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Friday, July 15, 2016

Firefighters fed gator near toddler-snatching Disney site: report

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Firefighters at Walt Disney World were warned to stop feeding alligators at one of the resort's fire stations two months before an alligator killed a toddler.

According to emails obtained by the Orlando Sentinel, Reedy Creek Emergency Services admonished firefighters for feeding at least one of two alligators at a station less than a half-mile from Seven Seas Lagoon, where 2-year-old son Lane Graves was killed after being pulled into the water by a gator.

The Sentinel explains that Reedy Creek "is the Disney-controlled taxing district that provides government services to the theme parks and surrounding areas."

Feeding alligators is illegal because it causes the animals to lose their natural fear of humans.

"You would think that the firefighters would be a little bit more in tune with the trouble that could cause and not do it," David Hitzig, executive director of the Busch Wildlife Center, a refuge and nature center in Jupiter, remarked to the newspaper. "You would figure they would have more common sense than that. ... When you feed an alligator, you're attracting it to people.".

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2 comments:

  1. So now Disney's blaming fire fighters. They knew they were in there and they knew where they were coming from. They should have spent the money and blocked off their entry. When all this happened I heard a rep from some park in Australia who said they use curtain like blockades to keep crocs out of a theme park. He said they work very well and water can flow through them, but are expensive and have to be maintained which of course means more money.

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  2. But it's so much cheaper to post a few $20 signs and lower that bottom line.

    ReplyDelete

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