In the aftermath of a recent alligator attack that killed a young boy at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa in Walt Disney World, a report has surfaced that seems to indicate park officials, at some level, were aware of employees feeding the animals elsewhere on property. According to emails discovered by the Orlando Sentinel via a public-records request, members of Reedy Creek Emergency Services had been discovered to be feeding “at least one of two alligators hanging around Fire Station 3.” One specific piece of correspondence from April 20, 2016 indicates Reedy Creek Emergency leadership was notified of these concerns. Communications captain Claude Rogers sent the following email to the Reedy Creek fire command staff:
“It was brought to our attention firefighters are feeding the alligators (this is illegal). The communicators have found (one alligator) by the station, near the dumpster, and where they park their cars. As you can imagine this is making the communicators nervous because they are fearful of walking to their car and their leg becoming dinner. We have notified Animal Control to remove the alligator. In the interim could you ask your crews to stop feeding the gator.”
As a result of the above concerns, John Classe, Reedy Creek District Administrator, said the employees were given “just a talking to and reminding – ‘Guys and gals, we know this isn’t right, so just don’t.’”
Rogers then sent a second email to the Reedy Creek employees to further emphasize his concerns. It reads:
“Several people have expressed concern of becoming alligator food because the alligator is seen out of the pond near the building, by the dumpster, and near the cars,” he wrote. “The firefighters feeding the alligator only aggravates the situation…Animal Control has been notified and I have spoken to B/C Brown requesting they tell the firefighters to stop feeding the alligator. He has already spoken to members of his crew and has passed this on to the other shifts.”
The article does indicate that Rogers was not the only person that began to worry about this habit of feeding alligators. Reedy Creek Dispatcher Dan Lewis emailed Rogers only days before Rogers sent his message. Lewis’ emails read:
“Could yall tell the ops side to stop feeding these alligators, we think we have 2. They are coming out in the parking lot much more than others in the past and WE are the ones who have to walk in that parking lot every day and in the dark. They are not docile gators, they are mean and they are out looking for food because people are feeding them. It’s getting uncomfortable.”
The article does clarify that Classe has doubts the alligator involved in the June 14th attack could have been one of the alligators mentioned in these email. He said, “The gator would have to travel across a couple roadways…to get over to the Seven Seas water body system, so it’s not likely.”
While the alligators in the report and the alligators involved in the attack may not be the same, David Hitzig, executive director of the Busch Wildlife Center, underlines why the practice of feeding these animals could be so troublesome. “You would think that the firefighters would be a little bit more in tune with the trouble that could cause and not do it. You would figure they would have more common sense than that…When you feed an alligators, you’re attracting it to people.”
News source: Orlando Sentinel
Photo credit: ReedyCreek.org
