Stay out of the **** lakes

[starwood]

http://www.wftv.com/news/23570784/detail.html

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- A man swimming in an Orange County lake was attacked by an alligator Sunday morning.

According to officials an adult male swimmer was bitten on the chest by an 8-9 foot alligator in Lake Mary Jane in South Orange County.

The man was able to make it to shore on his own where paramedics treated him for his injuries and transported him to Orlando Regional Medical Center.

Officials have not released the victim's identity or condition.

A trapper has been sent out to catch and kill the alligator.

 

[msteddom]

So an alligator is going to be hunted down and killed because some guy was stupid enough to enter its territory. Great.

Melissa

 

[Tinkerkell123]

Obviously NOT a DISer or he would have known better than to have gone into the **** lake!

 

[Dismom+two]

It does NOT make sense that the alligator has to be destroyed!! What is the reasoning of this? I agree...the swimmer must not know to "stay out of the **** lakes!!"

 

[nmoore14]

That's what the signs are for at the lakes in FL. Pete has it right, Stay Out Of The **** Lakes! Now an animal has to be killed because of someone's stupid choice.

 

[DaParkers]

According to witnesses, just before biting the man, the alligator was heard saying, "Didn't Pete tell you to stay out of here?"

 

[Tir na nOg]

According to witnesses, just before biting the man, the alligator was heard saying, "Didn't Pete tell you to stay out of here?"

I heard it WAS Pete in costume just to prove the point...

 

[vegetablegirl]

That's just ridiculous. People need to pay attention. Especially to Pete!

 

[Disney Dad Canada]

They should just let Darwinism take its natural course and throw the idiot back in.

 

[safetymom]

This man was training for an Ironman race. The lake is open for swimming so he really did nothing wrong. The news shows the area roped of for a swimming area with lifeguards.

Personally why anyone would want to swim in a Florida lake with a chance of gators is beyond me.

 

[starwood]

So they are actually allowing people to swim in alligator infested waters? That's a lawsuit waiting to happen.

 

[dgthree]

So they are actually allowing people to swim in alligator infested waters? That's a lawsuit waiting to happen.

This is totally off topic, but for some reason the Princess Bride line "out for a pleasure cruise at night in eel-infested waters" just jumped into my head when I read the last post.

Yes, I'm warped.

 

[Michele]

This man was training for an Ironman race. The lake is open for swimming so he really did nothing wrong. The news shows the area roped of for a swimming area with lifeguards.

Personally why anyone would want to swim in a Florida lake with a chance of gators is beyond me.

If I'm not mistaken, doesn't the swimming leg of a triathlon at WDW take place in Bay Lake?

 

[FireDancer]

This man was training for an Ironman race. The lake is open for swimming so he really did nothing wrong. The news shows the area roped of for a swimming area with lifeguards.

When you are training for a tri that will take place in open water you absolutely must train in open water. The pool is great for working on form and breathing but you have to spend time in the open water.

It is unfortunate what happened but it is a risk you take if swimming in open water in FL. It sounds like the swimmer did everything reasonable they could to assure their safety in the lake (staying in roped off areas and making sure there were lifeguards there) but sometimes bad things happen even with planning. People drown, sharks attack, alligators attack, but all you can do is mitigate the risk and accept it when, despite preparation, bad things happen.

Clermont is almost always in the top 10 list of best cities for triathletes and the USA Triathlon's National Training Center is there so I imagine there is a lot of training in lakes around the area with a low incident of attack.

If I'm not mistaken, doesn't the swimming leg of a triathlon at WDW take place in Bay Lake?

Yes, two different Tri's are hosted by Disney, a half Ironman and a Danskin triathlon, and both use Bay Lake for the swim course.

I wouldn't go jumping into random lakes in Florida but one the is marked and guarded if I was training? Sure.

 

[peanut1967]

It does NOT make sense that the alligator has to be destroyed!! What is the reasoning of this? I agree...the swimmer must not know to "stay out of the **** lakes!!"

I totally agree why kill the alligator its his territory, he should not be swimming in the lake...what a fool, I hope the alligator wasnt hurt!

Are there warnings around the lake?

angie

 

[MM32830]

So they are actually allowing people to swim in alligator infested waters? That's a lawsuit waiting to happen.

Can you spell WAIVER?

To participate in the Ironman event, you sign not one but TWO waivers (one is a Disney waiver and the other is the Ironman waiver). I'm no lawyer but I read both waivers and they look quite air tight (would you expect any less?)



_________________
Armand

 

[kpadalik]

Living in FL, you cannot avoid alligators in any body of water. You swim in a lake, you are swimming with the gators.

As for killing the gator, it is necessary. I believe if they are under a certain size, they may capture and release into the Everglades (I may be wrong about this). However, if a gator attacks, it's usually because some idiot has been feeding it and the gator starts depending on humans to feed it- hence the attack. This is why these "don't feed the alligators" signs are there. At one time, they wouldn't capture and kill the gators, but because of the growing numbers, this unfortunately has to be done. If it is not, another attack from this gator is inevitable.

 

[JoShan1719]

As for killing the gator, it is necessary. I believe if they are under a certain size, they may capture and release into the Everglades (I may be wrong about this). However, if a gator attacks, it's usually because some idiot has been feeding it and the gator starts depending on humans to feed it- hence the attack. This is why these "don't feed the alligators" signs are there. At one time, they wouldn't capture and kill the gators, but because of the growing numbers, this unfortunately has to be done. If it is not, another attack from this gator is inevitable.

I'm not sure this is correct. I'll look it up in a second, but aren't gators an aggressive species? I don't think they need provoking. They shouldn't kill this creature for doing what is natural to it. They should capture and relocate it.

 

[kpadalik]

I'm not sure this is correct. I'll look it up in a second, but aren't gators an aggressive species? I don't think they need provoking. They shouldn't kill this creature for doing what is natural to it. They should capture and relocate it.

I'm not saying that this man did the provoking. He probably was doing absolutely nothing wrong. But here is a bit of info from the FFWC:

From the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission - "Alligators are generally timid towards humans and tend to walk or swim away if one approaches. Unfortunately, this has led some people to the practice of approaching alligators and their nests in a way that may provoke the animals into attacking. In the state of Florida, it is illegal to feed wild alligators at any time. If fed, the alligators will eventually lose their fear of humans and will learn to associate humans with food, thereby becoming a greater danger to people...99% of all alligator attacks are provoked."

 

[MM32830]

Gator has been caught:

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news...ndo-alligator-attack-20100517,0,6915807.story




__________________
Armand