Gator grabs 2 year old at Grand Floridian?

[bdcp]

Oh its probably on the table. But a more likely thing would be them closing off access to said beaches and leaving it abandoned so to speak. I doubt either option is gonna happen though

Have you been to the beaches at the GF and Poly? They are very close to the walkways and pools and are part of the public areas. How could you possibly block off those beaches?

 

[rteetz]

Sounds good in theory, but it's just not manageable in an area as large as WDW. Honestly, it's not something that even residential areas or golf courses attempt. The fact is, there are alligators in Florida and they move around pretty much at will. What kind of physical barriers? It would take fences and blocking of waterways which would cause their own issues.

I agree between costs and logistics you just can't put physical barriers everywhere.

 

[rteetz]

Have you been to the beaches at the GF and Poly? They are very close to the walkways and pools and are part of the public areas. How could you possibly block off those beaches?

The only thing you could do is put up a concrete wall but that's just not going to happen.

 

[notnothin]

Sounds good in theory, but it's just not manageable in an area as large as WDW. Honestly, it's not something that even residential areas or golf courses attempt. The fact is, there are alligators in Florida and they move around pretty much at will. What kind of physical barriers? It would take fences and blocking of waterways which would cause their own issues.

Fences would be ineffective as the alligators can climb them.

 

[umichigan10]

Have you been to the beaches at the GF and Poly? They are very close to the walkways and pools and are part of the public areas. How could you possibly block off those beaches?

Erect some sort of a gate (even an ugly one) heck I don't really know. I've been there but I can't quite picture the logistics if you know what I mean.

Like I said I don't see it happening regardless

 

[rteetz]

Fences would be ineffective as the alligators can climb them.

And so can people.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I have felt this thread has been fairly civil compared to some other things I've seen on the internet lately.

Me too..to be honest. There are very very few things that I have read on the boards that I feel actually really crossed the line.

 

[disneymath]

Polar bears are the world's largest land carnivore...

And they have higher thought process than gators that are partying like it's 300 mil BC...

But you're telling me that the policy is "fire away"?

I'm Gonna give your people the benefit of the doubt and say that other options are explored or have been in the past.

And why are polar bears encroaching? The stupidity of another animal species...perhaps?

I was doing my best to stay out of the Canada polar bear tangent, but feel compelled to comment. I live in Northern Ontario in a fairly large town (for the region). We have many forested areas within city limits; my own backyard extends into the bush.

While polar bears are not an issue in my community, other bear species are. (They come looking for food when the growing season has been poor, or when their natural territory has been disrupted by mining activity.) The bears literally do walk down main street. My sister's famiky has woken up to a bear on their doorstep, bears have found their way into dumpsters, and there have been times when bears have made their way onto school grounds during the school day.

All that said, the policy is most definitely NOT to fire away!

We are strongly encouraged not to feed bears or provide easy access to food sources (garbage, garden waste, etc.) so as not to encourage them to stick around. Bears that are just passing through, are typically left alone. From a young age, children are taught about bear safety and what to do if they come across one. Friends, neighbours and even complete steangers look out for each other by passing along news of bear sightings. Bears that seem to be sticking around and becoming a nuissance tend to be trapped and relocated. It is rare that a bear is put down, usually when that happens it's due to aggression.

Going back to polar bears specifically, Churchill, Manitoba is the polar bear capital of the world. It's my understanding that at certain times of the year, large numbers of bears migrate through town. City officials have policies and procedures in place, but again putting a polar bear down is the last option.

To end this post back on topic, my heart goes out to the family of the little boy.

 

[PuppyJonathan]

Me too..to be honest. There are very very few things that I have read on the boards that I feel actually really crossed the line.

Now that you mention it, it has been eerily calm for such a controversial topic here

 

[whiporee]

Sounds good in theory, but it's just not manageable in an area as large as WDW. Honestly, it's not something that even residential areas or golf courses attempt. The fact is, there are alligators in Florida and they move around pretty much at will. What kind of physical barriers? It would take fences and blocking of waterways which would cause their own issues.

It's not legal to just kill alligators in Florida -- so if Disney wanted to do start killing all of them, they'd need permission. The actual hunting season lasts from mid-August to November, so there's a lot of time that people aren't hunting alligators.

I think controlling them would be fairly easy if you had a mandate to do so -- if getting the monsters under control became something Florida was willing to do. I don't think they are, but if you'd give carte blanche to killing them anytime you say them in suburban areas -- or allowed Animal Services to have a "see them, kill them" mandate, the population would reduce quickly. Then if you had a mandate to destroy nests and eggs, the population would suffer greatly as well.

Right now, Florida has a reactive stance regarding them -- an alligator causes a problem, something gets done. If things were allowed to switch to proactive, I think the population would be reduced quickly. Like many have pointed out, they were nearly reduced to extinction 50 years ago. Doing so now wouldn't take much effort.

And, my vitriol aside, I don't want to kill all of them. But I want them out of suburban areas, and I want governments to be dedicated to keeping them out. They only serve environmental nostalgia and novelty, and they demand too high a price for that.

 

[rteetz]

Statement from George Kalogiridis President of Walt Disney World

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2016/06/statement-from-the-president-of-walt-disney-world/

 

[LaidBackDad]

Sounds good in theory, but it's just not manageable in an area as large as WDW. Honestly, it's not something that even residential areas or golf courses attempt. The fact is, there are alligators in Florida and they move around pretty much at will. What kind of physical barriers? It would take fences and blocking of waterways which would cause their own issues.

Physical barriers would be only part of the solution and if used alone would be largely ineffective. The key is the population control. The barriers do / will slow or stop the migration of the animals. Synthetic anti-reproduction methods eliminate native or local breading populations and managed wildlife control patrols euthanize (which Disney already have or have access to) whatever is left. It really isn't that hard or expensive.

 

[gracerussell]

The wakeboarding and parasailing is directly behind the Contemporary in Bay Lake. It is run by a company "Sammy Duvall", but their "office" is poolside at the Contemporary. We have done both the wakeboarding and parasailing. I didnt post a parasailing picture because techincally we were in the air, not the water, but my daughter was 6 when she went and the company did not warn us. Only AFTER our 2 hours IN the water, my son asked the captain if he had ever seen any gators. He said "Oh, yes, they are everywhere! YIKES!!! We laughed about it, but never thought anything serious other than we were never doing it again! I have also heard many others on the ferries asking the captins about the gators and they are very open about it. I never felt unsafe on a ferry though.

I'm now baffled as to why Disney allows these activities to take place. It never crossed my mind until this horrific incident. My husband and 9 year old son do the bass fishing on Bay Lake each time we visit WDW, and even that makes me shiver a bit now, thinking of what's really in those waters.

We are from the Midwest - call me naive - but not once had a gator attack ever entered my mind during any of our stays - and we always stay near the lake. I've wanted to go out on the beach at night to watch the water pageant, but the kids have always been off-the-hook tired by then.

I've been reading this entire thread with a great deal of sadness and disbelief....I think Disney could definitely have been much more forthcoming about the dangers lurking in the waters. And those poor parents...it could have been so many of us, so easily.

 

[rteetz]

Bob Iger called the family from Shanghai

http://money.cnn.com/2016/06/15/media/disney-crisis-bob-iger/index.html?section=money_topstories

 

[southerngirl528]

This terrible tragedy makes me think of all the times I have seen folks camping out along the lakeshore of both the GF and Poly for July 4th fireworks. In the dark of course, along that inky blackness of the lake. Makes me shudder to think about it now...

 

[Dentam]

Bob Iger called the family from Shanghai

http://money.cnn.com/2016/06/15/media/disney-crisis-bob-iger/index.html?section=money_topstories

I was wondering what his response would be or if he would respond at all given that he is in Shanghai. I am glad he called the family personally.

 

[Dentam]

This terrible tragedy makes me think of all the times I have seen folks camping out along the lakeshore of both the GF and Poly for July 4th fireworks. In the dark of course, along that inky blackness of the lake. Makes me shudder to think about it now...

I'm sure that won't be allowed anymore.

 

[ck2d]

Sounds good in theory, but it's just not manageable in an area as large as WDW. Honestly, it's not something that even residential areas or golf courses attempt. The fact is, there are alligators in Florida and they move around pretty much at will. What kind of physical barriers? It would take fences and blocking of waterways which would cause their own issues.

I was thinking that maybe they could use some of the technology they developed for Animal Kingdom to corral the alligators, or to make the beaches very unappealing to them. They could hide the mechanisms under the water. But since alligators can climb, I'm not sure what they would do. Get the Imagineers on it; I bet they could come up with a solution.

They should still make sure people are very aware of the possible danger, no matter how small the chances. I think that assumptions when it came to the warning signs contributed - locals might see a "no swimming" sign and know it means stay completely away from the water, but people from away are going to take it literally.

And people won't pay attention to the signs anyway. The boy who died at Pop Century was a teenager, he knew how to read, there were signs all around the pool not to dive, and he did it anyway. His family, something in the range of a dozen people, were all around him. I'm not blaming the boy for making such a terrible mistake, because I'm sure that was a fluke, too, and that he'd done it at home 100 times without ever hitting the bottom. No one ever expects something awful to happen to them.

So I think they should to both things. They're never going to get rid of all the alligators. Time for them to figure out a way to make them stay away of their own volition.

 

[Twilight Sparkle]

My heart goes out to the family of little Lane as well as to every person involved in his rescue/recovery. I hope they find the support they need after such a devastating loss.

 

[cruisingtwins]

This terrible tragedy makes me think of all the times I have seen folks camping out along the lakeshore of both the GF and Poly for July 4th fireworks. In the dark of course, along that inky blackness of the lake. Makes me shudder to think about it now...

I shudder at all the times I let my kids waddle at different beaches in Disney resorts.