Since the incident, Disney has said they will add signs warning guests about alligators.
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Although there was a “No Swimming” sign in the water where Lane was attacked, it did not mention the presence of alligators as others do around the resort property.
By midmorning Wednesday, Disney closed all beaches in its resort area “out of an abundance of caution” after the attack, a Disney representative said.
“We are installing signage and temporary barriers at our resort beach locations and are working on permanent, long-term solutions at our beaches”, Jacquee Wahler, the resorts’ vice president, said in a statement.
Unlike the outcry that occurred when a boy fell into a gorilla enclosure at the Cincinnati Zoo, the reaction to the Graves family has been mainly sympathy, not outrage.
The boy was dragged into the Seven Seas Lagoon near Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Rose Silva said.
On Saturday, Lane’s parents, Matt and Melissa Graves, released a statement saying they weren’t ready to speak publicly about their son’s death.
Depending on the size of an alligator, the state may send out a trapper, as happened after the gator grabbed the boy at Disney’s Seven Seas Lagoon.
On Thursday, the medical examiner in Orlando, Florida deemed the cause of death was from drowning and traumatic injuries.
“We’re going to make certain that we have the alligator that was involved, and that we remove it from the lake”, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Executive Director Nick Wiley said in a statement. We are devastated and heartbroken by this tragic accident and are doing what we can to help the family during this hard time.
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Walt Disney World installed a temporary barrier Friday on the shoreline where an alligator fatally attacked a 2-year-old boy at a luxury resort and put up gator warning signs in the area for the first time. “To all of the local authorities and staff who worked tirelessly these past 24 hours, we express our deepest gratitude”, they said in their statement.
