[Dion]

Nick Wiley, executive director of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which spearheaded the search, said the American alligator was feeding and likely confused the small child for a dog or a raccoon. The gators do not typically feed on humans.

“People – even small people – are not their typical prey,” he said.

Wildlife officials count around a dozen alligator bites a year in Florida, but fatalities from the reptiles are far less common. There have been only 23 fatalities caused by alligators in Florida since the 1940s, Wiley said.

Tuesday's incident is the first known alligator attack at the Seven Seas Lagoon, he said.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2...-fla/85905266/