Disney resort to add alligator warning signs

The probe into the death of a two-year-old boy killed by an alligator at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, is not criminal in nature, the local sheriff’s office said on Thursday.

The Nebraska boy, Lane Graves, was on the water’s edge Tuesday night at the Grand Floridian’s Seven Seas Lagoon when he was grabbed by an alligator and dragged into the water.

The animals are found in large bodies of fresh water across Florida, but they rarely attack humans.

According to the Medical Examiner’s Office, an autopsy revealed that Graves died as a result of drowning and traumatic injuries. The Orange County sheriff said it was the first time an alligator had killed someone at Disney in its 45 years of operations.

The boy was also wading in the water – on a beach where there were “no swimming” signs posted, but no warnings about alligators in the lake.

On Friday afternoon, June 17, ABC correspondent Gio Benitez said signs and barriers were put up at the beach.

A lawyer who says he warned Walt Disney officials about alligators lurking on their properties a year ago, has spoken out following the fatal reptile attack this week.

“We are putting every effort forward”, said Chad Weber, an officer of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Pete Ricketts, the governor of the Graves family’s home state, Nebraska, tweeted his condolences on Thursday. A diver found the toddler’s body just 15 yards from where his father tried to save him.

The statement by Disney spokeswoman Jacquee Wahler said the company also was conducting a “swift and thorough review of all of our processes and protocols”.

“For the little 2-year-old, Lane Graves, whose life was taken unmercifully, may God touch the family’s heart with peace as they suffer the loss of their precious little boy”, a church leader said. No time frame was announced immediately, and the resort’s beaches remain closed. “The team attempts to relocate the gators to the uninhabited natural areas as best they can, but the gators don’t understand the boundaries”, said former Disney executive Duncan Dickson to the Sentinel.