Disney to put up alligator warnings after death

DISNEY is to ‘thoroughly review’ its alligator warning signs after a boy aged two was snatched and killed in shallow water at its Disney World resort in Florida.

State wildlife officials promised to work on improving safety following criticism of the company’s apparent reluctance to spell out the threat lurking in its many lakes and waterways.

Disney has been embroiled in a row since toddler Lane Graves was grabbed and killed by an alligator as he was paddling on Tuesday – 10ft from the shore of the man-made Seven Seas lagoon in the Orlando theme park.

His father, Matthew, tried to prise his son out of the alligator’s vice-like jaws. The family had been staying at the nearby fivestar Grand Floridian Resort and had been on the hotel’s artificial beach to watch a film.

Divers found the child’s body 17 hours later.

The signs on the beach from which Lane was taken warn: ‘Steep Drop-off, Deep Water, No Swimming’.

While neighbouring resorts mention alligators in ‘no swimming’ signs, Disney World – visited by thousands of British tourists every year – avoids doing so.

Florida has nearly 1.3million of the reptiles and wildlife experts warn that people should assume that any fresh water, even a small pond, could contain an alligator.