Gator at Disney

[madguy30]

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/al...covery-effort-continues/ar-AAh40fF?li=BBnb7Kz

Can't imagine what the parents are going through at the moment. From a liability standpoint, i would figure Disney would have better measures in place to not have gators roaming the properties.

It was gators' 'property' first. When humans infest an area and build on their habitat, they'll find a way to stick around and survive. Apparently putting up signs that say 'no swimming' didn't work.

Sad sad story but it's very preventable if people just pay attention to their surroundings.

 

[bos]

I am been thinking about this. As a dad of a toddler, I have to think that dad did everything he could think of in that instant, and is now blaming himself for not doing more. That said I don't know that more could be done. If the gator gets it's jaws locked on and is in the water not many humans would have much ability to do anything other than maybe being able to hold the gator up and waiting for more help. But even that would be extremely difficult.

As suspected if this was a 4 foot gator, dad wins. Going to guess it was considerably bigger than that, this is from the article below.

"Of the more than 750 alligator complaints investigated by the DNR each season, more than half involve small alligators less than 5 feet in length, according to Rhodes. Alligators of this size feed on crawfish, aquatic insects, small snakes, frogs and turtles. The average body weight of alligators 3 feet in length is not quite 4 pounds. Four-foot alligators average about 11 pounds, while gators measuring 5 feet average only about 22 pounds. Children and dogs that exceed these body weights by a factor of several times are not in danger."

http://www.southeasternoutdoors.com/wildlife/reptiles/article/small-alligators-not-problem.html

They dont just lock on, they roll their bodies so they can tear and drown the prey. Those creatures are all muscle and teeth too. Youre right, that father is going to be beating himself up about it for his entire life. Cant imagine how that family feels. Ill be thinking about this for a long time. Awful deal.

 

[State43]

My wife works with the father. What a horrible tragedy. My heart goes out to this family. Absolutely nothing worse.

 

[Angie]

They dont just lock on, they roll their bodies so they cant tear and drown the prey. Those creatures are all muscle and teeth too. Youre right, that father is going to be beating himself up about it for his entire life. Cant imagine how that family feels. Ill be thinking about this for a long time. Awful deal.

I was going to post this earlier - the barrel roll is usually what is fatal, by design. That would be horrifying to watch as a parent or bystander.

 

[dinger]

I heard this on the radio on my morning commute. You always hear the "once you are a parent you'll understand" and "I would take their pain if I could" stories and they're absolutely true. Every single thing I hear of that happens is this world I just pray never happens to my little guy.

 

[carvers4math]

Also, what an awful week in Orlando. Between this, the shootings, and I believe there was another incident last week, it just isn't the best week at the happiest place on earth.

Son lives in Orlando and even before this said the grief in the city is overwhelming. Just everywhere you turn.

My wife works with the father. What a horrible tragedy. My heart goes out to this family. Absolutely nothing worse.

There are simply no words anyone can say to comfort these parents. And the poor sister who witnessed it. Absolutely heartbreaking.

 

[boone7247]

They dont just lock on, they roll their bodies so they can tear and drown the prey. Those creatures are all muscle and teeth too. Youre right, that father is going to be beating himself up about it for his entire life. Cant imagine how that family feels. Ill be thinking about this for a long time. Awful deal.

I might be wrong on this, but don't they roll once they get to slightly deeper water? Obviously I have never been in this situation. I was thinking the dad was right there and basically tried to pry the kid away before the gator took him under completely.

The couple of stories you hear about people getting away from an attack it is usually because the animal had to open it's jaws to get a better grip before dragging them down. That was my thinking on this.

Still have to think it was bigger gator than reported in the article in the OP.

 

[Clonefan32]

It also makes me quite sick to see people suggesting the father didn't do enough. I imagine he tried his hardest, but prying something from the jaws of a 6 foot alligator, especially with the disadvantage of the whole ordeal starting in water, is no small feet. Can't imagine the grief he and the rest of the family will live with. Just freakin' unimaginable.

 

[Incyte]

I'm speculating, but I'm guessing Disney has a pretty good safety record in view of the number of visitors. Heck, Adventureland had a fatality this month which worries me a lot more.

 

[aeroclone]

I'm speculating, but I'm guessing Disney has a pretty good safety record in view of the number of visitors. Heck, Adventureland had a fatality this month which worries me a lot more.

Considering they have millions of visitors and something like 60,000 employees on site, I would agree. Found this on the Orlando Sentinel website.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/breaking-news/orl-deaths-at-walt-disney-world-htmlstory.html

When you narrow that list down to incidents involving guests, looks like most of the major issues are probably pre-existing things like heart conditions.

 

[Clonefan32]

It's my understanding is this was a sandy beach area that led to the water, albeit with signs telling people not to swim. I just can't imagine there couldn't be barricades of some sort in the water around those beach areas that would keep gators away.

 

[Clark]

It also makes me quite sick to see people suggesting the father didn't do enough. I imagine he tried his hardest, but prying something from the jaws of a 6 foot alligator, especially with the disadvantage of the whole ordeal starting in water, is no small feet. Can't imagine the grief he and the rest of the family will live with. Just freakin' unimaginable.

yeah, it's easy to say what to do in hindsight but in the terror of the moment who knows how any of us would react. If it was truly a smaller alligator, maybe he should have focused on getting the alligator to shore rather than freeing his son, but that's easy to say when you're not caught in the moment.

 

[3TrueFans]

It's my understanding is this was a sandy beach area that led to the water, albeit with signs telling people not to swim. I just can't imagine there couldn't be barricades of some sort in the water around those beach areas that would keep gators away.

Well you'd have to put these barricades around the entirety of the lake or, you know, the alligator could just get out of the water away from the beach and walk.

 

[isufbcurt]

Probably to soon for my Mallrats escalator quote?

 

[aeroclone]

It's my understanding is this was a sandy beach area that led to the water, albeit with signs telling people not to swim. I just can't imagine there couldn't be barricades of some sort in the water around those beach areas that would keep gators away.

In addition to just ruining the natural beauty of the area, if you are going to say that any land owner needs to fence off bodies of water or be liable for alligator attacks, you would have to fence off every lake, pond, reservoir, lagoon, canal, river, and stream in the state of Florida. Gators are all over down there, you just can't avoid it.

 

[cyhawkdmb]

This story is really disturbing. I was just at Disney a little over a month ago. We were walking from Epcot to Hollywood Studio's parking lot after the fireworks at Epcot. The walking path goes right along a lake. I was joking with my kids, 9 and 6 about the boat that was shuttling people back and forth on the lake. My daughter took off to beat the boat to the next stop. My boy followed. I figured they would stop and turn around. They didn't. They ran out of site. My wife started to jog after them, and I just walked and smiled, thinking this is Disney. What could go wrong.

I am sure anyone who has visited Disney has a similar story to mine. Disney is Disney. It is tough to explain. But you get this feeling while there that everything will be perfect while you are visiting. It is a terrible accident that happened to this family. Disney should not be blamed, and for sure the boys father/family should not be blamed.

 

[cloneu]

In addition to just ruining the natural beauty of the area, if you are going to say that any land owner needs to fence off bodies of water or be liable for alligator attacks, you would have to fence off every lake, pond, reservoir, lagoon, canal, river, and stream in the state of Florida. Gators are all over down there, you just can't avoid it.

I would think the best solution is to remove the sandy beach and put in a patio type place a little ways from the water so you can still go to watch fireworks and whatnot. Might not be as fun for people or look as nice, but a gator would need to fully leave the water to cause harm and would be less likely to happen. You can find a ton of videos on YouTube of gators or crocodiles hunting animals and hardly any of them involve the gator being outside of the water.

Usually bad things like this don't affect me too much. But last night I had a hard time getting to bed after watching the reports on TV. Maybe it was because we went to Disney a few months ago or maybe because my kids are about the same age. Such a terrible deal in the middle of something that should have been creating wonderful life memories.

 

[CysRage]

This story is really disturbing. I was just at Disney a little over a month ago. We were walking from Epcot to Hollywood Studio's parking lot after the fireworks at Epcot. The walking path goes right along a lake. I was joking with my kids, 9 and 6 about the boat that was shuttling people back and forth on the lake. My daughter took off to beat the boat to the next stop. My boy followed. I figured they would stop and turn around. They didn't. They ran out of site. My wife started to jog after them, and I just walked and smiled, thinking this is Disney. What could go wrong.

I am sure anyone who has visited Disney has a similar story to mine. Disney is Disney. It is tough to explain. But you get this feeling while there that everything will be perfect while you are visiting. It is a terrible accident that happened to this family. Disney should not be blamed, and for sure the boys father/family should not be blamed.

This but we are in a society that sues for everything. Even if the family has no initial intent to sue Disney, every big law firm in the country is contacting the family telling them that justice will need to be served and Disney is responsible for the child's death (assuming the kid is dead). The family will sue and get $750,000 or less and the law firm will take home 9 million.

 

[CascadeClone]

This but we are in a society that sues for everything. Even if the family has no initial intent to sue Disney, every big law firm in the country is contacting the family telling them that justice will need to be served and Disney is responsible for the child's death (assuming the kid is dead). The family will sue and get $750,000 or less and the law firm will take home 9 million.

We have to blame someone, so our society can pretend that all the Bad Things can be prevented. But they really can't. Death stalks us all at every moment. Be careful in your bathtubs, folks.

 

[CascadeClone]

What I don't get is how they "tolerate" the alligators everywhere in Florida. Imagine if there were mountain lions in those kinds of numbers in Iowa. We'd declare war and kill them all. Actually, this already happened in the 1800s, and there weren't near as many mountain lions as what FLA has for gators.

Is it just impossible to hunt them down to a low level of population? Humans are good at putting other species on the endangered list. Is there a reason we haven't/can't do that to gators, or is it a pro-wildlife decision kind of choice? Honestly asking, not a biology guy.