After fatal attack, theme parks weigh alligator warnings

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 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 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, Pennsylvania, said she 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 alligator 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.

The dead child's parents, Matt and Melissa Graves, who live in a suburban area of Omaha, have not spoken publicly, so it's unclear whether they knew about the gator threat in Florida.

A statement released through a family friend thanked authorities for their tireless work.

Most Florida residents know to keep children and pets away from water; not feed gators; and be especially vigilant at dusk, dawn and during the June-through-July nesting season when the reptiles are most active.

State wildlife officials say they receive nearly 16,000 alligator-related complaints a year.

Last year, they removed more than 7,500 gators deemed to be a nuisance.