Two Year Old Dragged Into Lagoon By Alligator At Disney Resort

If Disney created this beach, how did an alligator get in it?

So confused and dismayed, so sad.

a reply to: Irishhaf

Stopping gators from getting to water is kinda like trying to stop the tide from coming in.. good luck with that.

To the people that think gators should be hunted to extinction... look at the list of fatal gator attacks and get your priorities right... there is a laundry list of things that could kill a child before you reach the danger of a gator attack.

You cannot remove a top level predator from an eco-system without a cascade effect through the entire area, I am sorry the kid died, but gators are about as far down the list of potential killers in Florida as you can get.

^This indeed^

As a parent, I cannot imagine what this father is feeling. I can also tell you that I, myself, would have been keeping a very close watch on any largish body of water in known gator territory.

I grew up in gulf-coast Texas and it was quite rural when I was younger (it has since become quite suburban), so have a healthy respect for the dangers many animals pose through their very nature. There is no malice in them, they simply are what they have evolved to be and are extremely efficient at surviving.

Many who have nothing other than city-life experience cannot comprehend that it does not matter what sort of facade we erect to hide the natural world, there are still animals 'in the wild' and they will continue to behave as they have since before we started using sticks and stones to bash each other with.

Eat or be eaten.

Zootopia is not reality.

Disney theme parks are now turning to nightmares.

a reply to: jadedANDcynical

But this is Disney World, the family Utopia.

Shouldn't there have been sufficient protection of gators near their top notch resorts? A team or someone who can scan their man-made beach to make sure it is safe for their visitors?

Of all places in the world, Disney should have this? I don't expect it at a random roadside or even other Florida hotels (I stayed at a hotel one time that had a sign up that said "beware of gators")

but Disney? A man-made beach?

a reply to: veracity

For all we know the gator just got to that body of water...

You can sweep a lake twice a year and I guarantee in Florida you will pull gators out twice a year.

they can travel pretty far and pretty quick from water source to water source.

a reply to: veracity

If Disney created this beach, how did an alligator get in it?

This is how, the body of water where the attack took place:



A wider view:



Not the large number of waterways surrounding Magic Kingdom?

Now look at this:

Alligators

Alligators have inhabited Florida's marshes, swamps, rivers and lakes for many centuries, and are found in all 67 counties. In recent years, Florida has experienced tremendous human population growth. Many residents seek waterfront homes, and increasingly participate in water-related activities. This can result in more frequent alligator-human interactions, and a greater potential for conflict.

Living with Alligators and Crocodiles

You cannot expect to go in to an animal's habitat and not experience that animal.

a reply to: veracity

Yes, you are correct, it's Disney.

Right in the middle of alligator country, just because they pour some sand and do some landscaping does not mean that the animals are going to take note of our little bits of civilization. They are going to do what they have always done.

Here is some information from the Alligator brochure:

In the past 10 years, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has received an average of nearly 16,000 alligator-related complaints per year. Most of these complaints deal with alligators occurring in places such as backyard ponds, canals, ditches and streams, but other conflicts occur when alligators wander into garages, swimming pools and golf course ponds. Sometimes, alligators come out of the water to bask in the sun or move between wetlands. In many cases, if left alone, these alligators will eventually move on to areas away from people.

...

* Be aware of the possibility of alligators when you are in or near fresh or brackish water. Bites may occur when people do not pay close enough attention to their surroundings when working or recreating near water.

* Do not swim outside of posted swimming areas or in waters that might be inhabited by large alligators

Alligator Brochure .pdf

I would think that the above is common sense, but apparently not.

a reply to: Irishhaf

I understand this but I expect Disney to pay to scan their beaches more than twice a year to ensure safety for their visitors at their high priced resorts.

This is a place where families and children flock. To ensure a safe beach should be at the top of their list.

a reply to: jadedANDcynical

Then they should not have fake beaches for people to use recreationally and let their guard down. These people are from Nebraska not Florida.

Do those beaches have chairs and umbrellas? Picnic tables?

Anyways, Disney manages their parks right down to the smallest detail of a guest's experience. They have a lake, they should have made sure it was predator-free, regardless if anyone was supposed to get in the lake or not. Like someone said, this is Disney, an attraction whose main client is children, who often need to be protected even from themselves.

The child was on the beach, next to his dad, with his toes in the water. If there was a 'beware of gators' sign, maybe the dad would have thought twice. But a 'no swimming' sign was irrelevant. The child was not swimming.

a reply to: jadedANDcynical

Its a whole seperate issue imo. Disney could easily protect the shore area near the playground. Easily. With either surveillance automation like cameras or fish finders set to go off when an object of a certain size passes into an area or they can also easily section off the beach area in the water up to a certain point with underwater fencing and monitoring the area close to shore. On the people side of the fence.

If you ask me its disney not respecting that gators live there. The very least a be ware of gators sign. Like I said for people from Nebraska who assume Disney has taken safety steps to protect its clients.

originally posted by: luthier
a reply to: jadedANDcynical
They can also easily section off the beach area in the water up to a certain point with underwater fencing and monitoring the area close to shore. On the people side of the fence.

exactly.

How tragic is this... So sad. My heart goes out to the family. The father unable to save his own child...what he must be feeling right now. God bless the family and make a special place in Heaven for the child.

I believe this is the end of the alligator mating season. Big males are moving around much more than usual and one most likely found this body of water and claimed it as his own. It is disheartening to hear that others did not help. But honestly, who would jump onto a wild alligator in the water? You are seriously out matched in every category. The muscles used to open the alligator mouth are very weak but the muscles used to close it are immensely strong. There is no way you are going to pry that mouth open. The most you could hope for is to aggravate the alligator enough to make it drop the child.

This is the stuff nightmares are made of.

a reply to: Vroomfondel

THis is at fault of Disney. They have been cutting corners for awhile, firing workers to hire foreigners, it does not surprise me that they are lacking in customer or employee safety.

Its a shame bc it WAS a place of dreams. Prince Charming picked my daughter (out of a whole room of people) to dance with at the Grand Floridian restaurant. It was magical. Glad we got our moment bc we will never go back.

a reply to: veracity

so how many time would be acceptable, shutting down a fairly important portion of the park to check the lake for gators?

for those that havent been there you take a ferry across the lake in question to enter the magic kingdom.

eta: I ask because odds are high that within a week of it being checked a gator would be back in it.

Would it not be very simple to erect a fence round it?

a reply to: Irishhaf

if they do it twice a year now, then once a month is expected for Disney in my opinion.

a reply to: johnb

or to put up "beware of gators" sign?????

Fatal Gator attacks

I counted 23 off this wiki page... since the 1970's..

What happened was tragic, Disney should probably make a more serious attempt to educate people that are staying there...

But what we have been seeing is a knee jerk emotional over reaction, they are a predator, they infest swampy areas, they travel from body of water to body of water...

You want something to fear in florida, they have started finding Crocodiles there... now those are dangerous.

originally posted by: veracity
a reply to: Irishhaf

if they do it twice a year now, then once a month is expected for Disney in my opinion.

Ban this, censor that, sue them, make everything safe everywhere all the time.

People need to blame someone when something negative happens, and they can't put the blame where it belongs (Father)

No swimming means no part of your body enters the water. I don't care if he was just up to "his toes", to that end, the gator would have been extremely visible considering the size of a gator vs the amount of water needed to cover "his toes."

Plain and simple, a small child was eaten by an alligator because the parents were negligent as hell, this doesn't happen often.

Gators don't need to be hunted down, Disney doesn't need to be held responsible and pay millions, and put up more signs and hire more people to track animals across every body of water on their property every day.

Know what needs to happen? Personal responsibility needs to make a come back in this country.

" Maybe this wouldn't have happened if DISNEY had put up more signs and had more gator patrols!!!"

Yeah, or maybe if the parents weren't completely negligent they child wouldn't be in the process of becoming gator turds.

Or are small children being snatched out of their watchful fathers arms by gators on the regular?