- Sputnik International
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

The Happiest Place on Earth? Not if You're an Alligator at Disney

© Flickr / Frank Kehren8-Foot Alligator Found in Florida With Man's Body in Its Mouth
8-Foot Alligator Found in Florida With Man's Body in Its Mouth - Sputnik International
Subscribe
According to state records, Disney World is not the happiest place on earth if you are an alligator, as over 240 have been killed on park property over the last decade.

Disney Shuts Down Its Beaches After Child Dragged Into Lake by Gator - Sputnik International
Disney Shuts Down Its Beaches After Toddler Dragged Into Lake by Gator
Last week, a two-year-old child was snatched from the edge of one of the park’s man-made pools, his body found the next day. The incident has left many questioning why the park had not installed signs with warnings about the large reptiles. Following the attack, the park installed warning signs throughout the property.

"You'll never be able to get them all," Florida trapper Ron Ziemba, who spent five years working with the park, told Reuters. "There are just so many canals, so many waterways. The gators travel a lot."

Ziemba explained that encounters are inevitable, as humans enter into alligator habitats.

Police stand behind a crime scene tape near the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub on in Orlando, Florida on June 12, 2016. - Sputnik International
Walt Disney Donates $1Mln to Assist Victims of Orlando Shooting
The state of Florida has a Nuisance Alligator Program (NAP) which granted the park a 10-year permit to remove up to 300 alligators of over 4 feet in length, from 2009 through 2019. The park is currently killing some 24 large alligators per year, on average. The permit allows employees of the park who are not trained trappers to kill alligators in special circumstances, but the park has not revealed if any employees have done so.

"Walt Disney World is responsible and has a comprehensive approach that helps to reduce the potential for interactions between people and alligators," a Disney spokesperson said in a statement, adding that the park owns land that has been designated as a wildlife conservation area, away from the park, where smaller gators are relocated.

There are an estimated 1.3 million alligators in the wild throughout the state of Florida. The NAP permits the killing of over 8,000 of the animals per year.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала