When you’re at the Magical Kingdom, the last thing on your mind is worrying about your child’s safety…especially when it comes to alligators.
As if Orlando hadn’t already been rocked by enough tragedy and sadness for one week, we learned early this morning from USA Today that a 2-year-old boy had been dragged into the water of a lagoon at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa in Orlando, and has yet to be found.
Apparently, the boy’s family was visiting the Magical Kingdom from Nebraska and decided to spend the evening relaxing by the shoreline of the resort’s Seven Seas Lagoon. The 2-year-old waded into the lagoon, close to an alligator that was 4-7 feet long, who then snatched the boy up and dragged him into the water. His father and mother both attempted to rescue the boy, but the alligator got away. A lifeguard called 911, and about 50 wildlife specialists arrived on the scene to help locate the boy. The boy’s body was officially discovered around 4:30 p.m. on June 15th.
As a result of this attack, around 4 alligators were removed from the lagoon to be euthanized and tested to see if they were responsible for the attack.
This tragedy is eerily similar to the Harambe situation in Cincinnati last month. Already, a few questions come to mind:
- According to ABC, there were no marked signs that warned people that alligators were in the lagoon. However, there are signs that warn people against swimming in the man-made lake. So, who’s really at fault here? Were alligators supposed to be there or not?
- Gators do not usually attack humans, so what happened in this situation?
- Is it necessary to euthanize these gators to determine their involvement in this situation?
And, just like with Harambe, I have a bad feeling that the public is going to come out the gate pointing fingers at the family first, accusing the parents of not properly supervising their child.
But I ask you all: what would YOU have done if you were this boy’s parents? How would you have responded to this attack? And what do you think could have been done to prevent this? Do we even have enough information to know what went on?
