Try 24/7 for 18 years, then they still rely on you if for no other reason than as a sounding board.
There are no perfect parents, just perfect spectators.
Very true, however I won't let a 2 or 3 yr old in a freshwater pond, lake, canal anywhere even if I was holding their hand in 6" of water and swimming or wading was allowed. E- coli, bacteria, & when the water is warm nasty fatal brain eating ameba. There was a warning on the news today about these ameba like every summer, and usually a few people are killed. They are older teens or adults who die with developed mature immune systems. A baby doesn't have a very developed immune system. Its a dumb move for a parent to allow a toddler into hot fresh water. If you travel to the dead Lake Mead outside of Las Vegas notice the warning signs about the brain eating ameba at various shallow Oasis. So Disney needs to post signs about the possibility of possible other killers in the water that could be adsorbed through ears, nose, cuts etc, or a baby swallowing water.
If the kid got sick and died 2 wks later that would make the local Florida news but not like the horror of a feeding alligator. It wasn't a attack it was a meal.
Alligators are opportunistic feeders, and ambush hunters. They hunt in the water not out. They will not climb a fence to feed, and the smaller ones that climb are very clumsy, there is no grace in a alligator trying to climb a fence.
Spring and drought is when alligators ramble. Spring, now is mating time. Also in spring its dry, any drought will force alligators to be on the move if the water dries up. Gators are not agile climbers, they are heavy ground/water dwelling reptiles with powerful legs used for short burst of speed and digging. They can't be compared to a lizard such as arboreal iguana.
I am so sad for this vacationing family, they will likely never recover from this no matter how much Disney pays them to hush this story down, and certainly they will. I can understand a false since of safety as Disney, (which is really called the Reedy Creek improvement district, Florida). Disney plants a very lush and Jurassic Park look. Sort of a fantasy, its on the east end of the Huge Vital Green Swamp in Central Florida. There are a host of venomous creatures and other threats that freely move about this land. It is not a zoo.
If you entered my property and were bitten by a pygmy rattlesnake and sued me, likely you would lose. The property owner under normal circumstances cannot be help responsible for native wildlife moving within its habitat. If you were on my property and bitten by a cobra that escaped its cage then I would be liable. The difference between a zoo and native wildlife or private preserve land with dangerous wildlife.
Its a catch 22 posting alligator signs where tourist are staying is like putting up a billboard to come and harass and feed the alligators. Every family member or friend that has come to my house, the first thing they want to see is a alligator in the wild. I show most of them too. I get a kick out of a sidewalk that goes over seveeral sloughs right along a busy road near the lake. The ditches are shallow and the woods very thick but its not the lake. There are always gators sitting right next to where the bikers and joggers and people are walking pushing baby strollers. 99% of the time the gator is never seen, 99.9% of the time there is no problem with the gator.
I guess Disney needs to start putting up warning about lightning as well. More tourist are tragically killed/injured by lightning then eaten by alligators. For some reason people always say the lightning struck out of the blue as they stand on a wide open beach, I can see a lawsuit for not having the proper warning.
People on Holiday often relax from common sense they would have at home. They wouldn't be as keen on native wildlife as locals of course.
Excellent post, vulgar_!
