Irwin expected to die young

“Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin always felt he would die early, but that he would be killed in a car wreck and not by an animal, his widow says.

In an interview with Australia’s Nine Network that aired Wednesday, Terri Irwin said her husband, who died from the jab of a stingray Sept. 4, had an uncanny way with animals that both of them believed would keep him safe as he caught crocodiles, snatched up snakes and played with other dangerous beasts.

“I never thought it would be an animal, he never thought it would be an animal,” Irwin said. “I thought he would fall out of a tree, he thought it would be a car accident.”

In an interview with ABC’s Barbara Walters that was to air Wednesday in the United States, Irwin said she hadn’t seen the film of her husband’s deadly encounter with the stingray and that it wouldn’t ever be shown on television.

“What purpose would that serve?” the American-born Irwin said. Excerpts of the interview were released in advance by ABC.