SNATCHED BY AN ALLIGATOR

IT WAS day three of the family’s holiday in Disney World, near Orlando in Florida, America, and everyone had gathered in the grounds of their upmarket hotel complex for a movie night. Matt and Melissa Graves, who live in Elkhorn, Nebraska, set up a playpen for their two kids about 30 m from the edge of a manmade lake. But it was a typical mid-summer muggy night in Florida and little Lane (2) wanted to paddle in the water. Melissa (38) went with him, leaving her four-year-old daughter, Ella, with her husband – and what happened next made Disney World history.

As the little boy waded in ankle-deep water less than 3 m from the shore, an alligator about 2 m long surged from the murky depths. Within a minute boy and beast were gone.

Matthew (42), who’s the chief data officer with an IT company, ran into the water and tried to pull his son from the alligator, sustaining lacerations to his arm in the process.

A search for the little boy ensued but after 15 hours it was called off.

“There was no hope of finding the boy alive,” the local sheriff, Jerry Demings, said. The next day police divers found the boy’s body at the bottom of the lagoon – LEFT: Matt and Melissa Graves with their kids, baby Lane and Ella. ABOVE: Lane was in shallow water when an alligator snatched him. TOP RIGHT: The Disney World resort where the drama took place. RIGHT: Florida is home to more than a million gators. intact where the alligator had abandoned him, authorities said.

The death cast a pall over Disney World. It was the first time in the resort’s 45-year existence that anybody had been snatched by an alligator.

LANE’S death was another blow for Orlando, a city still reeling from the mass shooting at the Pulse gay club and the murder of popular singer Christina Grimmie, all in the same week (YOU, 23 June).

Fingers are being pointed at Disney World, with people blaming the world-famous resort for not warning guests at the Grand Floridian Hotel – the most expensive establishment in the area where rooms go for more than R8 500 a night – of alligator danger. There are “No swimming” signs where Lane was snatched but nothing about gators – unlike at a neighbouring resort where signs highlight the threat of the giant reptiles.

Matt and Melissa aren’t being regarded as negligent because Lane wasn’t swimming, just paddling, and his mom was keeping a close eye on him when the alligator attacked.

Thomas Scolaro, a lawyer from Miami

Swhose firm has represented families after alligator attacks elsewhere in the state, believes “the facts look horrible for Disney. While this is a tragedy it was entirely preventable had Disney acted reasonably and not left unwitting tourists at the mercy of dangerous animals that roam its resort.”

Gators are common in Florida – the steamy state is home to about 1,4 million of the creatures. During the search for Lane wildlife officials at Disney World captured and killed five and will use forensics to determine whether they euthanised the one responsible. If not, officials say, they will continue hunting.

But it’s a pointless exercise, says Tammy Sapp of Florida’s wildlife commission. Alligators can move swiftly over land – which is how they end up in manmade lakes and pools – and chances are this alligator has already moved on.

The animals are stealthy and efficient hunters, gliding silently through water and camouflaging themselves in shallow water before striking.

“In most cases alligators will not immediately swallow their prey but will instead haul it into the water to drown it,” Robert Reisz, a biology professor at the University of Toronto, told TV station CNN. Alligators often store their prey in an underwater den – they enjoy meat once it starts to rot as it’s easier to bite off chunks of flesh.

“This is normal predatory behaviour,” Reisz says. “In this case the prey just happens to have been a child.”