Disney examines alligator policies to protect tourists

Officials laud firm for ridding parks of nuisance animals

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — It’s an unwritten rule for Florida residents: Keep your kids away from ponds and lakes because alligators are everywhere.

But after a gator killed a 2-year-old Nebraska boy at a Walt Disney World resort, attention soon turned to tourists. In a state with an estimated 1 million alligators, how should theme parks and other attractions warn visitors, and did Disney do enough?

Disney beaches remained closed Thursday after the death of Lane Graves, and the company said it was reviewing policies that do not currently include posting alligator warnings around park waters.

The review “includes the number, placement and wording of our signage and warnings,” Jacquee Wahler, vice president of Walt Disney World Resort, said in a statement.

Local law enforcement and state wildlife officials publicly praised the company for spotting and removing nuisance gators from park waters.

Disney’s wildlife management system has ensured “that their guests are not unduly exposed to the wildlife in this area,” Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said during the search for the child.

Yet Kadie Whalen, who lives in Wynnewood, Pa., saw no evidence of that system when she visited Disney World with her family four years ago.

Whalen said her three young children and niece were playing on a resort beach at the water’s edge with buckets and shovels provided by Disney workers when the beady eyes of a 7-foot gator appeared in a lake just a few feet away. She screamed and everyone scattered.

No one was hurt, but after her experience, this week’s fatal alligator attack did not surprise her.

“We knew that Disney was aware that this was a problem, and yet they encourage people to be there,” Whalen said Thursday in a telephone interview.