An unthinkable tragedy at WDW tonight child death UPDATE

It's not out of the realm, but they are mostly in fresh water.  My cousin lived near a gulf canal on the intercoastal, and we never saw them, but did see dolphins and manatees.  They really can't survive in salt water.

I never would have thought about alligators, either. I do think that if they are not there, wdw should put decals of alligators on the no swimming sign. I have never been there but is it strange that they have a beach area but no swimming is allowed? I was just watching the Today show and they said that they have pulled a number of alligators out of the water and are "sacrificing" them for the investigation to "make sure they aren't involved". .

How awful!

When I was growing up, my grandma used to say where there's water, there will be snakes. We lived right by a creek and saw them regularly. In Florida, where there's water, there will be snakes AND gators.

Disney does have no swimming signs posted on bodies of water at the resorts. But I don't recall seeing an alligator warning. If you're not familiar with Florida and its wildlife, you don't see the danger. Most people probably assume the no swimming signs are there because there are no lifeguards.

I read that wildlife removal teams have removed 4 gators from Seven Seas Lagoon as of 7 am, but so far none of them showed signs of being involved in an attack.

Link

Sadly, that is probably part of the problem. It doesn't matter if it is a man made lake-alligators will find their way in. I think, and it has been a while since I heard this, but the lagoon is man made, but it is connected to canals that are attached to larger, natural lakes and estuaries. Disney, for all it's development has done a pretty good job of setting aside a large portion of land as a nature preserve. Like all areas of the world, we have animals that just aren't meant to be interacted with. I read stories of moose and bears and that gives me the willies.

Every single alligator that is found on a child-centric resort such as Disney should be "sacrificed."

Upthread I think I read that alligators only like fresh water. Would it be theoretically possible to make every man-made lake in Disney a saltwater lake to curb the appeal to alligators?

A) I admit, it was my knee jerk reaction as a mother putting her own child in that situation. I'd want them all to die. But as I said, knee jerk reaction.

B) I didn't read that the man made lakes feed into natural bodies of water. I see where making them saltwater would be undoable.

I've never lived in Florida, but we go to WDW every year (DVC members) and I knew that there are gators in every body of water in Florida - but I find wildlife fascinating and pay attention to things. I remember the first time we went to WDW 11 years ago, the driver of our Magic Express bus (takes you from the airport to WDW) had us all looking at roadside ponds looking for gators and made some mention of them being everywhere.

Two years ago, we even saw a bald eagle eating a duck on the banks of the lake behind Epcot by the Boardwalk. I didn't realize there were bald eagles in Florida until I looked it up back in the hotel room. I actually love a good portion of the wildlife at WDW.

I think if Disney tried to change the water to salt water in all its lagoons, it would wreak havoc on the established ecosystem there - and if it is connected into some naturally occurring waterways, it would probably be impossible to maintain.

I always assumed the no swimming signs around Seven Seas Lagoon are because the water is dirty/not chlorinated. Alligators truly never occurred to me.

I've been to WDW a dozen times. I've never ridden the boat, so I've never heard the speech on it.

I've never seen a gator.

I've been to that beach and never seen staff there.

It's a place where people go at night to watch the fireworks.

This is such a horrible tragedy. My heart breaks for this family watching their child get dragged away and not able to stop it.

We've been to Disney a bunch of times and have never really noticed alligators but I never looked too hard either. I did notice all the no swimming signs near every body of water and thought it had to do with something that made it unsafe to even be in the water.

I have been to the beach and seen one in the water, but it is rare.  They don't live in saltwater, but can accidentally end up there looking for water.

Last month we went to see if we could spot some fireflies down Old Melbourne Highway at dusk.  There was a ditch with about 8 inches of water in it from the rain and an little alligator that was in it scared the crap out of me and I know they are everywhere.  I wouldn't even get in a pool without looking first, because one made it's way into a friend's pool when I was a kid. 

How horrible. I can't imagine having to watch for gators when near fresh water.

There is also the fact that most alligators who are found in bodies of water in built up areas are relocated rather than killed. (This is why you keep hearing the people on tv saying that when the alligators reach a certain size they are removed. But they aren't killed.) Up until recently, alligators were on their way to becoming endangered and hunting them became illegal. Once the numbers rebounded that changed, but only in a very limited (by time and by the numbers of temporary licenses allowed for the hunt.) Even now, outside of that limited hunting time, the only people who can remove nuisance gators are those that are licensed by the Florida Game and Fish Commission. 

Conservation laws mean that Disney can't kill every alligator that shows up. They can and do remove and relocate, but to completely remove all of them would be a losing battle. But it does surprise me that there isn't better signage. Every other big body of water that is in an area that is typically visited by non-Floridians will likely have signs that remind people not to swim, and that it is illegal to feed or other wise molest the alligators. 

I went to school in Gainesville. The school mascot is the Gator. There is a huge lake on campus that is chockfull of alligators. There are signs every where about not feeding, not swimming, not walking your dog off leash, not taking pictures of yourself with that gators, not getting to close to the gators...

The report I read said the child *was* wading in the water and playing

I have to say I'm surprised at all the people who didn't realize that gators can be in any body of water in Florida. I'm a northerner and knew this. I wonder if it's because of my massive research prior to our first Disney trip. I actually vividly remember seeing a gator in a retention pond in a business park when I was down there for business trip many years ago, scared me even though I was very far away from it.

Anyhow, this was a terrible tragedy. I can't imagine the horror the family must feel seeing that, I hope the baby didn't suffer for long.