Alligator drags child into water at Disney's Grand Floridian hotel

[Deberg_1990]

Wow


http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/...614-story.html


Deputies were searching late Tuesday night for a toddler who was dragged into the water by an alligator near Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa earlier in the evening, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Office.

The 2-year-old child was dragged into the Seven Seas Lagoon about 9:30 p.m., Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Rose Silva said.

Deputies were searching the waters and put crime-scene tape around area to block it off. Multiple emergency vehicles filled the front drive of the Victorian-style hotel and a helicopter hovered overhead.

The child, whose name was not available, has not been found as of 11 p.m.



Some witnesses said they saw the toddler along the beach near the water, but no eye-witnesses to him being dragged into the water by an alligator were available for comment Tuesday night.

The hotel is an upscale luxury resort owned by Disney. It is one of three hotels on the monorail line, just one stop away from the Magic Kingdom Park.

Hotel guest A.J. Jain and his family were visiting Disney from Georgia and said he and his kids were playing on the beach near the scene of the incident earlier Tuesday.

“I’m just here to say a prayer,” he said. “I can’t imagine what those parents are going through. It’s been one tough week in Orlando.”

It is not clear if the missing child was staying at the hotel.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

[BucEyedPea]

Originally Posted by notorious

Sad. I can't imagine being the father that was standing there to watch his son get taken to his death.

Oh, must have been horrific.

[kcpasco]

Let the hunters go open season and reduce that number by half.

[JD10367]

Originally Posted by Mosbonian

For all the times I have been to WDW and stayed at the hotels that surround the Seven Seas Lagoon, I have never once had the desire to wade into that water. Heck...I'm not particularly thrilled about taking one of the smaller boats that you can rent to zoom around the Lagoon either....

On one occasion I took the boat that goes from the Grand Floridian to the Magic Kingdom and was chatting with the guy driving the boat.......I joked saying "wouldn't it be just as quick to swim from the Grand Floridian to the Magic Kingdom" and the guy replied....."well only if your name was Tarzan and you could fight alligators". I am sure I looked stunned because he continued....." this is Florida and you treat every body of water as if it has something in it you don't want to encounter".

Like most people I just assumed that Disney controlled the habitats and would never have dangerous aquatic life on the premises, but I was wrong....

The water in which the park sits in is called Seven Seas Lagoon and is actually manmade and concrete lined. (It was filled by tapping into the nearby Bay Lake. When they filled it for the first time, all the water drained right through, hence the need to concrete line it like the world's biggest swimming pool.) While it would be impossible to keep gators out, you'd think they'd at least have anti-gator fencing or netting surrounding the beach areas. I bet they will now.

[JD10367]

Originally Posted by Hog Farmer

I lived in South Georgia for several years. I had no problem swimming with the Gators. A simple tap on the nose runs them off .

I know. That Florida football team is nothing but a roster of pussies.

[srvy]

Originally Posted by BucEyedPea;12277668[B

]They had a man on TV tonight who knew a lot about gators and he said the gator may have thought the kid was a raccoon or small animal. When the gator realized it really wasn't, the gator left it.
[/B]
I think those divers had brass balls, period. Gotta be more gators in there. What we hear around here is they are more dangerous at the edge of the water. There was a three or five year old helping his dad push up a canoe at the edge of the shore and he got his leg bit off. I saw a baby gator while walking in a marshy area with shallow pools of water by the sidewalk. Mommy had to be nearby. I headed back to my car fast without running.

The guy on TV said these are rare incidents, but there's millions of them now which may now make difference in the number of incidents.

They always say this so the tourist industry isn't hurt. I think to a carnivore who is hungry and see's an easy meal meat is meat. I read a little on gators and they sound a lot like a bear omnivorous. Birds frogs coons rabbits and larger animals they are even seen eating plants and fruits.

I dug this out of wikipedia and sound like they are a lot like a Crock.

Behavior

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alligator
Problems playing these files? See media help.
Large male alligators are solitary territorial animals. Smaller alligators can often be found in large numbers close to each other. The largest of the species (both males and females) defend prime territory; smaller alligators have a higher tolerance for other alligators within a similar size class.
Alligators move on land by two forms of locomotion referred to as "sprawl" and "high walk". The sprawl is a forward movement with the belly making contact with the ground and is used to transition to "high walk" or to slither over wet substrate into water. The high walk is an up on four limbs forward motion used for overland travel with the belly well up from the ground.[15] Alligators have also been observed to rise up and balance on their hind legs and semi step forward as part of a forward or upward lunge. However they can not walk on their hind legs for long distances.[16][17][18]
Although the alligator has a heavy body and a slow metabolism, it is capable of short bursts of speed, especially in very short lunges. Alligators' main prey are smaller animals they can kill and eat with a single bite. They may kill larger prey by grabbing it and dragging it into the water to drown. Alligators consume food that can not be eaten in one bite by allowing it to rot, or by biting and then spinning or convulsing wildly until bite-sized chunks are torn off. This is referred to as a "death roll". Critical to the alligator's ability to initiate a death roll, the tail must flex to a significant angle relative to its body. An alligator with an immobilized tail cannot perform a death roll.[19]
Most of the muscle in an alligator's jaw evolved to bite and grip prey. The muscles that close the jaws are exceptionally powerful, but the muscles for opening their jaws are comparatively weak. As a result, an adult human can hold an alligator's jaws shut bare-handed. It is common today to use several wraps of duct tape to prevent an adult alligator from opening its jaws when being handled or transported.

[Demonpenz]

Did you hear about the crocodile who became a congressman? He was an expert dele-gator.

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by wazu

Woah, what's with all the ant deaths? How?!

Fire ants ain't nuthin to **** wit.

The stings aren't usually fatal unless you are allergic, but they have no compunction about swarming and stinging with abandon.

Stand in the wrong place in the South and within minutes without noting anything out of the ordinary and while fully clothed with socks and shoes, you can have a couple hundred ants swarming past your ankles towards the sweat on your shins and calves.



On a related note, just a couple weeks back.

http://whnt.com/2016/05/27/alabama-w...r-mother-died/

[Perineum Ripper]

Originally Posted by DaFace

I can't find much on a state-by-state basis, but here's nifty infographic about the deadliest animals across the U.S. as a whole.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...u-this-summer/


TL;DR - Watch out for bees!!!!

[RobBlake]

Originally Posted by scho63

They have had several snatching of people in Northern Austria recently as well. What a horrible way to go!

I hope the poor kid didn't suffer.

Those parents will be traumatized for the rest of their lives. They will NEVER be the same. They will be divorced in less than 5 years. I know at least 4 couples who had tragedies befall their kids and everyone got divorced.

i agree thats often the case.. but i know of a close friend that passed from a brain aneurysm when she was only 14 and her parents are still together.. and have other children and a grandchild now.

[jonzie04]

Originally Posted by mac459

Thug life

[BlackOp]

"Disney reptilian predictor eats a 2 year old"...isn't this their business model?

[ForeverChiefs58]

Originally Posted by JD10367

The water in which the park sits in is called Seven Seas Lagoon and is actually manmade and concrete lined. (It was filled by tapping into the nearby Bay Lake. When they filled it for the first time, all the water drained right through, hence the need to concrete line it like the world's biggest swimming pool.) While it would be impossible to keep gators out, you'd think they'd at least have anti-gator fencing or netting surrounding the beach areas. I bet they will now.

The lagoon is fed by a couple different canals, which is how the gators got there.

Finding a gator in a body of water in Florida, is like finding a spider under a rock up north.

[JD10367]

Originally Posted by ForeverChiefs58

The lagoon is fed by a couple different canals, which is how the gators got there.

Finding a gator in a body of water in Florida, is like finding a spider under a rock up north.

Yes, hence my last sentence. The beaches at the resorts are pretty small, comparatively. It should be easy to put up a barrier. Just a line of poles with plain old chain-link fencing would do it. You can be guaranteed they'll be installing it now.

[Baby Lee]

Originally Posted by BlackOp

"Disney reptilian predictor eats a 2 year old"...isn't this their business model?

Ophidian clairvoyants? How is that a business model?

To the extent you need a business forecast, just ask the friggin' gator to begin with.

[wazu]

Originally Posted by Baby Lee

Fire ants ain't nuthin to **** wit.

The stings aren't usually fatal unless you are allergic, but they have no compunction about swarming and stinging with abandon.

Stand in the wrong place in the South and within minutes without noting anything out of the ordinary and while fully clothed with socks and shoes, you can have a couple hundred ants swarming past your ankles towards the sweat on your shins and calves.



On a related note, just a couple weeks back.

http://whnt.com/2016/05/27/alabama-w...r-mother-died/

Yeah, but the graphic said "non-venemous".