When an alligator killed Lane Graves, 2, in June by a lake at Florida’s Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, many people wondered why Disney didn’t do more to prevent such an attack. Eyewitnesses said there were no signs warning about alligators at the Seven Seas Lagoon and nothing preventing people from approaching the water.
The apparent lack of precaution could be because alligators are almost everywhere in Florida, yet deadly attacks are rare. “There are millions of people living really in the same places where there are millions of alligators,” says Frank Mazzotti, an alligator expert and a University of Florida professor. “Alligators are not dangerous. They certainly have capability of inflicting harm on people, but under most circumstances that is simply something that’s not going to happen.”
ILLUSTRATION BY TIM MCDONAGH