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Child dragged into water by gator near Disney's Grand Floridian


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Tragic, but letting your 2 y/o by a lake at night in Florida is close to neglect in my book.

 

Quote

A 2-year-old boy who was attacked and dragged into the water by an alligator on the shores of Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa Tuesday night was still missing early Wednesday morning.

Deputies are in the water and air, calling it a search-and-rescue operation.

"Right now we're going to bring in some fresh eyes and continue with the search," said Jeff Williamson, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Office. "Prepare for the worst, hope for the best."

Teams searching for the toddler found four gators, but no sign of the child.

Deputies are using sonar today to search the Seven Seas Lagoon man made lake, with help from a helicopter and 10-person dive team, Williamson said.

Additional Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers are also in boats searching.

Nick Wiley, executive director of FWC, said investigators aren't giving up hope in their search, but the chances of a successful rescue fade the longer it goes on.

"Right now, all we're doing is searching for a little boy to hopefully bring a family some closure," Williamson said.

A trapper is on scene to catch any suspected gators, he said. They're still examining the four caught overnight.

Splashing in the water caught the attention of guests, who realized the boy was grabbed.

The family of four from Nebraska checked into Disney on Sunday night. There is also a 4-year-old girl with the parents.

One employee at the resort who did not want to be identified said in an email "There is such a problem on property with guests feeding the alligators thinking it's cool." There are two at the Buena Vista Palace that people regularly feed from balconies, he said.

Dad tried to save son

Demings said the family was relaxing on the shoreline when the alligator attacked the boy. The father entered the water and tried to pry the child from the gator, but was unsuccessful. He had scratches on his hands after the ordeal.

Parents then alerted a nearby lifeguard that an alligator had attacked the boy. Officials estimated it was between four and seven feet long.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/deputies-child-dragged-into-water-by-gator-near-disneys-grand-floridian/ar-AAh40fF?li=BBnb7Kz

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1 minute ago, ArcticCrusher said:

Very sad news.  

 

Resort should have placed beware of alligators signs next to the no swimming ones if they were known to be in the area.

Come on man....gator be hungry..he gotta eat too.

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5 hours ago, Highmark said:

 

6 minutes ago, xcr700 said:

Wow. Insanely tragic news. I couldn't imagine what the parents are going through 

 

 

5 minutes ago, ArcticCrusher said:

Very sad news.  

 

Resort should have placed beware of alligators signs next to the no swimming ones if they were known to be in the area.

 
 
 

x2

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3 minutes ago, Capt.Storm said:

That's animal abuse bitch!

 

Yes, and now they will have to open it up.

 

Wherever I have been in the USA that had alligators near establishments had both beware of alligator signs and do not feed the gator signs.

 

I remember being at a restaurant in Point Comfort, TX a number of years back and there were about 4 or 5 gators in sight.

 

This is Disney, the gayest place on earth, don't assume people know better.

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1 minute ago, ArcticCrusher said:

 

Yes, and now they will have to open it up.

 

Wherever I have been in the USA that had alligators near establishments had both beware of alligator signs and do not feed the gator signs.

 

I remember being at a restaurant in Point Comfort, TX a number of years back and there were about 4 or 5 gators in sight.

 

This is Disney, the gayest place on earth, don't assume people know better.

:lol:

Edited by Capt.Storm
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1 minute ago, ArcticCrusher said:

 

Yes, and now they will have to open it up.

 

Wherever I have been in the USA that had alligators near establishments had both beware of alligator signs and do not feed the gator signs.

 

I remember being at a restaurant in Point Comfort, TX a number of years back and there were about 4 or 5 gators in sight.

 

This is Disney, the gayest place on earth, don't assume people know better.

Holy shit :lol:

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35 minutes ago, ArcticCrusher said:

Very sad news.  

 

Resort should have placed beware of alligators signs next to the no swimming ones if they were known to be in the area.

That would mean that Disney knew about the dangers and may be liable if something happened.  Many times we can't put snowmobile signs up because of that very reason.

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We let our kids go in the water there on a trip about 20 years ago. Didn't notice the no swimming signs until the next day. Talked about that just this morning. We were probably very lucky that day, although it was daytime.  

I have an aunt who  lives near Tampa. There is a drainage pool behind her house, she sees gators nearly every day. One only has three legs, they call him Peg Leg Pete.Has trouble getting around, but I would not challenge him to a race. 

They are common in Florida, anywhere there is water, which is pretty much everywhere. 

 

If a family from Florida went on vacation in Nebraska (I know, not likely), and let their kid play near the edge of the woods, and got picked off by a Mountain Lion, would we be more or less surprised?

People do stuff without thinking, I feel incredibly bad for them, they will carry this for the rest of their lives, but I'm not sure anyone can blame Disney, or the parents at this point. 

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48 minutes ago, racer254 said:

That would mean that Disney knew about the dangers and may be liable if something happened.  Many times we can't put snowmobile signs up because of that very reason.

 

I will bet they will have them up immediately like their neighbors do.

 

0615-no-swimming-gators-sign-disney-hyatt-graham-regency-02

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  • Gold Member
47 minutes ago, racer254 said:

That would mean that Disney knew about the dangers and may be liable if something happened.  Many times we can't put snowmobile signs up because of that very reason.

How can Disney be held liable for the actions of a wild animal that is native to the area? Thats like an wilderness camp operator being responsible for someone being mauled by a bear.

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1 minute ago, Kivalo said:

How can Disney be held liable for the actions of a wild animal that is native to the area? Thats like an wilderness camp operator being responsible for someone being mauled by a bear.

Good question.  Are you more liable if you put a sign up or not?

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Just now, racer254 said:

Good question.  Are you more liable if you put a sign up or not?

Its a wild animal not a pet. there should be no liability either way.

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2 minutes ago, Kivalo said:

How can Disney be held liable for the actions of a wild animal that is native to the area? Thats like an wilderness camp operator being responsible for someone being mauled by a bear.

 

I am willing to bet we will be hearing about many other close calls.  I don't think they should be held liable, but they need to inform dumb tourists of possible dangers near their property, cause it's Disney.

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1 hour ago, ArcticCrusher said:

Very sad news.  

 

Resort should have placed beware of alligators signs next to the no swimming ones if they were known to be in the area.

They are all over the place.  I've been there many times.  They say to stay out of the water.  It was totally dark of night.  I find it pretty amazing anyone would have a toddler next to a lake in Florida at night like that with all the warning signs.  I was in Florida two weeks ago - at 8:15 it was pitch black.  They have a full hr and a half less sunlight than we do in MI this time of year.

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14 minutes ago, ArcticCrusher said:

 

I am willing to bet we will be hearing about many other close calls.  I don't think they should be held liable, but they need to inform dumb tourists of possible dangers near their property, cause it's Disney.

There are many signs not to go in the water.  Any person staying at the Grand Floridian (minimum $700 a night) is going to be educated enough to know gators are everywhere in Florida I would imagine.

Edited by SmeeAgain
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