Alligator is Not a Four Letter Word
By now, you’ve likely heard of the heartbreaking death of a child who was attacked by an alligator at Walt Disney World ad nauseam. If you somehow haven’t, here are the details. I’m not going to rehash them. The death of that young child is incredibly tragic.
It should go without saying (but probably does need to be said as I’m sure someone will misconstrue this article) that my heart goes out to the family. What happened on the beach of the Grand Floridian is awful and heartbreaking. I cannot begin to fathom the pain the parents must be feeling, especially as they are unduly scrutinized and second-guessed in the aftermath of losing a child.
With that said, I see the aftermath and reaction to this tragedy as fear winning the day over logic and common sense. This presents a problem that goes far beyond alligator attacks, with troubling responses from the media and guests. Beyond that, there’s the reaction from Disney itself as it adds fencing, closes beaches, modifies marina policies, and removes all references to alligators in attractions. I view these subsequent measures and public outcry as very concerning and worthy of discussion.
Responses similar to this are something I’ve noticed quite a bit in the travel realm in the last few years as overreactions to various world events that result in people changing their behavior and entities changing policies. For example, friends and family often inquire as to whether I have any concerns about visiting X or Y destination because “they wouldn’t go there after hearing [insert world event example].” My answer is always the same: safety never crosses my mind. While terrorism is certainly awful and grisly, the fact is that it’s a highly improbable way to die.
My response is often met with some bewilderment, as if I’m reckless for not giving these dangers serious consideration. My view is the opposite: that it would be irresponsible to worry about something so unlikely. While thinking with one’s ‘heart’ is innately human and there’s no way around that, to the greatest extent possible, I try to not let emotion cloud logic. You’re more likely to die of heart disease–by orders of magnitude–than all of the improbable causes of death people tend to fear more combined.
On the scale of heart disease to lightning strikes, alligator deaths are beyond even lightning, with a total of 24 reported United States fatalities since 1928 (until 2010) due to alligators. That’s only .06 attacks per 100,000 people per year, and the vast majority of those are provoked by attempts to capture the alligator. In the improbable event of attack, the survival rate is 96%. Suffice to say, if you are not alligator wrangling, your chances of a fatal alligator attack are close to zero.
Statistically, homicide, bus accidents, heat stroke, West Nile virus, drowning, malaria, and literally hundreds of other causes of death are far more likely in Florida than alligator attacks. In terms of animals, specifically, the most feared animals (like sharks and bears) are actually the most unlikely killers. Cows, spiders, bees, and snakes are all leading killers among animals. Even a fatal whitetail deer (also found on property at Walt Disney World) encounter is more likely, either in the form of a car collision or unprovoked attack. In fact, you are far more likely to crash your vehicle into an animal than be attacked by one (excluding insects).
I can understand why this recent alligator incident has resonated so much with people. It’s a heart-wrenching story with vivid detail, ghastly imagery, and many parents can imagine themselves in the shoes of those parents. It is quite scary to envision, provokes a deeply emotional response, and plays to our fears.
This doesn’t change the objective reality that alligators do not pose a significant threat to guests of Walt Disney World. Despite their nefarious appearance and protruding teeth, they are relatively timid creatures that fear humans. We have heard countless stories of alligators at Walt Disney World over the years, and I don’t mention that here to corroborate the myriad sensationalized “Disney Was Warned!!1!!!” headlines.
I find these headlines irresponsible. Of course there have been alligators spotted in and around numerous bodies of water in Walt Disney World. There are ~1.3 million alligators in Florida. Alligators live in all 67 counties of the state and inhabit all wild areas of Florida that can support them. The mere presence of alligators doesn’t make a location dangerous. The Florida Nuisance Alligator Program does not recommend small alligators for removal, as they are not threats to even small pets (unless the alligator is handled). This should underscore the point that in the swamps of central Florida, alligators have been around forever–certainly since 1971–and this is the first time something awful happened at Walt Disney World.
I’m not writing this to dissuade anyone on the fence about canceling a Walt Disney World vacation. That’s a personal decision. I know that overriding the emotions of a situation are easier said than done. It’s upsetting to think about what happened, and if you’re going to feel unease on vacation, the vacation is worth rethinking.
However, an isolated event that is–by any logical measure–an anomaly, should not dictate how we live our lives. Walt Disney World should not be forced to take prophylactic measures to “prevent” this from occurring again, because if it is bound to happen again, these “preventative” measures aren’t going to change that. (The only thing that will is guests ceasing to feed alligators, thereby potentially causing them to associate food with people.) All references to alligators should not be vanquished from the resort, as if it’s a four-letter word not to be uttered on property.
I can’t fault Disney too much for its response to this incident, even if I do think the subsequent measures taken are unnecessary. Disney is already facing nightmarish PR and media coverage, there have been a ton of cancellations, and innumerable irate guests have contacted Disney about their “alligator issue.” Moreover, we live in a litigious society in desperate need of reform, and some of its actions might behoove Disney from a legal perspective.
That doesn’t make any of this right. This type of response is endemic to our culture, and it’s time for us to say enough is enough with knee-jerk responses to fear mongering. Rather than responding to dramatized media accounts that play into our emotional fears and elicit ill-defined outrage, we should contemplate the real danger present. What we stand to lose to fears of alligators at Walt Disney World is insignificant in isolation, but it presents a growing trend of a willingness to ‘err on the side of caution’ and make meaningless sacrifices for an ill-gotten slice of peace of mind. You simply cannot protect people from every remote danger, and in attempting to do so, too much would be ceded in the name of “safety.” We must allow for some level of acceptable risk, or else live in a constant state of irrational fear.
If you desire things to fear, you will find no shortage if look for them. In the aftermath of 9/11, it was often said that if you live in fear, the terrorists have won. I believe this can be extended to fear, itself. It’s cliché, but Franklin D. Roosevelt’s words ring true. The moment you let fears alter any facet of your life is the moment those fears are fully-realized.
I have a two year old, and we were in Disney World last month staying at a different onsite property. I am so weary of being asked whether we heard about/can imagine/stayed near that area/worried about this happening at subsequent WDW trips. I mean what on earth can I rationally say in response? No, I can’t imagine because no, it’s so far beyond the kind of things I worry about with regard to my son’s safety and yes, imagining losing him – by any means – is gut-wrenching. I feel like all of this should go without saying. At the end of the day, my goal is to teach him to live in boldness, not fear. So all that to say, thank you for this.
Tom-
I stalk your website and have come to thoroughly enjoy your writing, and since it’s usually about planning my vacation, everything I read is comparatively more light-hearted…. with that said, I cannot thank you enough for writing this article. I agree 100% and could not have said it better. Even discussing the event with my co-workers drove me crazy as they repeated the same ignorant comments that you’re referencing… on another note, I’m also a huuuuge fan of Swamp People (awesome show on History Channel) so I feel like I “know” more about gators, and I “like” them in a sense, so this entire situation was difficult for me to fathom, but in the end, it’s a tragic story that probably won’t be the last. Thanks for making me enjoy your writing even more than I always do, and for writing something that makes me feel like I said it myself.
I was thinking of the current political climate the entire time I was reading this. There are some individuals who truly have taken it upon themselves to take advantage of people’s fears and greatly exaggerate those fears to misguide people. How have we become this way? How did we let ourselves get so easily manipulated? This was a great article. Not because it shed light on a real issue but because it underscored today’s society as being too afraid of every little thing.
Tom, thanks for “stopping the insanity!”. I appreciate that at least in this part of the blogosphere, a tempered and reasonable response toward the tragedy at Disney has been made available. Sadly, I think knee jerk reactions to things beyond our control have become an integral part of the thinking in the US.
I actually wish this article could be published in the greater media Tom.
You are considered and articulate ( as always) and your words ring true.
I feel your article would actually give people more piece of mind in the long run than the talk of just “banning” and banishing all that is a potential threat.
Thank you and keep up the well thought out work!
Very thoughtful and well stated Tom. We live in a society where anytime there is a tragedy, we look for someone to blame but unfortunately, we often don’t look in the right place. In this case, many have wanted to blame the parents. In my opinion, they did nothing wrong. Maybe they were naïve about alligators in Florida — but they are from Nebraska where alligators aren’t exactly commonplace. Blame Disney? Possibly for not being pro-active in removing alligators from public places. But if we are to look to blame someone, it would be all of those people before this tragic event that decided an alligator is a pet and they should feed it. They enabled a wild animal to lose its natural fear of humans by encouraging it to come to humans for food.
Another similar recent event occurred in Yellowstone with a baby buffalo and a tourist thinking it was cold. Seriously, thinking a buffalo is cold and stuff it into your car? Of course we know the outcome of that incident as well. I’ve been to the Smoky Mountains dozens of times and never cease to be amazed at the stupidity of people when they see a black bear. Hundreds of signs telling you to stay at least 50 yards away from all wildlife and people chase bears into the woods for a photo or even try to feed them.
So where am I going with this? People don’t want to take responsibility for their own actions. As a society, we want to blame someone else. Blame Disney. Blame the National Parks Service. Blame the Democrats. Blame the Republicans. Blame MacDonald’s for spilling hot coffee on your lap. Stop the blame game and take some personal responsibility. When your kids are running around the bus stop at Disney, be a parent, be responsible, and make them stand behind the yellow line. When the sign says don’t feed the wildlife, don’t think the sign doesn’t apply to you or your kids. Honestly, you shouldn’t need a sign to know that it is a bad idea. So if I could summarize in 10 words or less: Be an adult, be responsible, and be an example.
I could not agree with you more. Excellent post!
Thanks Tom. Your thoughts are appreciated and respected. I agree full-heartedly. My husband and I are taking our 14 month old daughter to Disney this coming Monday and staying at…you guessed it, Grand Floridian.
We never considered for one moment to change our plans. We ARE going to continue praying for this family. We ARE going to show kindness, grace and compassion to the staff at WDW as they have been through so much in the last several weeks.
I, for one, am tired of letting negative and ignorant views be the majority and I am thankful for another sound voice of reason.
Bravo Cas206! I like your attitude and agree 110%. Traveling to WDW in Sept and feel the same way.
I read of an attack on a young boy that happened in the 1980s (1986, I think), while swimming in River Country. He survived because he thinks the alligator got tired of fighting with him and his siblings (who came to his rescue), and just let go of his leg.
We went to Disney right after 9/11. This despite the fact that we witnessed the attacks live, not on TV. And the fact that one of my sons was to meet a client at World Trade Center that morning. Luckily, his alarm malfunctioned. I would say we had a little PTSD for awhile, but damn, we were determined to board that plane to Orlando. And board we did. In fact, we were bumped up to first class. Our first day there was sad (PTSD I guess), but we were fine for the remainder of the trip.
That said, my heart goes out to the parents who lost their son. I can’t imagine anything worse.
Do you mean this? He was at Ft Wilderness and feeding ducks when the alligator grabbed him. His parents, from what I read, went on to sue Disney. Not sure what the settlement was. http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1986-10-12/news/0260190168_1_hitt-alligator-fort-wilderness
Anne, yes, that’s who I read about. Thought I was the only one who saw that.
I think it would’ve been smart to post signs after that incident in 1986.
Alligator attacks are rare but if it happened once at WDW, it could happen again.
There’s no way to know if they even considered placing signs at that time but if they had, we might not be having this discussion now.
Excellent, excellent post! Thank you much for being a voice of rationality and reason!
Very well written, Tom. Best, most sensible article I’ve seen regarding this tragic situation.
I’ve lived in Florida my whole life. Alligators inhabit nearly all bodies of water. That’s always been a fact, and tourists have always flocked to Florida. It’s a shame if people would let one highly publicized incident lead them to change vacation plans.
Something that often goes unnoted is that the alligator has been a true success story in the last 50 years or so. When WDW was being built, the animal was near extinction from over hunting, mostly as part of the tourist trade. Today, it has come back from the brink of extinction, though, sadly, it is being newly threatened by invasive species in the Everglades.
Disney has a responsibility to it’s customers. It has a responsibility to provide as safe an environment it possibly can and that also includes increasing awareness of potential unsafe conditions.
There are plenty of signs stating no swimming but none for the possible presence of aligators.
Yes, you may say, I will more likely get hit by lightening on Main Street than get attacked by an alligator but it can happen, and it did with tragic results.
If there was a sign posted on the beach, with a visual depiction of an alligator, would any responsible parent let their child get close to the water unsupervised? Would it save one person? I would say that it would be worth it.
Again, this safety is something that Disney is obligated to provide its guests. They should always be asking themselves “How can we protect our guests through safety systems so that there are zero incidents?”. Proactive measures must be always taken and it starts with making sure all guests are aware of potential issues upfront through signage and other visual controls.
After that you look at error proofing so that guests are protected while also allowing the alligator population to remain intact on property. Underwater fences or nets might be considered to divert aligators from guest locations. There are many options and if any company has the capital for these measures it is the Walt Disney Co.
Safety for the guests, the customer, is always priority #1, and if some things must change to provide this safety than it must be done. One incident is one too many.
Well said!! I couldn’t agree more!!!
I think you might be missing the point. You can’t warn people about every danger possible and statistically speaking an alligator attack is very very rare. Building barricades would be really silly but even putting up signs specifically warning of every hazard would lead to putting up 100 signs. Snakes, spiders, slip and falls, tripping, choking, parasites, strong winds, ducks… How many signs would it take? And if I was standing by the sign saying ‘watch for alligators’ but didn’t read the ‘watch for snakes’ sign 100′ away, and then got bit by a snake, then we’d sue because there weren’t enough signs placed together. Driving on the roads in WDW is likely way more dangerous – should Disney put up signs every half mile warning people that travelling on roads could lead to death? You can’t warn people about everything and signs saying ‘stay out of the water’ are sufficient.
I agree with you. Though, I certainly understand the fear too. I am of the opinion that Disney should have posted signs that were a bit clearer though. I mean, you see “Do not swim” signs on fountains and other innocuous bodies of water. Unfortunately, most people aren’t willing to follow rules just for the sake of following them and need to be told why. (I fall on the other end of the spectrum, where I’m probably a tad too anal retentive for the carefree people in my group).
That being said, I’m from Utah. We don’t have gators or sharks or crabs. The worst thing in our water is fish (and probably some bacteria), so I think it’s safe to assume most people don’t even THINK about gators being a risk, which is why this is striking people so hard. I think clearer signage could possibly have prevented this because no matter how rule-breaking people are, how many people are REALLY going to let their kids swim or wade where they know crocs live? I don’t blame Disney, people really should be more careful, but a little forethought probably wouldn’t have hurt either.
I’m on the fence about their new changes. I do think it’s thoughtful to remove some references to alligators noshing on people from their jokes, but going so far as removing a float seems a bit excessive. But Disney is Disney, they want people to feel comfortable and happy, so I suppose that’s a bonus for them that they’re willing to go that far.
I think this is the first sensible article I’ve read about the situation. Thanks for taking the tim to jot down your thoughts and share them.
So, it is nice to see someone take a rational approach to this topic.
I live in Australia and travel to Disney parks all over, 70 days and counting until WDW and my friends and family kept asking me if I was going back this year with what happened. My answer was of course, which surprised me quite a bit, thinking why would they ask that.
In other countries I am sure things are different, but in Australia, everyone knows the number of creatures that can kill you, 9 of the 10 most venomous snakes are found in my country and there are times when I go outside only to find some sitting on my front door mat, or moving across the lawn. In the oceans, we are constantly seeing people attacked by Great White Sharks, Blue Ring Jellyfish and more, but people still go into the ocean without fear here.
For me, no matter where I go on vacation, it is because there is something that draws me to that place, but of course with everything that want to see and enjoy there are things that you don’t. Alligators make no difference to me as we have Crocodiles in Australia and they grow much larger, but as Tom said, giving into your fears is not right and if you do, then you should just sit inside your house and never leave, but even doing that can not be good for you. A small dose of fear helps us know where the line of living is, sure some people have that line further out than the rest of us, but still, giving up on life because of a single incident is sad.
Thank you for your thoughtful, appropriate, and level headed response. I’ve seen the gamut from “Disney will pay” to “WDW should be shut down indefinitely until the waterways are paved over” (I wish I were kidding; someone actually posted that on my Facebook). It seems the knee jerk reaction is becoming more prevalent than common sense and reason, and Disney, while they have no real choice but to adapt for the time being, will hopefully revert back to a more relaxed view. While it is a heart breaking story, I still find it hard to believe Disney should be held responsible. It seems, in all honesty, that people in general are finding a hard time to feel sad about a story without placing blame. Truly, I think your article is the one that needs to be spread around instead of the people and videos coming out of the woodwork about alligators at Walt Disney World. Kudos.
I kept checking your site, hoping you would comment on these recent events in Florida.
And like many posters, please let me state I cannot imagine the terror that family felt, or the grief they are experiencing now and my thoughts go out to them.
But, as a physician I was very pleased to see both you and Jen’s comments (the other lawyer posting) re the unreasonableness of the knee jerk reaction people on the internet seem to have in wanting to sue Disney.
In the world of medicine, we live and work in this very litigious society you speak of, and I see many over reactions (by administrators) to events in hospitals and medical clinics over rare events, and then subsequent development of policies that make absolutely no sense, are expensive to our already costly medical system and difficult to initiate and enforce.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with evaluating and analyzing when an incident occurs (anywhere) and ask the needed questions of could this have been prevented, and do we need to take steps to ensure it does not occur again, patient and customer safety is paramount.
The problem is the over reaction (policy change) I see time and again in both small events in life, and the very frightening (but rare) ones such as this boys death.
An example of how we have developed over reactions from fear of future injuries and lawsuits occurred not in the hospital where I work, but in my daughters elementary school. In the spring a 4th grade girl had on open back shoes, her foot slipped off of the back of the shoe while running at recess and sustained an ankle sprain. Within a week the school district had a school wide policy that no one was permitted an open back shoe. Thousands of parents had to go buy new shoes for their children in a week based on this new policy.
I always dread reading about a new problem or accident of some type on the internet or closer to home, in my work environment, because the majority of the time I know some new rule, some watering down of an experience or a reduction of freedom will be forthcoming.
I live in a popular tourist destination, Hawaii, and I just cant help but feel that our current culture of litigation and the need for an awesome Facebook/Instagram status update are a big drivers of this problem. I don’t want to go to Disney, or any other location, and see a bazillion signs everyplace warning of this and that thing as public and private entities attempt to protect themselves from litigation. I’m also not a fan a sanitizing things either – let’s not talk about the problems at the risk of guests experience. Going on vacation should not equate leaving your common sense at home, and call me crazy but I think feeding alligators falls into that category.
By no means do I think this grieving family should be blamed for anything, it was a freak accident. Possibly an accident that could have been avoid if guests of the resort hadn’t been feeding the alligators (and I’m assuming taking “cool” status update photos) and if Disney had been more proactive in address the problem of adequately addressing the issue of awareness of wildlife on property and the do’s and don’t’s of interacting with it, appropriate signage, and possibly better staffing and/or lighting in areas where there is a higher possibility of people/alligator contact.
Terrible accidents are just that, accidents. While there may be blame to go around in terms of how we (collectively) can better avoid/prevent such accidents these events shouldn’t be used as just cause for a witch hunt.
Great post, Tom! This is an extremely tragic situation, and nobody should be judging poor baby Lane’s parents. Period. But to spend so much time with the “Disney will pay” comments is ridiculous….and completely unnecessary. Of course we know Disney will pay…..and if that provides some sort of comfort to this family, then it is well worth it. But to propagate that all beaches should be closed, fences put up, and pretend that the word “alligator” doesn’t exist, seems a bit over-the-top.
It is, after all, Florida…….there ARE alligators everywhere….in any body of water….even in the most magical place on Earth! I am coming back to Disney World in November, almost exactly a year after my last trip, with my three daughters. And I am again staying at the Grand Floridian. I haven’t even considered the possibility of cancelling my trip….or demanding an upgrade or some other “perk” free of charge!
I wish we would simply let this poor family mourn the loss of their sweet baby boy, and let Disney get on with entertaining the masses and doing what they can to ease the Graves’ family’s pain.