Disney! be careful!!!

I am so sorry to hear about the death of this young man, but I have to question the intelligence of the family. It blows my mind that adults who are smart enough to have the financial means to travel to Florida and stay at a more expensive hotel are too stupid to realize that ALLIGATORS live in Florida. I am sure that some lawyer will pounce on this incident and Disney will pay a large payout. The signs say "No Swimming", but they don't say anything about allowing a 2 year old to wade into the murky water at night when gators are most likely to be searching for food.

This country is quickly falling to the lowest common denominator, therefore making it so that there have to be signs EVERYWHERE warning you about EVERYTHING.

There is a reason that I don't go into bodies of water if I can't see what is in them. Any lake just about anywhere in the United States is able to house a poisonous snake... no thanks. Any body of water in the Southeast from central Virginia down to the tip of Florida is able to house an alligator... no thanks.

I have seen gators in household pools. I've seen gators on golf courses. I've seen gators on the side of the road. NO THANKS. Blaming the gator for eating a small mammal in the water is like blaming a bear for pooping in the woods. Blaming Disney for the actions of a gator on its property is like blaming the National Forest Service for stepping in bear poop on a hike.

Tragic loss, I feel horrible for the family. I hope they accept their own responsibility and hopefully this tragedy educates the ignorant ones who don't realize that you cannot ever control or tame nature.

Alligators are dangerous. I once watched a gator use his tail to flip a dog into the water. The gator took the dog into his mouth and submerged. The gator drowned the dog and then ate him later. I just pray that Disney puts additional warning signs about gators in the area. Nature is very interesting and is good for educational purposes. We humans must be watchful and respectful of the wild nature in animals. May the perpetual light shine and the little boy and may God heal the hearts of the parents.

We live on a lakefront. The first thing we did was put up a fence before we took the dogs out without a leash. They love to swim. Gators can climb fences so we always check first of course. As mentioned, a gator is incredibly fast. Splashing really gets their attention. At night it would be very dangerous. That said, they tube and ski in our lake but do not seem to "swim" in the lake. Guess the boats spook them out of the way.

There is gator hunting in Florida but it is highly regulated and quite expensive for tags.

At Cape Canaveral they installed chain link fence and at the top they curved it backwards so the gators could not climb over.

I feel badly about this, of course.

But the parents allowed a 2 year old to wade in the water where a sign says No Swimming. Apparently not well supervised either.

I have lived and visited lots of places where there are dangerous natural species - alligators, snakes, bears of all different kinds, insects, mountain lions, elk - you have to respect them and their environment and natural instincts.

Like I said, I feel very badly (and am sure DisneyWorld will have to fork over some money, but it is not the alligators' or DW fault for the very most part.

Just MHO.

And in addition to gators, if you're stranded in the mangroves overnight, you not only have the mosquitoes to deal with, but thanks to some ignorant pet owner, the pythons will climb into your boat from over the transom or side. We have a short fence around our 'Glades place so the dogs can go out at night without worry of Wally...

The only possible thing that Disney could do is have gator patrols that shoot and kill any large gator. Hardly what Disney visitors want to see, a gator massacre every night on the lake. And the fact that gators are protected would also stop that from happening.

No, a licensed agent can take them out.
Disney stated that they do have a wildlife agent contracted that patrols that lake for large gators and they trap and euthanize them routinely.

LEGAL STATUS
....This listing provides federal protection for alligators but allows state-approved management and control programs. This listing has been adopted by the State of FloridaAdobe PDF. Alligators can be legally taken only by individuals with proper licenses and permits....

wildtoad wrote:
An interesting yet tragic event. Disney constantly culls out the bigger gators which of course indicates they know they can be a problem. Disney puts up signs telling those that can read not to swim which for most people means to stay out of the water. Two adults allow their two year old to wade out into the water ignoring the signs and placing their child in danger. The gator does what gators do and grabs what it thinks is dinner.

One has to feel sorry for the parents and family. I suspect Disney will fork over some cash even though I think they are less at fault than the parents.

X10
Area was clearly marked NO SWIMMING.

And of course Disney will be sued and pay the price for people who don't follow the rules and obey the signs. And in this case the ADULTS chose to disobey the signs and very sadly lost their child because of it.

Everything you ever wanted to know about gators!
http://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/managed/alligator/facts/

We go to the Okeechobee Lake area. Nice RV parks. But you need too check under your RV, car, picknik table Daley.

The park we stayed at. Had a lot of ponds, culverts that connected to the canal. The Canal would be full of them.

Yet you would see people walk there pets close to the water. Leave pets tied up outside.
There also were poisonous snakes around the canal area.
You have to be smart and alert in places like this.
Disney is no different.

Strabo wrote:
I would never even allow my grandkids anywhere near some place gators live, Disney allows gators on its property. Only a matter of time before something awful happens, and it did. Disney is responsible for the death of this child.

IMHO

OK this is Florida and Florida has gators. Disney does not "allow" gators on its property. It is just about impossible to keep gators out of any body of water in the state. Even screens at the lake outlet don't work since baby gators will pass right thru and then grow up to be big gators. And gators also walk from one pond to another.

So if you are near a lake, river, pond and even swimming pool in Florida you are near a gator most likely. You just won't see them. And they hunt actively at night and prefer hunting at the water's edge. They are very fast and will attack anything small enough. Dogs are a favorite target.

It is very unfortunate that the small child was attacked.

The only possible thing that Disney could do is have gator patrols that shoot and kill any large gator. Hardly what Disney visitors want to see, a gator massacre every night on the lake. And the fact that gators are protected would also stop that from happening.

A tragic case to be sure, however it is well known that Florida has alligators. Alligators will go wherever they please. They are opportunistic hunters. Stealthy. I am not familiar with alligators so anywhere alligators might be I give them a very wide berth.

There is no way I would dip so much as a big toe into a freshwater body of water at night, let alone allow my child to get anywhere near it. What little I know, I do know that gators are very fast on the attack for short bursts.

As a former snorkel tour operator I was frequently asked if sharks would be seen? My standard answer was that snorkeling is done in the ocean. Sharks are in the ocean. They swim wherever they please. 18 years. Never a shark sighting where I took people but there was always the chance.

Back in the 80's at Fort Wilderness there was a gator attack that took a leg.