Gator Attacks Child at Walt Disney World

[Chris Hagen*]

It's a man-made beach on a man-made pond.

**** with nature and get stung.

 

[Chris Hagen*]

Seriously though, a man-made lagoon is still a lagoon. It's tied to a network of waterways.

 

[yubbers]

Stupid Disney

Should have met with the crocodile chief of the area and explained to stay off their man made pond

 

[CycloneLaunch]

Yes

Disney should assume responsibility for nature. Let us completely remove instinct and common sense from the human race.

Terrible tragedy indeed but come on.

You're in Florida

It's dark out

Numerous signs indicating your choice is ill advised

Society is far too sheltered.

Um no if you dare to even question the actions of the parents then you are amongst the most horrible posters on this board

May your sons grow to be better men then you

 

[yubbers]

Lirl

OK. I'm not questioning the parents. It's a freak accident that could really happen to anyone. And terrible of course.

I'm discussing liability

 

[FlaPanthers11]

Are you an idiot? Just asking for confirmation.

Truly classy after a person offers an apology for a mistake/misinterpretation. To quote LeBron I'll just take the "high road" here.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Seriously though, a man-made lagoon is still a lagoon. It's tied to a network of waterways.

Therefore they're not responsible for any alligators that wander onto the property? Because it's connected to other places?

It's frickin' Florida, they knew the minute that they decided to build a resort on a beach that part of the deal would be keeping it alligator-free. They had an actual policy of removing gators to another location once they reached a certain size. This issue did not take them by surprise.

 

[Bee Sheriff]

Was there a no swimming sign?

 

[Cody Webster]

First of all, "No Swimming" is NOT the same thing as "Alligator infested water, stay far away".

Second, if you're going to build a resort like this:

... and specifically invite families with small children to come stay there...

... and hold nighttime family-oriented events on the beach...

... then yes, you sure as **** are responsible for making sure there aren't wild ****ing man eating animals roaming the god damn water.

The lengths people will go to insist that there is no such thing as negligent liability. Jesus Christ.

They have crews that patrol the water looking for gators. Once they reach a certain size, they catch them an relocate them. It's ****ing Florida, you have to assume that there are gators in every body of water. Just because you are at Disney World, doesn't mean you can stop using common sense. That body of water has been there since 1976 and was swamp land before the resort was built, and guess how many attacks have happened since '76?

However, a problem that could have led to this is they built bungalows on that body of water within the last year. I can pretty much guarantee people staying in those bungalows throw food into the water and feed the wildlife, which is stupid. The gators probably began to associate humans with food and this is what happened.

 

[Cody Webster]

It's a man-made beach on a man-made pond located at an entertainment resort.

Nature?

It's Florida. You know what was there before this? Wetlands. You know what inhabits wetlands in the state of Florida?

 

[yubbers]

There's children out there that have to deal with the dangers of crocodiles on a daily basis to simply get water. What compensation do those families get when tragedy strikes? Just because we live in a bubble where everything is safe does not make us immune to levels of the food chain. This false sense of security makes us far more exposed.

Nature does not give a **** if your on vacation at a resort. And for anyone to think that a corporation has the power to completely rid risk from the equation of the natural order is ridiculous.

Is what I'm sayin

 

[Dr Pepper]

Well, if any corporation could....it'd probably be Disney.

 

[tarheelhockey]

They have crews that patrol the water looking for gators. Once they reach a certain size, they catch them an relocate them. It's ****ing Florida, you have to assume that there are gators in every body of water.

So if gators are a clear and present threat in that area, why the hell are they building bungalows on the water and holding nighttime family-themed parties there?

It's stunning that your "have some common sense" is directed at the family from Nebraska who assumed that Disney's safety precautions were effective, as opposed to the Disney resort whose employees actually live in Florida and deliberately placed their guests in a position to be eaten by an alligator.

 

[tarheelhockey]

There's children out there that have to deal with the dangers of crocodiles on a daily basis to simply get water. What compensation do those families get when tragedy strikes? Just because we live in a bubble where everything is safe does not make us immune to levels of the food chain. This false sense of security makes us far more exposed.

Nature does not give a **** if your on vacation at a resort. And for anyone to think that a corporation has the power to completely rid risk from the equation of the natural order is ridiculous.

Is what I'm sayin

It's pretty ridiculous that people would expect a multinational corporation to completely rid the world of risks like being eaten by a 5-foot alligator that their alligator-catching crew failed to notice swimming in the lagoon they built next to the beach they built as part of the resort they built during the party they hosted to show a movie they made in order to attract children who may or may not have been at imminent risk of death.

Ridiculous. People should have more common sense than to trust hotels to be safe.

 

[yubbers]

People need to keep themselves safe. That's what instincts are for.

Welcome to survival

 

[tarheelhockey]

People need to keep themselves safe. That's what instincts are for.

Welcome to survival

Spoken like someone who has never actually been responsible for another human being's safety.

 

[yubbers]

I said people
Not me

Nice try though

 

[The Head Crusher]

Lirl

OK. I'm not questioning the parents. It's a freak accident that could really happen to anyone. And terrible of course.

I'm discussing liability

An accident implies that there is no case for negligence. Is it tragic, yes absolutely, but not an accident. The debate shouldn't be liability, but rather who was negligent in their actions. If you ask me it falls on the parents for allowing their child to wade in a pool clearly labeled to not swim in. If I see a sign that says do not swim, common sense dictates that hey there is probably something in there that might be bad for me thats why they are warning me no to go in the water.

 

[yubbers]

If you're so coddled you think being at a hotel means you have a magical force field around you that leaves you impervious to anything dangerous on that property than I don't know what to tell you. Just check that common sense in at front desk when you arrive. Here's a tag for you. Collect it on the way out

 

[tarheelhockey]

I said people
Not me

Nice try though

Like I said, you're speaking with the voice of someone whose experience with adult-level responsibility is pretty close to zero.

Therefore the value of your opinions on what it means to bear those responsibilities, and what it means to be accountable for them, is also pretty close to zero.

 

[yubbers]

Is a resort in the Caribbean responsible for a shark attack on its beach?

Is a trailer park in the Rockies responsible for a bear attack on a camper at a camp site that left out food?

 

[yubbers]

Like I said, you're speaking with the voice of someone whose experience with adult-level responsibility is pretty close to zero.

Therefore the value of your opinions on what it means to bear those responsibilities, and what it means to be accountable for them, is also pretty close to zero.

Your well off on your assessment but hey, let's get away from the actual discussion

 

[tarheelhockey]

Your well off on your assessment but hey, let's get away from the actual discussion

If you don't want to come off like a kid, start sounding more like an adult.

Statements like "People need to keep themselves safe. That's what instincts are for. Welcome to survival" don't come out of the mouths of people with significant experience in the real world.

 

[Inkling]

It's the beach that has me amazed. They built this perfectly groomed and sloped sandy beach that leads right down to.....a body of water that you shouldn't enter or even get close to (if you're a child) because there could be alligators or killer amoebas or deadly snakes. They could just as easily built a sandy play area, bounded by a boardwalk with a slight drop down to the water and it wouldn't have nearly been as inviting to danger (which is probably the point, it's supposed to look good even though it makes zero sense).

As for the 'No Swimming' signs, there are lots of those everywhere and up here it's probably because the water is unsupervised, or the water isn't guaranteed to be free of E-Coli (rather than killer amoebas). People ignore those signs all the times but pretty sure they wouldn't have if it had said 'Beware of Aligators'.

I've been to Florida and know the risk of fresh water lakes but I didn't know that dusk was a particularly dangerous time until I read the threads around this incident.

All that said, the places has existed for decades and it hasn't happened before with any of the millions of tourists, so it was obviously a pretty freak occurrence.

 

[Beaker]

There hadn't been a complaint / sighting of an alligator in weeks by either guests or the full time unit that supervise/kill gators. Despite that, I don't think Disney did enough. If there's a chance, even the slightest chance, that an alligator will snatch a child near or in the water... then you remove access to the site or take further preventative measures. Maybe even just a "Beware of Alligators"... To warn all your guests travelling from around the world

It's a tragedy, it's nature, it's an extremely rare occurrence... and Disney will have to dig deep into their pockets and compensate the family