i was visiting my DD a few months ago and saw the signs that warned to shuffle to warn the stingrays, will make sure i do that always from now on but don't go too deep anyways, just not comfy invading the ocean creatures territory, the shoreline is fine with me.

I have swum and especially dove with rays all over the world including Australia. Whenever you came near they always swam away. Even mantas which are twice as big as you are flee people and divers. If you step on them they will hurt you, of course you hurt them first even if you didn't mean to. I suppose you could wear booties if you are wading where you know there are a lot ot rays. they are hard to see as they do bury themselves. I never did get the whole story of what that guy was doing, I can not imagine how you could get stuck in the heart unless you grabbed one or something.

So far, this is the most coherent report I've been able to find of what happened...

Here is a link that might be useful: Discovery's Animal Planet