250 Alligators Have Been Removed From Disney's Florida Property Since 2016 Death of 2-Year-Old Lane Graves

Since the death of 2-year-old Lane Graves after an alligator attack at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa in 2016, the park, along with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, has removed 250 gators from the premises, the Orlando Sentinel reports.

The toddler was snatched by an alligator and dragged underwater, and though his father was injured by a second alligator trying to save him, the boy was unable to be saved. His body was found the next day.

According to the Sentinel, several of the alligators were transported to farms, animal exhibits, or zoos, but others were euthanized and had their meat and skin sold. 

Gators are native to Florida, and according to the Key West Aquarium, Gainesville — an area near Disney’s resorts — has one of the highest populations. 

"I don't see a harm in removing and euthanizing some of the alligators that are in positions to do what they normally do and that is to find food," Deby Cassill, the integrative biology associate campus chair at the University of South Florida, told the Sentinel.

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