The beast was estimated to be up to seven feet long, lurking in a man-made lake with no warnings as to the five alligators that lived inside it.
A family’s dream holiday to Disney World became a living nightmare when their two-year-old toddler was snatched by an alligator, with the dad desperately fighting to retrieve his child from its jaws.
Lane Graves’ body was recovered from the deep water of the lake in the supposed dream-land as his horrified parents watched on after they were unable to fight the seven-foot beast off in 2016.
Following a painful 16-hour search and rescue effort by dozens of emergency personnel using sonar equipment and helicopters, divers found and recovered the body of the two-year-old.
“There’s no question in my mind that the child was drowned by the alligator,” Orange County sheriff Jerry Demings had said at a press conference. It was a tough message to deliver to them. The family was distraught but somewhat relieved we were able to retrieve their son with his body intact.”
The boy was snatched from the shoreline of the Seven Seas Lagoon, an artificial lake at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort, at about 9.30pm on Tuesday June 14. The family, from Nebraska, had been at the resort since the Sunday and were outside for an evening of open-air films and firework displays.
Jeff Williamson, spokesman for the Orange County sheriff’s office, said the family, including the boy’s four-year-old sister, were on the shoreline at the resort’s lake, with the toddler wading at the edge of the water with his parents close by.
“He was about a foot in, maybe ankle-deep or a little higher,” Williamson said. “There’s a sign there that says no swimming. There’s no indication he was doing that, but he was at the edge of the water and this freakish incident takes place in which a gator comes along and latches on to this poor child.
“The father was very close by. He heard what sounded like a splash, he turned, he thought the splash was something innocent, but of course there was nothing innocent. He saw his child in the mouth of the gator. He ran to get the child out of the gator’s mouth and wrestled with the gator but was not successful. The gator was able to get the child away from the father and disappear into the water.
“It is tragic. It is heartbreaking. There’s no other way to say it,” he said, adding that the father had sustained minor cuts to his arms, and that he believed the mother had also entered the water.
Demings said Disney officials had done “everything they can to make the family comfortable during this ordeal” and a Catholic priest was present when he broke the news to the parents.
A Disney spokeswoman announced the beaches at all resorts on its sprawling property were closing “out of an abundance of caution” until it was confirmed the alligator was captured.
“We are devastated by this tragic accident,” said Jacquee Wahler, director of communications for Walt Disney parks and resorts. “Our thoughts are with the family.”
Wildlife officials trapped and euthanised five alligators from the lake overnight, but there was no sign of the boy, according to Nick Wiley, executive director of the Florida fish and wildlife conservation commission (FWC).
Wiley explained because the boy’s body was recovered intact and close to where he was last seen: “There’s a good chance we already have this alligator.”
The mammoth search operation involved 50 personnel, boats and helicopters from the FWC, sheriff’s office and Reedy Creek fire department, Demings said.
Wiley said that although Florida is known for its alligators, a family from Nebraska may not have known the lake posed any danger.
“This hotel has never had complaints of an alligator attack, or an alligator nuisance, whatsoever,” he said. “This beach has been there for a very long time. We’re treating this as an isolated incident.”
He suggested it was not clear enough there may be alligators, saying “The sign says no swimming. There’s no other sign.”
Officials said it was the first alligator fatality at Disney in 45 years. “We work very closely with Disney to remove nuisance alligators as they’re observed,” Wiley said. “We’ve got some really good professionals out there today. They know what they’re doing.”
Alligator attacks on humans in Florida remain “very rare”, he said. Wiley said: “We always caution people in Florida to be careful around water bodies, but millions of people enjoy Florida safely.
“It’s not common at all, in fact it’s very rare, for people to be attacked by alligators, in Florida or anywhere you find alligators,” he said. “We have alligators in all freshwater across Florida. They move around.”