Death Ray Strikes Again

When Steve Irwin, the host of the "Crocodile Hunter" television show was killed a Stingray while filming underwater on Australia's Great Barrier Reef in 2006 when its barb pierced his heart most people assumed it was a freak accident and maybe he just got a little too close.

Others have hinted at a secret Stingray agenda to eradicate mankind.

Also in 2006 an eagle ray was swimming in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and couldn't contain its lust for murder so on a suicide mission it jumped into the boat of James Bertakis, 81, and stabbed him in the chest.

He survived after doctors removed the barb through surgery. The animal died on the boat.

Only last week did another eagle ray on some kind of bid for martyrdom leap onto a boat off the Florida Keys on Thursday and stabbed a 55 year-old Michigan woman in the neck with its barb, knocking her to the deck and killing her.

"It's a bizarre accident or was it an accident?," said Jorge Pino, an agent with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The woman and her family were aboard a boat in the Atlantic Ocean, off the city of Marathon in the Florida Keys, he said."A large ray jumped out of the water and collided with the victim and in a highly skilled move stabbed her with its barb ," Pino said.

Eagle rays are common in warm or tropical waters and are often seen near coral reefs. The spotted creatures can grow to more than 8 feet across and have two to six short, venomous barbs near the base of their whip-like tails, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History's Web site.

The rays often swim near the water's surface and can leap out, especially when pursued, but are generally shy of humans except for those they want to kill.

All three victims had been members of the 'Save the whale conservation fund' police are investigating a connection.