[amphibian]

 Andorion, on 16 June 2016 - 03:12 AM, said:

Apparently a child died from an alligator attack at Disney World in Florida? What was an alligator doing inside Disney World?

Gators are all over the place in Florida and plenty of other places in the South of the USA. They're kinda mobile and most of the time, they are relatively avoidable. The manmade lake was right outside the complex and the family was at an outdoors movie night event. The kid was playing on the beach and went in the water a little bit - the signs said "No Swimming", but didn't elaborate - and then gator got him then.

Really sad situation and frankly, the venue/Disney should do a much better job of keeping that spot gator-free or people out of the water area because it's such a high traffic/family area.

[Andorion]

 amphibian, on 16 June 2016 - 04:04 AM, said:

 Andorion, on 16 June 2016 - 03:12 AM, said:

Apparently a child died from an alligator attack at Disney World in Florida? What was an alligator doing inside Disney World?

Gators are all over the place in Florida and plenty of other places in the South of the USA. They're kinda mobile and most of the time, they are relatively avoidable. The manmade lake was right outside the complex and the family was at an outdoors movie night event. The kid was playing on the beach and went in the water a little bit - the signs said "No Swimming", but didn't elaborate - and then gator got him then.

Really sad situation and frankly, the venue/Disney should do a much better job of keeping that spot gator-free or people out of the water area because it's such a high traffic/family area.

Wouldn't a sign "NO SWIMMING DANGER ALLIGATORS" have been a better idea? Given the high number of small children in a place like that I would have thought that it would have been kind of obligatory for the administration to warn the parents more explicitly. Also maybe some fencing?

Also while an alligator may not be a huge danger to an adult, this is Disneyland, its going to be stuffed with kids

Seems like an entirely avoidable tragedy to me.

[amphibian]

 Andorion, on 16 June 2016 - 04:14 AM, said:

Wouldn't a sign "NO SWIMMING DANGER ALLIGATORS" have been a better idea? Given the high number of small children in a place like that I would have thought that it would have been kind of obligatory for the administration to warn the parents more explicitly. Also maybe some fencing?

Also while an alligator may not be a huge danger to an adult, this is Disneyland, its going to be stuffed with kids

Seems like an entirely avoidable tragedy to me.

Yeah. Some 330ish people have been bitten by gators in Florida over the last 40 some years. I think 20ish died. A ton of small dogs and cats get taken every year. The crocs and the gators aren't just lumbering logs. They can move and they are surprisingly good at getting small animals in their range.

[Andorion]

 amphibian, on 16 June 2016 - 04:16 AM, said:

 Andorion, on 16 June 2016 - 04:14 AM, said:

Wouldn't a sign "NO SWIMMING DANGER ALLIGATORS" have been a better idea? Given the high number of small children in a place like that I would have thought that it would have been kind of obligatory for the administration to warn the parents more explicitly. Also maybe some fencing?

Also while an alligator may not be a huge danger to an adult, this is Disneyland, its going to be stuffed with kids

Seems like an entirely avoidable tragedy to me.

Yeah. Some 330ish people have been bitten by gators in Florida over the last 40 some years. I think 20ish died. A ton of small dogs and cats get taken every year. The crocs and the gators aren't just lumbering logs. They can move and they are surprisingly good at getting small animals in their range.

This is something about America that I find strange and fascinating. Its so advanced and yet you have whole areas where alligators essentially dominate, I believe BK once mentioned herds of wild boar and the other day I saw a video about bears in somebodys backyard

[worry]

Just in the past few weeks there's been the Disney gator, the other gator with a corpse in its mouth, the gigantic golf course gator, and the Nile crocs in Florida. I fear the revolution is imminent.

This post has been edited by worry: 16 June 2016 - 04:21 AM

[Tsundoku]

It's a resort next to a body of water in Florida. Ergo, there be alligators.

What I want to know for start is, why was the kid in 1 foot of water when apparently there are "No swimming" signs?

I could understand if there weren't any alligator warning signs as well (because that would frighten off the customers and we can't have that) and that this family are from Nebraska, so I dare say alligators wouldn't be on their minds.

But it brings us back to Ando's question: what was an alligator doing in Disney world? Have Disney never heard of "fences" or are they really that cheapass?

Apparently their numbers are increasing, which of course leads to more incidents due to urban encroachment combining with expanding gator territories etc:

http://www.news.com....0ee91bed22e6e16

That poor little boy though, what a terrible thing to happen.

Every time I hear about something bad befalling children it makes me that much more paranoid about my little boy. I know the stats are on our side but but they're not exactly reassuring, and your initial gut reaction on hearing this sort of stuff is to hold them and not let go. Not great for their development though.

This post has been edited by Tsundoku: 16 June 2016 - 04:26 AM

[Andorion]

 Tsundoku, on 16 June 2016 - 04:23 AM, said:

It's a resort next to a body of water in Florida. Ergo, there be alligators.

What I want to know for start is, why was the kid in 1 foot of water when apparently there are "No swimming" signs?

I could understand if there weren't any alligator warning signs as well (because that would frighten off the customers and we can't have that) and that this family are from Nebraska, so I dare say alligators wouldn't be on their minds.

But it brings us back to Ando's question: what was an alligator doing in Disney world? Have Disney never heard of "fences" or are they really that cheapass?

That poor little boy though, what a terrible thing to happen.
Every time I hear about something bad befalling children it makes me that much more paranoid about my little boy. I know the stats are on our side but but they're not exactly reassuring, and your initial gut reaction on hearing this sort of stuff is to hold them and not let go. Not great for their development though.

If it was a man made lake, clearly the gator walked into it, right? Did the Disney people not know there were gators there? I still can't get over the lack of fencing.

[Andorion]

 worry, on 16 June 2016 - 04:20 AM, said:

Just in the past few weeks there's been the Disney gator, the other gator with a corpse in its mouth, the gigantic golf course gator, and the Nile crocs in Florida. I fear the revolution is imminent.

Maybe you should just cut it off and let it drift away

[worry]

 Andorion, on 16 June 2016 - 04:25 AM, said:

Maybe you should just cut it off and let it drift away

It's been tried.

Spoiler

But it just keeps coming back. Like certain infections.

[Andorion]

The more I think about this alligator issue the more angry I get that there were no alligator warning signs. It's a tourist attraction with thousands of out of state tourists who are unfamiliar with Florida environment norms. So they need to be warned.

Once on a vacation we were spending the night in a fairly remote part of the mountains. Our host was showing us around and he pointed at one door and said whatever you do, after sunset don't open that door as it opens onto the forested area and sometimes we get bears. A simple prudent warning which we heeded. So why couldn't Disney put the word alligator on their no swimming sign?

[Una]

I do not live in an alligator infested swamp area. We don't have sharks either, now that I think about it. When I see a "no swimming" sign, I assume it's because there is no lifeguard and they don't want to deal with people swimming out too far and drowning. Or in a resort situation, like a man-made lake, perhaps they don't chlorinate it and don't want people to get sick and blame them. I would not automatically think of dangerous wildlife and would probably assume that it would be safe to wade around with my pant legs rolled up to my knees, as long as I wasn't stripping down to my swimsuit and paddling out from shore, swallowing water along the way.

Now, if the sign said, "Danger: Alligators", or "Danger: Sharks", or "Dangerous rocks", or "Riptides are common here. Stay off the rocks.", I would get the message and stay well away from the water.

The family did nothing wrong. They couldn't have been expected to know. The boy wasn't swimming. In was in a kiddie-friendly resort where you expect a reasonable level of safety. It's not like this was a wilderness retreat in bear territory. And even if it was, like Andorion says, everyone would warn you about how to avoid the bears. This stuff is making me paranoid. It's going to be so long before my boy is big enough run from or scare off animals.

[worry]

On the one hand I don't think it would hurt and they probably should add that info to signs. On the other hand, Disneyworld is huge (40+ square miles) and full of wilderness and semi-wilderness areas like this lagoon. Like in a sense, outside of attractions etc. you're just gonna be in a large Florida park, essentially. At a certain point you might as well have a sign that says "nature exists".

[Gorefest]

 worry, on 16 June 2016 - 04:20 AM, said:

Just in the past few weeks there's been the Disney gator, the other gator with a corpse in its mouth, the gigantic golf course gator, and the Nile crocs in Florida. I fear the revolution is imminent.

They should arrest Tick-Tock, I bet he's their ringleader.

[Tsundoku]

How about this sign? They've everywhere through the northern third or so of this country. Pretty straightforward.

Attached File(s)

•  no swimming crocodiles.jpg (87.96K)
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[Gorefest]

Don't think crocodiles can read signs.

[worry]

I imagine they actually will replace the current signage due to this incident. This is basically a freak accident, but it never hurts to remind tourists they aren't in Kansas anymore, even just to prime their awareness of surroundings.

[Tsundoku]

All going according to plan, I'll be off to the frozen wastes of South Australia for 4-6 weeks tomorrow.

I'm hoping there's a certain problem tomorrow which could roll back my departure until midway through next week. A problem that has been previously mentioned and has a 50-50 chance of occurring. Get enough of them in a row and maybe they'll just forget about me ...

[amphibian]

 Una, on 16 June 2016 - 07:14 AM, said:

The family did nothing wrong. They couldn't have been expected to know. The boy wasn't swimming. In was in a kiddie-friendly resort where you expect a reasonable level of safety. It's not like this was a wilderness retreat in bear territory. And even if it was, like Andorion says, everyone would warn you about how to avoid the bears. This stuff is making me paranoid. It's going to be so long before my boy is big enough run from or scare off animals.

I've now seen pictures of the beach. (https://scontent-ord...112717462_n.jpg)

There really is zero fault on the behalf of the parents, who were nearby. That's a safe looking spot, even if it is Florida.

I'm sad about this, sad about other things, and remembering that there are indeed good things and good people in this world. Have a better day, people.

[Abyss]

Based on the reports, the parents were right there, the father jumped on the gator, and the mother went in after it, but they couldnt stop what happened.This fucks my groove on so many many levels.

[Andorion]

And the bad news just keeps on coming. Apparently a British MP has been killed in her constituency.

This is a BBC link