Disney World has long known their resort lagoons are home to alligators, but since a 2-year-old boy was killed this past week resort officials have decided to put up fences to keep the animals way from guests.
via NYP:
A temporary barrier of wooden posts connected by heavy rope was installed along the Seven Seas Lagoon shoreline where a gator snatched away little Lane Graves on Tuesday evening.
Workers also put up signs that read: “Danger. Alligators and snakes in area. Stay away from the water. Do not feed the wildlife.”
The Orlando-area resort had known for decades about the alligator issue — and was even sued in the 1980s about the lack of warnings after another child was attacked — yet there were only “no swimming” signs in place at the lagoon.
A crew of more than a dozen workers from a Disney contractor, Buena Vista Construction Co., fanned out on the beach to dig holes and put up the fence and new signs along the 172-acre, man-made lake.
A Disney employee told The Post that an alligator attack “could happen anytime.”
Jacquee Wahler, vice president of Walt Disney World Resort, vowed to take further precautions to prevent such an attack.
“We are installing signage and temporary barriers at our resort beach locations and are working on permanent, long-term solutions at our beaches,” she said in a statement.
“We continue to evaluate processes and procedures for our entire property, and, as part of this, we are reinforcing training with our [staff] for reporting sightings and interactions with wildlife and are expanding our communication to guests on this topic.”
Lane and his family, including his 4-year-old sister, were playing on the shore outside the luxe Grand Floridian Resort & Spa when the alligator got its jaws around the boy in shallow water and dragged him under. His body was recovered the next day, on Wednesday.
Some saw the grisly death as a long overdue wake-up call.
“Disney takes time to do anything .?.?. but they did this right away,” the Disney employee said. “They’re doing this at all the [Disney] beaches today.”
Better late than never…we guess.
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