Alligator takes two year old at Disney Beach resort
 

A father fought in vain to wrestle his two-year-old son from the jaws of an alligator at the Disney World resort in Orlando, Florida, police have said.

A massive search is under way for the missing boy, who was on holiday with his parents and two siblings from Nebraska.

Jerry Demings, Orange County Sheriff, told a 1am press conference how the family, who have not been named, were relaxing in a beach area at the edge of a lake on Tuesday when the alligator struck.

“There is a sandy beach area and the family was out simply relaxing ... and in the water along the lake’s edge at the time the alligator attacked the child.

“It’s my understanding the father was there nearby and the child was playing in the water, just a foot or so into the water, and the alligator came up,” he said.

“The father at some point struggled to try to get his son and was not successful and then alerted others to try and assist him in the process.”

“At some point I am told the mother may also have entered the water. The parents diligently tried to get the child,” Demings said.


http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...-hotel-florida

omg that is horrific

I know, poor kid and family

Walking near waters edge at 9.20 at night...

Poor kid<\3 What a horrible event.

And poor innocent alligators who will get killed and cut open and be revealed to have not eaten him.

Perhaps there should be more prominent information on display given that it's a tourist area... people who live in Florida know how to peacefully co-exist with these animals, the do's and don't's, because they do it every day but this family was from Nebraska, which is smack in the centre of the US thousands of miles from either coast, and it seems like they were simply unaware of the risks.

I agree with TS. Having lived in Louisiana, I would never paddle in pools of water or the ocean at night because that's when the predators are active. This couple wouldn't of risked the life of their child if they'd fully understood the dangers.

This is an awful tragedy for this family.

The problem with Disney resorts is you tend to suspend reality, if the area was set up as a beach resort then paddling in the water at 9pm on holiday is no biggie, if there were no warning signs I personally wouldn't be aware, it's not the Everglades

I agree, they should have had signs up warning people to stay out of the water in the evenings

This is awful. I feel so sorry for the little kid and his family :(

I've never even been to Florida and yet I know there are gators there, who live in the water and who will eat you. It's dangerous always to let other people do your thinking for you.

Can't imagine how horrific that would have been for the parents

I knew there were alligators in the everglades but I would never have thought they'd be in the sea there

I'm sure you wouldn't let a 2 year old get far enough away from you to get eaten.

All that said, it'#s pretty horrific and I feel very sorry for the parents, but mainly the kid.

Well we don't know how quickly it all happened or how far away the father was, sounds like he was pretty close going by the report, something like that could happen in a heart beat, I'd imagine

Yes, I would too, but I've come to realise that some people (me included) are just compelled to "know stuff". That's not a brag, in fact sometimes it's an annoying flaw, and not everyone has that thirst for seemingly random general knowledge. For example, if we start watching a new TV show, half way through the first episode my wife will be like "What are you doing on your phone?" and I'll be like "Oh nothing... just looking up every single actor in this show and looking at everything else they've ever been in...". Or to use another example... I now know 100% more about the location, climate and wildlife of Nebraska than I did before this thread :whistle:.

Anyway, my point is that some people are not that way inclined and do operate on certain presumptions - e.g. that if they go to a resort run by a major company, it will be "safe". Where there are obvious risks like this, that not everyone will know of, I think there should probably not only be signs but prominent information pamphlets in each hotel room briefly outlining any "local dangers" that wouldn't be a concern everywhere. You don't need to tell people that they might drown in deep water, or be hit by a car crossing the road, because those things are universal... but things like dangerous wildlife is probably worth a heads-up.

They can sneak up silently and the actual "lunge" is in the blink of an eye... the second problem is that once they clamp down it's almost impossible to force their jaws back open... doesn't bear thinking about when someone is trying to save their child. Unless you have a gun or knife on you there's really nothing you can do.

This is a man made Disney Beach at a cuddly Disney resort I think most people will make themselves aware of risks if they go to a new country, but in a situation like this where nature has been tampered with especially by the child friendly Disney brand there were no warning signs it's criminal

That is of course if there are no signs but if there were I doubt anyone would be paddling in the evening :worry:

yeah that's true too

I've been to the exact resort and there are signposts telling you to keep out of the water everywhere so while I do feel absolutely sad for the poor child and the family they should have never allowed a child to go into that water

Why would they ignore the signs, another tragedy that could be avoided

Well that puts a different spin on it then

Yep

I literally have no ideal why they would have been where they were in the unattended water when there are huge pools in the resort that are open until really late

(When I was there they had the pool open from 6am til 11pm and they showed Disney movies on a huge screen 3 times a day)

for whatever it's worth, the Grand Floridian (resort where it happened) is on a man-made lake with plenty of beach areas to be walking along. I don't think it's strange that people were close to the water (although being in the water is a different story.)

I'm going to WDW next week so it'll be interesting to see what the atmosphere is like after this and the Orlando shooting. Too many terrible things happening all at once.

Can't imagine what terror and pain that child will have felt. The parents should have read the signs and not allowed the child in the water. So sad.

https://twitter.com/Menardness/statu...rc=twsrc%5Etfw
[They're saying that a 2 year old
was eaten by an alligator... Jesus.]

Crumbs yes, I missed that bit I thought it was am not pm,good point.

Horrible tragedy but that I find unacceptable.

It sounds like a nightmare what a horrible thing for any parent to have to face but I have to wonder didn't they know they were in an area where there might be alligators? Didn't Disney have any warning signs up? If there were signs, what were mum and dad thinking? I don't live anywhere near any alligators but if I saw a sign, no way my kids would be in that water. Kind of wonder what a 2 year old was doing up at 9.20pm as well, mine was always zonked out by then holiday or not.

There were signs up around warning about swimming but not the crocks it seems

Notices should have been posted stating the dangers of bathing etc where crocodiles are likely to be. Maybe this poor family didn't realise the dangers?

I think it's already been said that there were notices.

I find it staggering that they

1. did not know that crocs and sharks feed at dawn and dusk

2. that crocs/alligators were not present and a danger

3. that they let a small child paddle at 9.20pm

No notices about crocs just no swimming, he was paddling which is not unknown for people to do in water that they can't swim in, Disney have to shoulder the blame for this one, it's all very well saying people should research etc, but Disney have a man made beach there what signal does that send out

I didn't know 1. I wouldn't expect 2 especially as there is a man made beach and no notices about crocs. 3 meh they are on holiday ever been on a Spanish beach the families only come off the beach at sundown, they are asleep while the Brits are burning themselves to a frazzle in the noon day sun :hee:

..this is so horrendous for the family plus everyone else who is staying there atm...although there were 'no swimming' signs, the Orange County Sheriff said that nothing like this has ever happened before, so it would be easy with his parents both close and watching him, which they were..to feel relaxed enough to not ever think of any possible danger like this...Disney Resort may be built on Marshland but I think that it's still one of those freak things that no one would have predicted as the nightmare reality that is now...

:sad:

Investigators killed four alligators while searching for a boy who was attacked and dragged into a lake Tuesday night

None of the alligators killed showed signs of having attacked the child

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nati...#storylink=cpy

That also seems a bit rough on the alligators, why kill them if they hadn't done any harm? They are clearly wildlife natural to the area.

The whole resort is built on a gator swamp