Boy's body found after gator attack
The body of a two-year-old boy, who was snatched by an alligator at Walt Disney World in Florida, has been found by police.
PT0M54S 620 349Orlando: The body of a two-year-old US boy, dragged by an alligator into a lagoon at Disney World in Orlando, Florida, has been found.
The alligator, believed to have been between 1.2 and 2 metres long, snatched the child as he played at the water's edge on Tuesday night.
Police using boats, divers and a helicopter recovered the body from the Seven Seas Lagoon, a man-made lake reaching a depth of four metres, on Wednesday.
Lane Graves was snatched as he played at the water's edge at the Disney resort in Orlando on Tuesday night. Photo: Orlando County Sheriff
The body was intact, Sheriff Jerry Demings told reporters.
He said the body was found between nine and 13 metres from the edge of the lagoon, where the water was about two metres deep.
"The child is dead ... drowned by the alligator," Sheriff Demings said.
Disney's Grand Floridian hotel in Orlando, Florida. Photo: Google Earth
The sheriff identified the child as Lane Graves, who was on vacation with his parents, Matt and Melissa Graves. The family are from Elkhorn, Nebraska.
Deepest condolences to the Graves family. Thoughts and prayers are with you during this difficult time. pic.twitter.com/nXaRrgjLhl
— OCSO FL News (@OrangeCoSheriff) June 16, 2016
Sheriff Demings said it did not appear that the family had been doing anything wrong when it happened.
Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings, right, with Nick Wiley, executive director of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Photo: AP
"I believe what this two-year-old was doing was perhaps what any two-year-old would be doing."
No one else was in the water at the time, he said.
The boy's father entered the water and tried to grab the child from the reptile, but he was unsuccessful and sustained cuts and lacerations during the struggle, Sheriff Demings said.
In the shadow of the Magic Kingdom, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Officers searched for the toddler's body. Photo: Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel via AP
The parents quickly alerted a lifeguard, but he was too far away to help the father.
While the boy's parents were devastated, they were "also somewhat relieved" that the body was found intact, the sheriff said.
Sheriff Demings said alligator attacks at Disney were almost unheard of because the resort staff "have worked diligently to make sure their guests are not unduly exposed to the wildlife" that are indigenous to Florida.
Several alligators have been culled at the resort following the accident. Photo: Wolter Peeters
Wildlife officials caught and killed five alligators from the lagoon to examine them for traces of the boy but found no evidence they were involved, said Nick Wiley, head of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Ingrid Newkirk, president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), issued a statement saying there should have been danger warnings at the resort.
"Disney, knowing that there were alligators in that water, should have installed warning signs because it's not news that alligators are natural predators - yet now a child and [five] alligators, who were doing only what came naturally to them, have paid with their lives.
Officers from Florida Fish and Wildlife search for the two-year-old boy. Photo: Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel via AP
"The price of paving paradise and putting up a parking lot is that amusement parks, hotels, shopping malls, golf courses, and highways have shrunk the habitat that wildlife needs to survive," she said.
The resort closed its beaches and recreational marinas on Wednesday as search teams scoured the lagoon.
Up to 60 sheriff's deputies and wildlife officials had searched for the boy, using sonar technology, helicopters and divers.
Reuters, Fairfax Media
