Toddler dragged under water at Disney by alligator

They often take their prey and put them under something like a submerged log to make it easier for them to eat later.

Given the number of tourists who feed the alligators there (why?), it likely wouldn't have been hungry, might never have gone back for the body.

I can't locate the post that reported there was a previous incident where a boy was attacked by an alligator. Talk about a nail in their civil litigation coffin.

Disney has been playing the odds against lost revenue. Of course alligator attacks are rare, but somewhere within their business calculations they decided they had more to lose from putting up a "Beware of Alligators" sign, then running the risk of a tragedy like this.

From a purely business standpoint their decision probably makes sense, but this is why juries clobber corporate defendants.

I recently read a book Lost in Mongolia that included a section on the people who set up Disney's animal areas. Those people deeply understand and appreciate the behaviour of the animals that are brought in as well as those native to the area.

What the corporate types decide/d to do with the information is another matter entirely.



(the link goes to a page of the google book referencing the development of Disney's Animal Kingdom)

It's not irrational for a huge corporation to have a somewhat pyramidal structure for decision making. The animal experts who understand animal behavior are not capable of seeing the entire big picture. The trick is to have a organization that understands all of the risks, in their entirety.

Assuming someone at the top nixed "Beware of Alligator" signs, he or she, obviously, didn't foresee the negative impact of this incident. From a profits standpoint it is largely impossible to calculate.

If "Beware of Alligator" sign don't appear at this lagoon soon, I will be dumbfounded.

Anecdotally, I don't think this is going to make a significant difference to Disney's bottom line. It's already disappeared as a matter of interest to a lot of people.

I'm seeing ongoing fb postings of people traveling there and making plans to go.

They have a superb product. I wish I had one even close to theirs. It isn't going to kill Disney; not by a long shot, but at the top of the pyramid they are thinking of profits in single digit percentage points.

It's got no appeal for me, but I understand that many people like to get nature and entertainment fed to them teaspoon by predigested tiny teaspoon.

What? You don't want to see "the unpredictable antics of wild animals in their own environments"?

No surprise people have moved away from this. For singular events like this the attention span is a few days, for larger scale, it declines sharply after a week.

People need to move onto their fix of the next thing to be appalled about.

antics! more antics!


nope

I'm going to have to get this book. I scrolled up and saw stuff about Sunny Von B. and OJ

If we lived closer, I'd bring it over to you (along with some other books I think you'd like). Check local used bookstores/thrifts if you're near any.

There is a section on the Bikini Atoll that I found fascinating. The guy's a good interviewer/writer.

I might have to take a Xanax before reading. I can just see the steam coming out my ears.

Listening to NPR the other day, maybe you heard this one. Here's the link.

http://www.npr.org/2016/06/10/481536052/is-yellowstone-national-park-in-danger-of-being-loved-to-death

It's more dramatic listening to it.

Yes, I know this article is about actual wildlfe parks, not a vacation resort. However, listening to it really brought home how Americans see nothing strange about walking through Yellowstone with bears and such. It wasn't until the near tragic accident in Africa where the guide was almost gored by an elephant, in a place they should have been walking, did it occur to the man how stupid it was expecting to just take a walk through the woods and be surprised when a bear appears and attacks.

I've heard over and over here, from people from different countries "I just wouldn't expect that."

Why Wouldn't you expect that?

I will say DW should have had some kind of sign indicating alligators. They were negligent in that.

People were feeding alligators from their balconies? I'm sure others got some great photo ops over the years, etc.

This was a lagoon. Never mind it was man made. It had been there a long time and was full of plants, fish, birds, other wildlife....why Not alligators? You know what else was in there? Snakes.

Yes, if I go to Florida I expect alligators. If I went to Australia I'd expect crocodiles, snakes, poisenous insects and animals. Yes, even if I were sitting poolside I'd know there were life forms besides me much nearer than I expected.

We're so out of touch with nature, we need to be told alligators and snakes live in swamps and lagoons? I guess we think that's only on video games.

I've been following Yellowstone tourist idiocies ...

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/05/16/yellowstone_park_bison_euthanized_after_tourists_thought_they_were_saving.html

listened to an interview with the guy involved with this

http://www.pressherald.com/2016/06/03/father-son-thought-they-were-saving-orphaned-bison-calf-at-yellowstone/

tools

Why were these people even AT Yellowstone?

If they saw a predator chasing an animal, would they have shooed it away?

Probably.

Oh, I read a comment somewhere re the alligator, something like "Well if people were feeding the alligators, it wasn't like it was Starving" As if the gator had some ulterior motive, like "I'm just feeling it today. Gonna take something down, even though I'm not starving"

So you don't like Disney's "manufactured" reality. Is that a reason to dismiss the agony of this family?

Well you are enlightened about nature. Some, obviously, are not so when nature tears their child away from them it's their stupid fault?

One of those two things is true.

Hey you favor alligators over humans.

Fine, but don't expect any of us to consider you do so with compassion.

You've put a stake in the ground that I, at least, will remember.

I used to expect one thing of you - to respond to what I posted. Now you're commenting on things I haven't said. I'm sure you're not sad that I am bidding you farewell now.