Alligator killed 2-year-old boy in Disney World

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Originally Posted By: hatt
Quote:
Deer also provide considerable economic benefit from both the harvested meat as well as from the sales of hunting licenses, weapons, ammo and other gear.
Can't really say that for Florida gators.
You do realize FL has gator hunting too? Had it for decades.


I didn't.
I have eaten gator meat, breaded and deep fried. IIRC, it tasted kind of like catfish although with a much firmer texture.
If we have one pestilence here that you're generally not allowed to kill, it would have to be the Canada Geese. Huge numbers of these things have become permanent residents of the areas around residential subdivision and commercial strip storm water retention ponds. They wander through streets and parking lots and it's generally unlawful to molest them, although since they're no longer migratory, the federal law that applies to migratory waterfowl probably shouldn't apply to these geese. It is tempting to grab one of these things that know no fear by the neck and give it a quick pull, flick, twist, since they are said to be good eating. Too much trouble to dress and pluck a bird for what you get, though.
Geese are also pretty mean creatures and have been known to attack people. One of these guys could seriously injure a small child.
 
Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
On Tuesday night, an alligator attacked and killed 2-year-old Lane Graves at a lagoon at a Disney hotel near Orlando. The frantic search that followed dominated news coverage on Wednesday, including an afternoon press conference that revealed that the boy’s body had been found.

The alligator attack came just days after the worst mass shooting in US history, which also took place in the town of the company’s flagship theme park. For many American families, Orlando was almost synonymous to Disney World, a safe and fun place to vacation with your kids.
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/disne...-121734390.html

Disney will pay good amount of money to the boy's parents, how much do you think it will be ? Between $1M and $5M ?


They need to investigate the parents for neglect. Why weren't they watching their kid?
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Originally Posted By: Merkava_4


My point is - being that Time Warner is an evil company to begin with and one who gets all their money from ripping off their customers for cable TV - they should pay the parents $5 Billion - with a B.

Ah yes..those evil American Corporations. :rolleyes:
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Originally Posted By: Alfred_B


They need to investigate the parents for neglect. Why weren't they watching their kid?


There's no basis for any investigation of the parents, and they're under no suspicion. They were steps away from the boy. They could have been in the water with him, holding his hand, and the result would have been the same. And before you say anything about him being in the water, alligators can also attack on the beach.
 
I guess I'm just a little taken aback that anyone would want to be near the water's edge, or allow their toddler near the water's edge in Florida. Even people in Nebraska own televisions and have access to news, documentaries, wildlife shows, etc. Bodies of water down there are things you admire from a distance, or from the safety of a boat. Have people just lost their self-protection instincts? I truly feel for the parents, as I can't imagine the horror that is now their lives. But this was entirely avoidable, not by additional signs, razor wire or swamp lifeguards. Only the parents had the power to say "NOPE, GET AWAY FROM THAT!", if for no other reason than the knowledge that there are snakes that love the water. Doesn't Disney have an abundance of concrete pools on their properties, negating the need for people to go wading in dark water which amounts to the perfect alligator habitat? I don't even really understand why they would want to be there when there were likely so many more appealing choices to make. It's beyond sad. I hope they're able to find peace someday.
 
We just came back from a Disney trip and stayed at a resort right near where this happened. We were on the same lagoon with beach access to the water. There is signage all over the place to stay out of the water (no swimming), but you do have full access to the water. With all the watercraft activity, the water is murky and you can't see into it well. A gator could get all up in your business in a blink of an eye.

Disney amazes me how they handle situations. It was very hot, humid and crowded at the parks. I never saw anyone go down, but did see EMS arrive at various times. You'd see them come it, but not leave. I swear there are trap doors that open up and whisk anything negative out of sight.
 
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix

Disney gave no warning whatsoever that there could be deadly animals in the water. Seeing a sign that says "No Swimming" makes one tend to think there is no danger at all, and that they just don't want you in the waters. Big difference.


That pretty much sums it up. A mention of alligators would have been smart, something along these lines which you wrote: "Warning, Do No Enter The Water - Dangerous Alligators". They'd have to do it in several languages and maybe with some graphics to convey the point.


I offer the following cartoon to Disney and parents everywhere as a reminder that the world isn't a Disney movie.

Sandra and Woo

Ed
 
Originally Posted By: JTK
We just came back from a Disney trip and stayed at a resort right near where this happened. We were on the same lagoon with beach access to the water. There is signage all over the place to stay out of the water (no swimming), but you do have full access to the water. With all the watercraft activity, the water is murky and you can't see into it well. A gator could get all up in your business in a blink of an eye.

Disney amazes me how they handle situations. It was very hot, humid and crowded at the parks. I never saw anyone go down, but did see EMS arrive at various times. You'd see them come it, but not leave. I swear there are trap doors that open up and whisk anything negative out of sight.
Disney does have a network of tunnels they use to move people and stuff around.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disney_utilidor_system
 
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Originally Posted By: HerrStig
... A healthy, intelligent two years old can be found by a jury to have the potential for a long working career, worth a lot of money.


Sadly, that is just rank speculation.

Originally Posted By: HerrStig
....M. Mouse & Company don't want a protracted public trial, the publicity will drive tourists elsewhere, and the loss of earnings would be far more than the settlement.


I agree with that. Not only is this bereaved family having to deal with funeral arrangements for a toddler, they are probably also being targeted by ambulance chasers smelling easy money.
 
Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
Originally Posted By: Shannow
A local woman from here was taken by a croc in a National Park up north towards the end of last month.

They've got signs everywhere entering the area, I doubt that there's a single grown up in Oz who hasn't heard of the problems, but went wading anyway.


https://www.yahoo.com/news/disney-faces-...nce.html?ref=gs

Same link:

Quote:
Stanford Law Professor Nora Freeman Engstrom said that Disney had a duty to protect visitors from danger and that wording and placement of the signs would be carefully looked at if the case went to trial.

The company could argue that the incident was not foreseeable and that the sign was adequate, she said. But she predicted the case would not go to trial.

"The bottom line is that they have a child whose body was snatched from the parents" as they watched, she said. "I don't think it is the kind of case where you want to be arguing the ... subtle details of law."
So because a lawyer says something, it makes it true?

Remember, lawyers also said OJ Simpson didn't kill his wife. And there's also lawyers on both sides of a trial for a rapist case, one of the lawyers has to be lying right? In order to protect their client. It's about who can lie the best.
 
Originally Posted By: WylieCoyote
I guess I'm just a little taken aback that anyone would want to be near the water's edge, or allow their toddler near the water's edge in Florida. Even people in Nebraska own televisions and have access to news, documentaries, wildlife shows, etc. Bodies of water down there are things you admire from a distance, or from the safety of a boat. Have people just lost their self-protection instincts? I truly feel for the parents, as I can't imagine the horror that is now their lives. But this was entirely avoidable, not by additional signs, razor wire or swamp lifeguards. Only the parents had the power to say "NOPE, GET AWAY FROM THAT!", if for no other reason than the knowledge that there are snakes that love the water. Doesn't Disney have an abundance of concrete pools on their properties, negating the need for people to go wading in dark water which amounts to the perfect alligator habitat? I don't even really understand why they would want to be there when there were likely so many more appealing choices to make. It's beyond sad. I hope they're able to find peace someday.


Common sense, is not all that common anymore....it would have been a few decades ago or more....Like you said people today have access to media and the internet that allow them to know about such things, even when compared to decades ago, yet somehow these parents were oblivious to this situation around them in Florida?

It is a horrible tragedy, but in the end there should be NO monetary
award to the parents because they were at least as much at fault as Disney was, perhaps the damages could go to some kind of fund for injured children...but DEFINITELY not the parents here. THEY WERE RESPONSIBLE AND NEGLIGENT FOR NOT ADEQUATELY SUPERVISING THEIR BABY.
(Yes at just two years old he really was still a baby.
 
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So I have taken my kids to Disney. Good place for the kids. For me? not so much.

I watch them, but not like I do at say Yellowstone or Yosemite.

At Disney you have the reasonable expectation that your kid is generally safe and most certainly not going to be eaten by a wild animal while in an AMUSEMENT PARK. Signs or not.

Yellowstone or the like? You beat your a.. that goes through your mind. It is discussed by every employee non-stop.

Could the parents have done better? I don't know, I wasn't there.

Should Disney have wild animals at their amusement park.

Nope.
 
Let me give you the perspective of a Florida resident:

1. There are not enough signs manufactured in the nation to put an alligator warning sign everywhere there might be alligators.

2. In entering any fresh water body in Florida, you at risk from everything from aggressive bacteria, parasites, deadly snakes, stinging insects, and more.

3. Alligators travel FAR over land. Alligators relocated from bodies of water to new locations over 100 miles away have been known to return even after multiple removals. Every single body of water in Florida is suspect.

4. Stop blaming the gators. Florida was gator territory millions of years before any branch of primate appeared. They don't need to be eradicated just because we invaded the home of an apex predator.

5. Alligators are not African crocodiles. You really really really have to go out of your way to get an American Alligator to jump out of the water after anything.


Which part of "no swimming" is so ambiguous? If there is a sign outside of a store that says "no stealing", does it require an explanation that a jail sentence and criminal record will follow in order for the warning to be valid?

It is absolutely horrible that a child is dead by such a brutal demise.

Those parents need to be held accountable. Since when was ignorance an excuse? You have to be some kind of extreme incompetent to send a 2-year old swimming in an unknown body of water and just hope everything is OK.
 
I sure hope this stops a ton of Northerners from moving down here!

Seriously, as noted above, gators are a fact of life. I have a small pond, about 1/3 - 1/2 acre that you must watch carefully in case some gator comes by to visit.

Sad day when someone dies, especially a small child at the mercy of his Parents...
 
Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
I sure hope this stops a ton of Northerners from moving down here!

Seriously, as noted above, gators are a fact of life. I have a small pond, about 1/3 - 1/2 acre that you must watch carefully in case some gator comes by to visit.

Sad day when someone dies, especially a small child at the mercy of his Parents...


Say you have an out of state/country visitor. You and your family sure know to be carful around the pond, but your visitors would not necessarily know this. I would imagine that it would be your responsibility to inform them of such a threat, would it not be?
Does Disney inform their guests (they are after all on Disney's private property) of this, specific to this geographical area, threat?
 
Originally Posted By: ls1mike
So I have taken my kids to Disney. Good place for the kids. For me? not so much.

I watch them, but not like I do at say Yellowstone or Yosemite.

At Disney you have the reasonable expectation that your kid is generally safe and most certainly not going to be eaten by a wild animal while in an AMUSEMENT PARK. Signs or not.

Yellowstone or the like? You beat your a.. that goes through your mind. It is discussed by every employee non-stop.

Could the parents have done better? I don't know, I wasn't there.

Should Disney have wild animals at their amusement park.

Nope.

And since they can't insure that there isn't gators around, they should make it clear to clueless people that gators are a possibility in any water in the facility, or anywhere else in Florida. Sure it may potentially scare a visitor away, but that's the price of doing business in Florida.
 
We have reached the peak of the lack of personal responsibility when it is suggested that every visitor to a certain area needs to be given warning about all local predators.

How is everyone even supposed to remember them all and where they can be found? 3-hour checkpoint at the state borders to warn people of alligators, bears, fox, coyote, Burmese pythons, sharks, portugese-man-of-war, barracuda, panthers, poisonous frogs, West Nile carrying mosquitos, water moccasins, coral snakes, africanized killer bees, and all of the rest?

The sign said "No Swimming". If a person hasn't got the common sense to say "maybe I won't let my 2-year old go have a dip there", is there any kind of warning that will help?
 
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