Another tragedy in Orlando

[GameTheory]

I'm a couple of miles from a wildlife refuge full of wild gators -- I see little kids go right up to the edge of a pond WITH THE ENCOURAGEMENT of their parents. (This is a place with no barriers anywhere -- you are in their territory.) People are really stupid.

Actually the same thing almost happened to me and/or my brother when we were little kids one time at a boat launch in the Everglades. One lurking right in front of us while we played right on the edge of the water, so my parents weren't being too bright either that day I guess. American Alligators are generally non-aggressive and will just leave if you get near, but small kids or dogs can be seen as prey. But now they've got those transplanted Nile Crocs possibly becoming established in Florida -- those things will attack anything.

[Rookies]

Originally Posted by onefast99

We have been going to Disneyworld for the past 18 years, we stayed at the Grand Floridian in November and walked along the same beach the child was snatched from. There are no signs that say anything about gators. There are small signs that say no swimming and that's it. You can even walk from the Magic Kingdom along the seven seas lagoon on a path back to the Grand Floridian or the Polynesian or Contemporary hotels which are all on the monorail system. In all of my years going to Disney I never gave any thought that gators were in that lagoon.

Hmmm... the plot thickens. Maybe, there is some fault to be found with Disney, as well.

Toronto Sun


A Canadian family apparently ran from an alligator that lurched out of the water at the same Disney resort lagoon where a two-year-old was attacked.

The frightening episode happened in April.

A British family told the U.K. Mirror they were sitting on the beach of the Polynesian Village Resort, on the Seven Seas Lagoon, with their two young children when the gator clamoured out of the water and onto the sand.

Though the younger daughter of Carl and Karen Davis said she thought she heard something in the water earlier, it was the Canadian family sitting nearby who saw the creature first and ran.

"We sat there for a while longer and dismissed (our daughter's) concern," Carl recalled in the Mirror. "The next thing, the Canadian family sitting a little way up ran over and shouted, 'Alligator!'

"It was directly in front of us, around 40 feet away. It lurched out of the water and we had to run. It was pitch black with no lighting on the actual beach section ... Our daughter was screaming, she was petrified."

The alligator was about four feet long, he said.

He said the Canadians reported it to security, but they don't know what happened after that.

The Polynesian Village Resort is next door to the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa on the same lagoon where a two-year-old boy from Nebraska was snatched by an alligator Tuesday night."

[Tom]

Crocs are bad news.
I was watching Paul Bedard in Australia last night on TV, going after 14-20 foot crocs. A man would have no chance.

When I was in Florida years ago, I took an air boat ride in the Everglades.
We pulled right up to a number of gators, just feet from us.
A few months later, I was watch a show on TV about them and saw that they can jump up out of the water almost their whole length! That would have been square on my arse, teeth first.

Such a tragic thing to happen at such a happy place.
That family will never be the same. I can't imaging the anguish that Mom and Dad went through seeing their baby go like that.

[JustRalph]

New Disney security crew

[zico20]

Originally Posted by Tom

Crocs are bad news.
I was watching Paul Bedard in Australia last night on TV, going after 14-20 foot crocs. A man would have no chance.

When I was in Florida years ago, I took an air boat ride in the Everglades.
We pulled right up to a number of gators, just feet from us.
A few months later, I was watch a show on TV about them and saw that they can jump up out of the water almost their whole length! That would have been square on my arse, teeth first.

Such a tragic thing to happen at such a happy place.
That family will never be the same. I can't imaging the anguish that Mom and Dad went through seeing their baby go like that.

Same thing happened to me. I was in an air boat and an alligator was within a foot of me. I moved to the other side of the boat real quick, fearing the gator might jump into the boat and attack me.

[zico20]

Originally Posted by Frost king

So what is the difference between this and the Cincinnati incident? One child was lost and the other was saved. When it comes to wild animals, none can be trusted. That is why, the Cincinnati Zoo killed the gorilla. To avoid this kind of tragedy.

You could say the same thing about people. None can be trusted. A gorilla is a mammal and an alligator is a reptile. There is the big difference. I would have no problem if every alligator and crocodile were wiped off the face of the earth. To me, especially the croc, they are an evil animal and have no purpose having an existence.

[zico20]

Originally Posted by Fager Fan

Unbelievable. And at Disney, which was named as one of the places cased by the shooter.

An alligator snatched a 2yo last night. They've searched through the night but so far the child and gator haven't been found. Horrible. The father witnessed his child getting snatched.

First the singer murdered Friday night, then the terrorist on Saturday night, then this on Tuesday night.

It is said that bad things happen in threes. I guess Orlando is now safe for the time being.

[zico20]

Body recovered.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/06/15...-confirms.html

[therussmeister]

CNN has reported that the body has been found with only a few bite marks on it.

[jk3521]

If(when) the family sues, Disney World will have new owners.

[therussmeister]

Originally Posted by zico20

You could say the same thing about people. None can be trusted. A gorilla is a mammal and an alligator is a reptile. There is the big difference. I would have no problem if every alligator and crocodile were wiped off the face of the earth. To me, especially the croc, they are an evil animal and have no purpose having an existence.

The biggest difference is an alligator is a predator, a gorilla is not. Gorillas are vegetarians and would only willingly harm a human if it felt threatened, whereas alligators would attack when hungry.

[JustRalph]

The more I hear about this, the more I regret making the previous post. No place for a mild joke.

Looks like there might be some serious lack of warning on the part of Disney.

Somebody is going to get fired big time.

[Grits]

There will be a tremendous lawsuit, too. But no amount of money will ease the horrible loss of their baby boy. Prayers for this family. <3

We went to Wally World twice, years ago, staying at the Polynesian. We figured out by midweek..once was a gracious plenty.

[Fager Fan]

Considering the parents were as responsible for what happened as Disney, shall they also sue themselves? I guess I'm tired of everything always being someone's fault and the answer is to give them money.

There won't be a lawsuit. Disney is already offering a settlement, I'm sure. They're a top notch company and family friendly and would figure the negative publicity of fighting a lawsuit would be worse than paying them.

[tucker6]

Originally Posted by Fager Fan

Considering the parents were as responsible for what happened as Disney, shall they also sue themselves? I guess I'm tired of everything always being someone's fault and the answer is to give them money.

There won't be a lawsuit. Disney is already offering a settlement, I'm sure. They're a top notch company and family friendly and would figure the negative publicity of fighting a lawsuit would be worse than paying them.

I'm normally on your side of the argument, but I live with an alligator not 25 feet from my back porch (live next to a small lake). They are docile and human fearing if you don't feed them. I suspect the tourists there feed them plenty, so they are much less fearful. Every lagoon, pond, and lake here has signage about alligators and feeding. The saying here is 'a fed alligator is a dead alligator'. They must be killed because they become aggressive toward humans.

All that said, it is negligent to the highest degree to not protect both humans and alligators from each other by BOTH cordoning off the water AND having signs. Some will say to remove the alligators, but honestly, they'd be back tomorrow.