It’s always a good policy to remind potentially giddy tourists about any obvious danger that may face them. They’re thinking of sunshine and happiness not fatal accidents and storms.
Facts about alligators in Florida.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-florida-alligator-facts-factbox-idUSKCN0Z12OY?mod=related&channelName=domesticNews
“There are about 1.3 million wild alligators in Florida, according to an estimate from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. That’s more than 22 per square mile and about one for every 15 residents.”
“They likely exist in every waterway in our state,”
You know when we go on a cruise vacation the first thing they talk about is safety. They do a safety drill.
When we go on a plane the first thing they talk about is safety. (emergency exits, seat belts)
I think visitors need to be informed about the do’s and don’ts on the campus of Disneyworld. Example, do not feed the alligators.
Visitors need to be aware of their surroundings and the best way to keep their families safe while on vacation.
And, again, I will say that people who stay at the GF are, indeed, informed in the package of information you receive at check-in. Whether or not you read the information, or follow it, is entirely up to you.
@alwaysamom Do you know exactly what the check in information says in writing?
It would make a difference to the behavior of the more cautious types, and at least that’s something. And it would offer the resorts some protection from liability. If a resort had clear and in-your-face warning signs, it would be easier to maintain a defense against a claim of negligence and, depending on the applicable tort laws, the failure of a guest to heed such warnings could relieve the resort of some or all responsibility. I’m sure there are some interesting results from cases where fools ventured out on frozen ponds despite warnings about thin ice and drowned, which strikes me as an analogous situation.
Maybe some parents on this thread want to reassure themselves that something like this could never happen on their watch. Maybe it makes you feel better about yourself. I think it is appalling to be parsing whether the parents were close enough, or not watching. Gators occasionally take prey on the beach (not even in the water) – this could have happened with the kid just standing on the edge. Have some pity for those parents who will be picking out a casket for their two year old this week.
I do pity the parents. It must be hard questioning what might have been different , I pity their other child who will now have to grow up without a brother, but most of all I pity the two year old who died.
Jack Hanna’s words of caution.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2016/06/16/what-you-need-to-know-about-alligator-attacks-according-to-jack-hanna/
@raclut We were there a year ago so, no, I no longer have that package of materials we received when we all checked in to the GF. I do not know the exact words but I do know that there was a section on the wildlife across Disney World and cautions to stay out of the water and not to feed any of the wildlife.
This tragedy has been haunting me all week. Remembering the joy we all felt when we were there and the wonderful memories we have of that vacation with the entire family. I cannot imagine what that family is going through, and how they managed things like packing his suitcase, flying home without him, preparing for a funeral instead of returning home with those same wonderful memories we have. It is heartbreaking.
I am so bothered by this story. I am also very upset over the keyboard warriors all over the internet who are all over the parents. It was a horribly tragic accident and I don’t think there will be a day that goes by in the lives of the mother and father that they won’t be haunted or feel overwhelming guilt and grief.
^^^^^I think they will be cursed with horrible, graphic nightmares the rest of their days. I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.
It’s likely as more information comes out, more responsibility will fall to more people. I read yesterday that the new (within the last year) 2k a night bungalows have guests who have regularly been feeding the alligators. That area is very close to the site of the attack. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3645504/Disney-ignored-employees-complaints-guests-2-000-night-bungalows-feeding-alligators.html
At Yellowstone, we are regularly warned NOT to approach or near wildlife, nor of course feed them. Nonetheless, Rangers frequently have to come and get people away from moms with new baby fawns.
Bears open vehicles like “snack cans” because they can see or smell food (that a tourist has previously fed them). Bears that become too used to people gave them often have to be killed because they become too dangerous when losing their natural fear of people.
When we went on a New Orleans swamp tour, our guide lured the alligators by feeding them marshmallows. We paid for the tour, so we subsidized the feeding of these creatures a VERY unnatural substance and helped them associate boats of people with treats. In HI, there are shark tours that lure sharks via chumming the water with bloody fish bits–the locals of course are very upset about this practice.
We (as a people) all need to allow wild animals to remain wild and stop feeding them as a people and stop encroaching so much on their turf. Unless we do, there will surely be many more preventable tragedies.
I think there are more stupid people who feed gators than there used to be. That definitely increases the risk.
In general, not just at Disney.
There are just so many more alligators for them to feed.
Thanks for the link in #221. I have been trying to find records of alligator population increases in the last few decades. My guess is that it is rather frightening. I am concerned about providing them comfortable habitats among people. Unless there is some extermination, populations continue to grow. Some animals eat alligator eggs and young, but they are pretty much at the top of the food chain.
As more and more alligators survive to adulthood, and they get more comfortable around people, I assume attacks will increase on pets, at the very least. Something I read said they do avoid people generally, but when they are fed by people and begin to associate people with food, they don’t differentiate between the food and a hand.
Disney should be strict about enforcing the $500 fine for feeding alligators. They are caught in a situation where they are trying to keep their $2000/night customers happy and at the same time have to worry about keeping their visitors safe while having fun.
You can put as many warning signs up hoping to keep the visitors safe but there are always going to be a few people who will disregard the warnings and do their own thing. Even after such a public incident someone will claim ignorance and continue to feed the alligators. Look on youtube and you see people more interested in capturing what they see on video or taking selfies to post on social media instead of taking warnings for their safety seriously. You can never forget Disney was built on a swamp and no matter how many alligators they kill or capture there is always going to be one that causes trouble for their neighbors.
Yellowstone has been fining tourists doing stupid stuff despite the warnings:
The baby buffalo incident made me really sad. $110 is pitiful.
Disney should have a zero tolerance for gator feeding policy, but they probably have calculated that the $$ times risk of a large settlement form a gator incident is still not worth ticking off those $2,000 paying customers.
Yosemite has warnings that ‘a fed bear is a dead bear’. Disney should put a card in every room that a ‘fed gator led to a dead child’.
A special church service was held on Thursday in Nebraska and a gofundme page has raised over $50,000 for the family.
http://www.christianpost.com/news/matt-and-melissa-graves-parents-of-2-y-o-boy-killed-by-alligator-at-disney-resort-to-hold-special-service-165287/
I do think there’s a difference between a National Park and a Disney resort. One is wildlife, the other is a man-made, supposedly child-friendly multi-billion dollar enterprise that markets itself as a joyous safe place for families.
That’s why there are no obvious, to-the-point alligator warnings. Because it’s not fitting with the image of a Disney happy place. And I think that’s IN PART why that child is dead.