Aligators in Florida

yiostheoy

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When I was a little kid growing up in Florida, my parents always warned me to stay away from ponds, lakes, and creeks. And also I was to bring a big stick with me everywhere in case I had to fight-off an alligator or a dog.

Ever since then I have always had my trusty M1 A1 U.S. Hiking Stick with me anytime I have gone into the woodlands or mountains (see photo).

It looks like this poor 2 year old child had bad parents and as a result the poor child is now dead, grabbed and eaten by a Florida alligator near the pond of the Disney Hotel in Orlando.

Alligators are all over Florida like lizards everywhere else in the USA. Looks like the parents of this poor child were from out of state and not aware of the dangers.

Perhaps Disney should have built his theme park in Georgia instead?!

http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/15/us/alligator-attacks-child-disney-florida/
 

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I don't think they were bad parents at all -- I think so often when we read stories online we're too quick to jump to that kind of conclusion. I think they were misinformed parents. They were from Nebraska, where they would never had to deal with the threat of gators. I spoke to a friend of mine who is in Louisiana and she mentioned that there, everyone knows about not going near certain bodies of water because of the risk of gators - but to someone who has never dealt with the risk, you just wouldn't know.

It breaks my heart for the family who would be grieving. I can't imagine losing a child like that, before your eyes...also from what I read the child was drowned, not eaten/bitten. Seems like the gator dragged the child in but didn't have anything to do with harming it other than that.
 
I don't think they were bad parents at all -- I think so often when we read stories online we're too quick to jump to that kind of conclusion. I think they were misinformed parents. They were from Nebraska, where they would never had to deal with the threat of gators. I spoke to a friend of mine who is in Louisiana and she mentioned that there, everyone knows about not going near certain bodies of water because of the risk of gators - but to someone who has never dealt with the risk, you just wouldn't know.

It breaks my heart for the family who would be grieving. I can't imagine losing a child like that, before your eyes...also from what I read the child was drowned, not eaten/bitten. Seems like the gator dragged the child in but didn't have anything to do with harming it other than that.
I think everyone in the USA has as least heard of Florida's gators.

It is pure yuppie foolishness not to be more cautious with your kids in Florida.

Fortunately the child died quickly and without any idea of what was happening to it.

Unfortunately 5 gators have now been killed in reprisal.

But fortunately gator meat does not go to waste in Florida. It actually tastes like halibut or grouper.
 
I think everyone in the USA has as least heard of Florida's gators.

It is pure yuppie foolishness not to be more cautious with your kids in Florida.

Fortunately the child died quickly and without any idea of what was happening to it.

Unfortunately 5 gators have now been killed in reprisal.

I guess I didn't know (I'm only a US permanent resident - didn't grow up there!) but this case has definitely made me sit up and take some more awareness about it. In Australia where I grew up, we have crocodiles, but they're very limited to the northernmost states.

I guess part of my confusion with this whole case though is the idea of this beach area having alligators in it, when it's on a private property premises...I'm sorry if I sound naïve (I probably will, since I never grew up facing things like this) but couldn't they have relocated the gators elsewhere? I feel like at a Disney resort, it really would need to be the ultimate in family friendly - the waterway seemed like an enclosed lake kind of area? Again I might be getting the wrong end of the stick with this (I'm not trying to argue at all - just genuinely confused by the whole situation!)
 
I guess I didn't know (I'm only a US permanent resident - didn't grow up there!) but this case has definitely made me sit up and take some more awareness about it. In Australia where I grew up, we have crocodiles, but they're very limited to the northernmost states.

I guess part of my confusion with this whole case though is the idea of this beach area having alligators in it, when it's on a private property premises...I'm sorry if I sound naïve (I probably will, since I never grew up facing things like this) but couldn't they have relocated the gators elsewhere? I feel like at a Disney resort, it really would need to be the ultimate in family friendly - the waterway seemed like an enclosed lake kind of area? Again I might be getting the wrong end of the stick with this (I'm not trying to argue at all - just genuinely confused by the whole situation!)
Gators are everywhere in Florida, all the way up to the Georgia state line, and per DogT even further north I guess.

When I was a little kid in Florida I always had my big stick with me.

I have a vague memory of a gator gaping wide its mouth at me and hissing, at which moment I pointed my stick at it like a spear two handed. My dad came running up and kicked at the gator and made it retreat.

Hogtown Creek the main drainage ran behind our house which was a tributary to Haile Aquifer. That's how the gator made it to our neighborhood and into our back yard. We lived in Gainesville due northwest of Orlando.

Disney picked Florida to build in because it was warm like California. He was not thinking about the gators.

I am guessing there will be a settlement of several millions of dollars between Disney and this family. The Disney lawyers are probably all over it already, wanting to hush it up as much as possible.

Seems like gross negligence on the part of Disney to me.
 
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Disney is not to blame. I am from the UK, and have never been to Florida, but I know there are alligators everywhere, walking in the streets, in the back garden and in home pools. You can read about it everywhere, so it's not an excuse. If you visit somewhere you look up things that you need to be aware of , say mosquitoes, snakes etc.

It was 9 p.m. and a 2 year old was up paddling in dark water; is that safe or sane? As an adult I wouldn't paddle in dark water on a beach, as you don't know what is there. The accident was tragic and the parents will have to live with this, but they were partly to blame. Putting signs up makes no difference as people ignore them, and you can't see them in the dark. One needs to use something called common sense. Children should be in bed at that time, and people who do enter waters in the dark in Florida have been attacked and eaten by alligators, and there are plenty of stories in the news. If I can read and hear about it in the UK, I am sure someone in Nebraska can as well.
 
I guess I didn't know (I'm only a US permanent resident - didn't grow up there!) but this case has definitely made me sit up and take some more awareness about it. In Australia where I grew up, we have crocodiles, but they're very limited to the northernmost states.

I guess part of my confusion with this whole case though is the idea of this beach area having alligators in it, when it's on a private property premises...I'm sorry if I sound naïve (I probably will, since I never grew up facing things like this) but couldn't they have relocated the gators elsewhere? I feel like at a Disney resort, it really would need to be the ultimate in family friendly - the waterway seemed like an enclosed lake kind of area? Again I might be getting the wrong end of the stick with this (I'm not trying to argue at all - just genuinely confused by the whole situation!)

They didn't put the alligators in there, they roam wherever they want. It's a man made lagoon, but alligators have been known to stray into the back garden pools in residential homes. You can't stop them from moving around, just as you can't stop zika virus mosquitoes from flying over the border.

The fact is alligators will go anywhere with water, and it's the same with snakes. You can't put up signs everywhere to be aware of all nature, but one should exercise caution. It's the same as a sea with sharks, you don't know where the sharks are, but if you are in the sea, there is a good chance they maybe there.
 
They didn't put the alligators in there, they roam wherever they want. It's a man made lagoon, but alligators have been known to stray into the back garden pools in residential homes. You can't stop them from moving around, just as you can't stop zika virus mosquitoes from flying over the border.

The fact is alligators will go anywhere with water, and it's the same with snakes. You can't put up signs everywhere to be aware of all nature, but one should exercise caution. It's the same as a sea with sharks, you don't know where the sharks are, but if you are in the sea, there is a good chance they maybe there.
I think the legal problem is going to come from the absence of alligator warning signs.

I suspect signs are going to go up everywhere now.
 
I think the legal problem is going to come from the absence of alligator warning signs.

I suspect signs are going to go up everywhere now.
The beach had no swimming signs. The kid was wading. If the signs warned of alligators, Disney may have been afraid that would spoil the family ambiance of the beach. It's certainly spoiled now.

I live in the Tampa Bay area. There are alligators in many neighborhood ponds, even in higher class subdivisions.
 
The beach had no swimming signs. The kid was wading. If the signs warned of alligators, Disney may have been afraid that would spoil the family ambiance of the beach. It's certainly spoiled now.

I live in the Tampa Bay area. There are alligators in many neighborhood ponds, even in higher class subdivisions.
Yup I grew up there I know. The yuppie fools from Nebraska did not appreciate the risk.
 
The beach had no swimming signs. The kid was wading. If the signs warned of alligators, Disney may have been afraid that would spoil the family ambiance of the beach. It's certainly spoiled now.

I live in the Tampa Bay area. There are alligators in many neighborhood ponds, even in higher class subdivisions.

I honestly didn't know how prevalent they were there. If anything, I think this will draw awareness to the fact that you can't simply be in water in FL without that risk. Maybe this tragic incident will mean that there will be better signage, and just better awareness overall. Even if it does ruin the ambience it's much better to know.

Thanks guys for your input - it's good getting insight from people living there now or people that have lived there in the past.
 
I think the legal problem is going to come from the absence of alligator warning signs.

I suspect signs are going to go up everywhere now.

But the reality is you can't put up signs everywhere, and then the is the case of putting them in different languages. Then what if a snake comes out of the water? Do you need beware of snakes too? They are all over the country in the US.

It's like going to South America now, will they have signs saying beware of mosquitoes? People do need to take responsibility, and this tragic incident may have been prevented if it wasn't dark. The photos show how dark it was at 9 p.m. and that was a huge contributory factor.
 
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I saw a lot of snakes during the 9 months I was in the Virginia backwoods around the Potomac River.

Never saw a single gator up there though. Too cold for them there probably.
Dismal Swamp down by the NC border. Had a 15' one walk out of the marsh across the beach and into the ocean on Oak Island SC a few years back.
More as you go south of course but we have um.
 
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