2 year old boy snatched by alligator at Disney World

[Strange Brew]

I have stayed at this resort a number of times. One morning standing on my patio I saw a gator swimming through the water near the boat landing. Pretty good size one too, maybe 6 feet.

You can boat on this lagoon and there are beaches set aside for swimming. Unfortunately gators are a part of life in Florida and I don't think Disney can do much about that. The lagoon itself is huge.

This is a tragedy obviously and I am not really big on looking for blame. I wouldn't let my 2 year old wade in the water at the lagoon but coming from Nebraska you are not thinking about gators.

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

I have stayed at this resort a number of times. One morning standing on my patio I saw a gator swimming through the water near the boat landing. Pretty good size one too, maybe 6 feet.

You can boat on this lagoon and there are beaches set aside for swimming. Unfortunately gators are a part of life in Florida and I don't think Disney can do much about that. The lagoon itself is huge.

This is a tragedy obviously and I am not really big on looking for blame. I wouldn't let my 2 year old wade in the water at the lagoon but coming from Nebraska you are not thinking about gators.

I suppose large signs saying 'danger stay away from the alligator infested water' prominently displayed all over the resort, of course then it's a little less magical.

[afc wimbledon]

Maybe they could use a Captain Hook mascot to teach gator awareness, 'hey kids I lost my arm to a ticking crocodile, but by the beach the gators don't tick, they still rip yer arm off though'

[rbochan]

There's a church near here, in Skaneatlelas that's right on the lake. They have a sign at the edge of the water:

"Enjoy God's creation.

No swimming."

[missdpuck]

As a Floridian I expect a gator to turn up wherever it pleases.

However, I wouldn't expect people from the Midwest to expect one at magical Disney where there are no "Alligators may be present " signs. That's the standard signage at parks, lakes, canals, wildlife areas , etc.

I hike in Central Florida where there are bear warning signs, but never see such signs in southeast Florida. I would never in a million years expect to see a bear here but it has happened a little less than an hour from here, which is still really odd.

Now people have to be warned about coyotes as there are more of them, but I don't see any coyote warning signs. The same with feral hogs.

Disney is marketed as a protected fantasy land. I'd hardly call the parents "morons".

We recently completed a 70 mile hike from the ocean to Lake Okeechobee. Because of our wet winter this year, at least half of the hike was wet. We went through knee-deep water for miles in one area. Except for a mile on a road, the hike was in preserves, WMAs , remote parks, etc and mostly on the Florida Ocean to Lake Trail.


Gator sightings for entire trip:2, including one aggressive male who was about to pounce on something(not us) . Snake count :3, none poisonous.

There are no reported attacks by gators on humans on this trail. Perhaps because hikers are aware and prepared and also you never see what you want to see anyway.
At least one of us has a large hunting knife and pointed hiking sticks.
Are we nuts? Maybe. Gators in this area are not used to people, so there were probably many who saw us and got away quickly.

Spent 12 hours in swampy wildlife management areas yesterday. Gator count :0 Barred owl standing in road: 1 At 2pm-go figure.

Disney is negligent for not posting the standard "Alligators may be present" signage.

Lake Dora in the city of Mt Dora has a little beach with beach chairs, etc and alligator warning signs. You will see baby gators here and there. No problems as far as I know.

Clyde Butcher has been wading around alligator infested swamps for years.

They always tell us not to bend or crouch down in the swamp or near banks. You will look more prey-sized. This poor child was the perfect size. My heart goes out to these people.

When you've lived her long enough you know to look for them. Everywhere!

[missdpuck]

Originally Posted by nik-

You'd think if there were alligators in the water they'd go with something more forceful than stay out of the water or no swimming.

Something like "There are alligators in this water"

Yes, those signs are in every park, fake-lake development etc that I'm aware of. There's a picture of a gator with instructions not to stand, swim, wade etc.

Guess Disney doesn't want too much reality to intrude.

[FlamesAddiction]

A few years ago I spent a couple of weeks in a small town in Mexico. It was the kind of area that was pretty much off the grid for most tourists, so it wasn't really developed. My wife and I would walk down the dirt road from the house to the main road to catch the bus into town. Near the end of the stay, a local pulled over to ask if we wanted a ride. At first we said no, but then he said that the jungle on both sides of the road had alligators and it was really dangerous, which explains why we never saw anyone else ever walking in that area. I think we were pretty foolish/naive in a sense, but I would like to think we weren't morons.

I am willing to bet that a lot of people fooled around by the lagoon in Disney World without incident in the past. It was probably a case of monkey-see-monkey-do, and unfortunately ended in tragedy.

[foshizzle11]

My partner was at this resort about 15 years ago and he predicted that one day there would be an incident like this one because of the presence of the gators in this lagoon. He saw kids feeding the gators huge turkey legs from their dinner plates at the resort from a pedestrian bridge. No barricades, no signage, but obvious there was gators back then.

There should have been signs mentioning the presence of gators in the lagoon, maybe a couple different signs. At almost every trail head in K-country there is a sign warning of wildlife in the area. People here usually take precautions to prevent an incident from happening. Disney needs to do a better job of informing guests about the dangers of the lagoon upon booking at their resort. Obviously this will happen now, how couldn't it. Seems pretty strange to me that there weren't any signs stating there are gators in the lagoon, do we know for sure now that there were no signs stating this? Or just the "no swimming" signage?

This is heart breaking, I can't imagine what the parents are going through. I hope that other learn from this experience that you must be prepared when you travel and learn about the location before going, including learning about the wildlife found in the area.

[DiracSpike]

When I went to Australia three years ago my first stop was Cairns in the far North. Walking along the beach promenade there were signs, large prominent signs, with a sketch of massive crocodile jaws and extreme warnings that you would be attacked as prey if you went in the water. I was pretty stoked to be in Australia and I'm all about the beach and swimming so if those signs weren't prominently displayed with extreme warnings I might have gone in. Obviously now I know that swimming in any body of water in the Australian tropics is stupid beyond belief, but being from places that are pretty wild life benign like Canada or Nebraska these thoughts don't come that naturally.

I looked at this resort beach in google street view and there's one small white wooden movable sign pole that just says no swimming, they should have definitely included stronger language.

[Coach]

I'm kind of on the fence here. I really put no blame on the parents as, despite some negligence (or maybe naivety) on their part, it's a tragic accident.

That said, I think some of the posts in here are a little dishonest. I don't want to speak for others, but as someone from a benign place for dangerous wildlife, gators would literally be my first thought about stepping into the water in Florida, especially if there was a "no swimming" sign. Just like sharks would be the first thought about entering the ocean in Australia. I'm constantly checking for scorpions and other things in shoes and bedding if I'm ever in a place like Mexico or California. If all I knew about this story was that a person died in a lagoon in Florida, I would have assumed gator attack.

I get that it's Disney World, and an animal attack would probably be the furthest thing from your mind, but to say they shouldn't have known to be aware of it is pretty disingenuous.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by MattyC

I get that it's Disney World, and an animal attack would probably be the furthest thing from your mind, but to say they shouldn't have known to be aware of it is pretty disingenuous.

Couldn't disagree more. There is nothing disingenuous about saying they shouldn't have known.

Frankly the idea that anyone has to be afraid of any animal in all places anywhere is silly. It's like saying everyone in Calgary should be aware of wolves, bears and mountain lions at all times when they step out their door to go to work in the morning. Yes they are prevalent in some places, but only idiot tourists think we take dog sleds to work and kill bears with our bare hands and make coats out of their pelts.

Unless there were signs saying beware of wildlife and specifically gators, I'd assume they were being over protective tourists if they just assumed that there could be gators everywhere.

There is an overwhelming responsibility of the park to ensure that their guests are aware of any dangers from staying at the resort.

So either Disney was totally incompetent, which is highly unlikely, or they also thought there was about a zero chance of being a gator attack.

[CliffFletcher]

This was the equivalent of a cougar taking down a kid 20 meters away from his chalet at the bottom of the ski hill in Whistler.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

This was the equivalent of a cougar taking down a kid 20 meters away from his chalet at the bottom of the ski hill in Whistler.

Except this happened smack-dab in the middle of a city with a metro population of 2.2 million people. I don't think everyone knows that there are urban alligators in Florida.

It's more like the equivalent of a kid being snatched by a cougar in Stanley Park. It's a theoretical risk and could happen, but most tourists probably wouldn't expect it.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by MattyC

I'm kind of on the fence here. I really put no blame on the parents as, despite some negligence (or maybe naivety) on their part, it's a tragic accident.

That said, I think some of the posts in here are a little dishonest. I don't want to speak for others, but as someone from a benign place for dangerous wildlife, gators would literally be my first thought about stepping into the water in Florida, especially if there was a "no swimming" sign. Just like sharks would be the first thought about entering the ocean in Australia. I'm constantly checking for scorpions and other things in shoes and bedding if I'm ever in a place like Mexico or California. If all I knew about this story was that a person died in a lagoon in Florida, I would have assumed gator attack.

I get that it's Disney World, and an animal attack would probably be the furthest thing from your mind, but to say they shouldn't have known to be aware of it is pretty disingenuous.

But a lot of those fears you have are irrational and rather foolish to be concerned about. Sharks don't kill people in any substantial number, you should be concerned with drowning. Hypothermia or dehydration kill more people in the desert then all the wildlife. Falling or exposure kills more people in alberta than cougers or bears. Wildlife fears are inherently irrational on a statistical basis.

The parents in this case should have been concerned about drowning and that is all. Maybe car accidents driving to and from the airport as well. Alligators statistically don't eat people. And with no warning signs present that this lagoon presents an elevated risk at a resort that invests a lot of money in guest experience and safety why would you ever consider this potential.

These kind of incidents statistically don't exist. Its the same as being kidnapped by a stranger or eaten by shark. It is a stupid thing to worry about.

[missdpuck]

They should post something similar to this.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

And this is the beach at the Lakeside Inn on Lake Dora in Mt Dora, about 45 minutes north of Disney.

What you don't see are the gator warning signs all over the place.

Sorry, I think Disney really dropped the ball on this one. They claim to monitor the area? Come on.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

Couldn't disagree more. There is nothing disingenuous about saying they shouldn't have known.

Frankly the idea that anyone has to be afraid of any animal in all places anywhere is silly. It's like saying everyone in Calgary should be aware of wolves, bears and mountain lions at all times when they step out their door to go to work in the morning. Yes they are prevalent in some places, but only idiot tourists think we take dog sleds to work and kill bears with our bare hands and make coats out of their pelts.

Unless there were signs saying beware of wildlife and specifically gators, I'd assume they were being over protective tourists if they just assumed that there could be gators everywhere.

There is an overwhelming responsibility of the park to ensure that their guests are aware of any dangers from staying at the resort.

So either Disney was totally incompetent, which is highly unlikely, or they also thought there was about a zero chance of being a gator attack.

These things are not nearly as common, nor are they commonly in urban areas, in Calgary. But yes, you go hiking pretty much anywhere in the parks there are signs warning people of bears/cougars and even how to deal with them if an attack happens. And those attacks are much less frequent than gator attacks in Florida. We don't really have a comparable because, as mentioned, we come from a place where the wildlife danger is pretty benign. But that doesn't mean people shouldn't make themselves aware of such things in the places I'm travelling to. We constantly get on people who get themselves lost or caught in avalanches when crossing ski line boundaries. Generally those signs just say "No Ski Zone", "Ski Boundary" or "Avalanche Area" and have a small rope that's not blocking anyone. People still go there, and we all call them idiots when they get in trouble. What would we as Canadians say if someone took their kid across that line?

I agree that that Disney should have more specific signs, and likely more visible signs, and that it's probably the biggest failure of the whole thing. All I'm saying is that, being from a place without such threats, seeing a sign beside a body of water in Florida would instantly make me think of gators. And no, people shouldn't be going around afraid of everything, there's probably a higher risk of the kid drowning in the water than being attacked by a gator, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be aware of the fact that gators are everywhere there, and you should be careful around pretty much any body of water. And yeah, I think some people in here are being a little disingenuous about their thoughts on going into water in Florida. Like never in a million years would you have thought a gator attack could occur in a Florida lagoon? Really? Like I said, maybe it's just me, but it would literally be the first thing to cross my mind, with or without signs.

[Ruttiger]

Originally Posted by Cecil Terwilliger

only idiot tourists think we take dog sleds to work and kill bears with our bare hands and make coats out of their pelts.

Literally nobody thinks this. It's something a few fools like to tell themselves as an excuse to laugh at 'ignorant tourists.'

[blankall]

Originally Posted by MattyC

These things are not nearly as common, nor are they commonly in urban areas, in Calgary. But yes, you go hiking pretty much anywhere in the parks there are signs warning people of bears/cougars and even how to deal with them if an attack happens. And those attacks are much less frequent than gator attacks in Florida.

I don't think this is true. If you add up the number of bear/cougar attacks in Canada and then then take into account 20 million people live in Florida alone, the number of attacks wouldn't be that different. There have been 2 fatal bear attacks in Alberta alone over the last couple of years.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by Ruttiger

Literally nobody thinks this. It's something a few fools like to tell themselves as an excuse to laugh at 'ignorant tourists.'

haha. That's all you understood of that entire post? Seriously?

[Coach]

Originally Posted by GGG

But a lot of those fears you have are irrational and rather foolish to be concerned about. Sharks don't kill people in any substantial number, you should be concerned with drowning.

Yes, but I can swim, and so I have already taken steps to protect myself from drowning as much as possible. I can't swim faster than a shark though. Are you telling me you would enter water in Australia with signs saying "no swimming"? Maybe it's my own fear but I would not. And if I did, I would certainly be as vigilant as possible and definitely be very uncomfortable. What if a local told you they are shark infested waters? The likelihood of an attack is still pretty minimal. Would you go in? Not even saying you shouldn't be, but you'd have more guts than me, that's for sure.

The parents in this case should have been concerned about drowning and that is all. Maybe car accidents driving to and from the airport as well. Alligators statistically don't eat people. And with no warning signs present that this lagoon presents an elevated risk at a resort that invests a lot of money in guest experience and safety why would you ever consider this potential.

As I said, they should certainly have more appropriate signage posted at the beach if there is any risk of gator attacks, especially because it's a tourist spot. And again, as I said, I really don't blame the parents at all. But to think that a "no swimming" sign by a body of water in Florida doesn't instantly make you think of gators, I dunno, to me it seems disingenuous. Saying so isn't putting blame on the parents. Tourist naivety about the dangers there is something Disney should be doing it's most to protect against.