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Authorities in Florida were desperately searching Wednesday for a 2-year-old boy who was snatched by an alligator while wading in a lake at a Disney World resort hotel Tuesday night."
More than 50 officers from the Orange County Sheriff's office and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission are conducting the search in the Seven Seas Lagoon at the Grand Floridian Hotel outside Orlando, Fla., Sheriff Jerry Demings said in a news conference early Wednesday. Helicopters, two marine units, sonar equipment, a dive team and an alligator trapper are being employed in the hunt for the toddler in the darkened waters.
Christy Cree @CrinklyCree
12 minutes ago
Is this a revenge attack for the brutal shooting of friendly Gorilla only a month ago? TUNE IN LATER TO FIND OUT!
43 comments:
Take a good look at that picture. It's all fun and games to some parent, until the gator snatches your son.
What idiot lets a kid near a lake anywhere in FL without standing right over them?
I'm against helicopter parents as much as anyone, but those damned things are everywhere down there.
Who let their 2 yr old in the Alligator enclosure? I'm glad Disney didn't overreact by pulling guns and shooting the alligator without first understanding its intentions.
this will not be good for Disney. Pay-back for firing all those Americans. Sad for the kid who was snatched. He's probably dead.
I can't imagine the horror and pain of the parents. I said a prayer for them.
The last time I was in Florida I was talking with an old timey Cracker who was a Florida native. He said that alligators are not a problem except for very young children. Just like in the case.
He also said that they had become noticeably more aggressive in the last decade. Wildlife often does the more they come in contact with humans. They lose their fear. You will see that with bears and coyotes as well.
A terrible tragedy.
AprilApple said...
Pay-back for firing all those Americans
Yes, the gator was a Trump supporter.
My God...
Karma. it's twisted. Nothing to do with Trump, you idiot.
Twisted is definitely the word.
This is a horrible tragedy that the parents are never going to be able live with or forget. I cannot imagine the pain these poor people are experiencing.
BUT....they were letting their small child play in the water in an area where it was posted "no swimming" in Florida where alligators are know to be numerous. I know. It didn't say beware of alligators, which it should have. BEWARE ALLIGATOR AREA!!!!! would have been a better warning.
To someone from Nebraska, they were probably thinking...OK. the kid isn't actually swimming, just wading, so no problem. Not considering that the pretty and inviting beach would be a dangerous place.
The resort should have some major responsibility here for creating an environment that put unsuspecting rubes from Nebraska right next to a dangerous wild life situation. And then not making the danger clearer in its warning signs.
On the other hand. The parents should have been a bit more diligent and cautious. Perhaps asked a few questions about the safety of the area before blithely assuming everything was as normal as a Nebraska spring day by the lake.
Anybody familiar with FL has heard all kinds of gator stories.
NE, of course, is a different story, but I just can't see how somebody lets a kid wade alone in a lake at night.
It's not just Florida and gators. I grew up by the ocean and was taught by my old man to always respect it. Don't fear the ocean, just don't fuck w/ her. I see people who did not grow up near the ocean being real stupid. Same w/ mountains. People not understanding that merely being @ high altitudes makes you a potential altitude sickness victim. I'm not going to judge these parents. The old man was obviously right there w/ the kid. He has bite marks to prove it.
I'd put more blame on Disney than on the parent, but it's not gross negligence on the part of either party. It's a ghastly story, but there's no real moral to be extracted from it. Sometimes you just get tangled up in the cogs of fate.
My sister who is the mother to my niece and my two nephews texts me this morning about this and says, I swear to God, "Do we have any alligators in San Diego?" and I had to read this like 50 times without laughing my ass off at what a comedy gem this is and the devilish bastard son of a bitch that I am typed back, "Yes, check your back yard immediately and since your youngest is turning two, he is now prime gator bait."
OH MY GOD, the seething anger I got back from her was hilarious. She even called me back and yelled at me for a half an hour. I couldn't stop laughing. I realize this is a horrible thing to have happen to a child, but I also realize that bad things happen to innocent and good people. I was finally able to get in a word in edge wise with her and i said I was sorry for scaring her in between laughter and once she was calmed down and we talked normally and we were saying goodbye I finally yelled into the phone, "OMG GATOR BEHIND YOU!!!" then I hear a scream and I hang up. LOL!!!
Well played, Method Man - especially the phone clairvoyance. That's what siblings are for.
A wise judge would slice up the fairness pie of blame equally all around....
I'm sure I could say that better.
We obviously need #AlligatorControl in Florida. Those environmental groups that promote habitat and preservation of alligators are pure evil. They are to blame.
Read the full story, the parents were watching a movie on the beach that the hotel runs (if you stay on property in Disney World, the hotels all run a Disney movie outside weather permitting). So everyone is sitting out there, the toddler was on a outdoor sleeper, and the alligator snuck up and snatched it. Dad fought it but it got away.
Probably about as horrible an experience as you can have.
Disney's problem, another family was stalked by an alligator in this location two weeks before.
Shit happens, gators gotta eat. Personally I love seeing gators in Florida, but if you are going to have people sitting by the water, stuff will happen.
Pro tip, when traveling to Florida, assume all inland bodies of water contain a gator unless you have proven to yourself otherwise. This includes swimming pools and especially ditches.
The photo in the post reminds me of driving on KSC, headed towards the Titan launch pads. There was someone jogging down the road. On both sides of the road, the ditches were full of alligators. The road was several miles long, and the jogger at least a third of the way down; and not much traffic needed to use the road. I was shocked, and discussed it with coworkers. The response was similar to Troop's story, adults don't really fear the gators, but they do worry about the kids. Then again, most of my Florida coworkers hunted gators in their spare time.
I think the President should issue a Presidential decree outlawing alligators. They should be hunted down and shot and their skin made into gaudy belts, shoes and wallets that will be distrusted free of charge to those minority communities that can not afford them.
For the chil'ren's
Evi, Good find. In civil lawsuits, being on notice, prior warning, drives up the punitive damages.
I would love to have seen Meth and his sister in the back seat of the family car going on a Sunday drive. Remember Sunday drives? Just driving, no destination in particular. Ours often included a stop for an ice cream cone.
Kangaroo spikes in baseball were a big thing back when I was in high school.
Will the parents sue Disney? I bet they will. Should they?
yes - of course it's horrible. Nothing worse than a parent losing a child. Esp. a young child in this manner - unthinkable.
Disney will offer a large settlement quickly, if they have smart attorneys.
Evi where did you get that story? The ones I have read say that the kid was playing at the edge of the water. Can you tell me the source. I would like to read it to compare with what the rest of the sleazy media is reporting.
This is what they had in that lying rag the Washington Post:
"The attack occurred on the third night of vacation for the Nebraska family of four. They relaxed on the white sandy beach that stretches along Disney’s luxe Grand Floridian Resort and Spa, one of the features the hotel uses to entice its guests, and watched their young son wade ankle-deep into the man-made lake known by vacationers as Seven Seas Lagoon.
The boy was just about a foot beyond the sand when, after 9 p.m., the alligator attacked."
Yes. I would like a link to that version of the story. The ones that I have seen said the toddler was playing in the water at the shore. The younger child/infant was in an outdoor crib type of thing.
You can't trust the media. I don't think you can get the full story ever as they always make shit up based on their agenda.
I used to take my children to WDW - even camped in the swamps, but I always warned them not to go near the water. In retrospect...
I was going to blame the alligator but on further review, I blame the Federal government.
The Endangered Species Act lists species as either "endangered" or "threatened."
ENDANGERED
- any species that is in danger of extinction
throughout all or a significant portion of its range;
THREATENED
- any species that is likely to become an
endangered species within the foreseeable future
throughout all or a significant portion of its range.
As for enforcement, endangered species receive the full protections of the act while the rules for threatened species are more flexible. American alligators are listed as threatened, so you can kill alligators under tightly controlled conditions and limits.
Now, finally, to my point. Why, if Florida is so crawling with alligators that they're eating children at Disney World, are alligators listed as "threatened?" It's because they resemble American Crocodiles which are listed as "endangered."
That's it. No other reason. They're an SAT (similarity of appearance - threatened) species.
Sounds legit to me. After all what's so bad about losing an occasional toddler or family pet and not being able to go near the water versus the unalloyed good of having more crocodiles.
Boots. All I can imagine is lots and lots of boots.
Handbags and belts.
Alligator meat is very tasty too. Tastes sort of like chicken or snake (if you've ever eaten snake you would know what I mean.)
ndspinelli said...
I would love to have seen Meth and his sister in the back seat of the family car going on a Sunday drive. Remember Sunday drives? Just driving, no destination in particular. Ours often included a stop for an ice cream cone.
Back then, it was my brother and me in the back and my mom and dad in the front with my sister in her lap and we had no seat belts on, but everyone drove 55. We would just aimlessly go on a road trip just to go out on an adventure for some fresh air and sun. And back then in San Diego there was only so many interstate freeways that weren't dirt or would transition from pavement to dirt. So much fun and I was such an evil bastard to my brother and sister as a kid. I love them dearly, but still.
Troop, my post had the link to the Daily Mail.
I am sure the kid was close to the lagoon (how do you think the gator creeped up on them). But it sounds like people were siting watching the movie and then whammo, like a zebra drinking out of river in Kenya.
Why gators would be listed as "threatened" when they are relatively common from South Georgia down through Florida, east to Louisiana and Texas. You can occasionally see them in the Carolinas and even Oklahoma. They have hunting seasons for them. Wikipedia says they were removed from the Endangered Species list in 1987: American Alligator
Evi the Daily Mail says he was playing in the water not that the toddler was in an outdoor sleeper and the gator snuck up and snatched him. That was what I was asking about.
In other words the kid was in the water when the gator attacked. Bad enough. It would have been really ridiculous if the gator stalked the kid and pulled it in the water from shore.
Hey, at least it wasn't a crocodile. Those guys are real fucking assholes.
I'll try again.
The American Alligator was removed from the Endangered list and put on the Threatened list under the Endangered Species Act. It was put on the Threatened list because it resembles the American Crocodile which is on the Endangered list. The list that matters is the one maintained by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, not the international organization mentioned by Wiki. This matters because U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service can put you in jail for violating the Endangered Species Act.
Wiki is misleading on the subject. Why? Perhaps someone is embarrassed by the absurdity of having a dangerous animal which exists in abundance designated as Threatened.
At a very early age, I was aware that if you go into the ocean so the water is above your ankles, you immediately move to the bottom of the food chain.
They found the drowned toddler intact. I remember reading that gators will drown their prey and stash them under a log or something until they are ready to eat. Is that true? No one on the news mentioned it until the body was recovered whole. Think it was out of respect for the parents that no one speculated such?
Troop, I may have the link wrong. Or the story I read was changed after the fact when they got new information (without a notice of correction). I thought it was the Daily Mail. What I read the hotel was playing their outdoor movie at the beach at about 9:00 p.m. and the boy was sleeping on some sort of outdoor sleeper (probably just an expensive beach towel). Maybe he was playing at the edge. I can't find the link now.
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