Greg Toppo

USATODAY

The alligator that killed a Nebraska toddler at Walt Disney World in June may have lost its fear of humans because it lived in close proximity to large numbers of people, a new report from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission finds.

While 2-year-old Lane Graves was standing in ankle-deep water at the time of the attack, neither the boy nor his family did anything to provoke the alligator, according to the report, issued Monday. The agency classified the attack as “predatory,” saying the alligator grabbed the boy in a manner consistent with hunting, CNN reported.

The findings came in the final report on the incident from the state commission, which also said several other visitors to the park alerted Disney employees about the presence of alligators minutes before the attack.

One, a South Carolina tourist, photographed the alligator from his hotel balcony about an hour and a half earlier. A short time before the attack, he said, he saw children playing in the ankle-deep water and was heading out the door to warn them about the alligator when he heard Lane's mother screaming, the report said.

Another tourist told investigators her two daughters saw an alligator five feet from shore about 45 minutes before the attack and told a Disney employee about it. That employee went to inform another Disney worker. The family went to a nearby store, the report said, and by the time they returned, Lane had been attacked, according to the report.

Disney weighs policies regarding alligator warning signs

The state commission said the 7-foot alligator bit Lane’s head as the boy bent down at the edge of a lagoon at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort. He died from a crushing bite and drowning, The Associated Press reported.

Separately, the Orange County Sheriff's Office released its own findings, which included witness testimony from a 16-year-old who said he was walking with his younger siblings on a nearby walkway when he heard a scream from the lagoon and saw the alligator taking the boy away.

"The alligator first came in head-first toward the beach but turned around once it had the child in its mouth and crawled back into the water head-first," Peter Courakos told deputies.

Lane’s father reached into the animal's mouth in an attempt to free his son's head, according to the state report.

A lifeguard told police he heard screaming and saw Matt Graves with blood "all over the right side of his face and right hand," the Orlando Sentinelreported. The lifeguard said he saw the victim and the gator in the water 15 to 25 feet from shore. The gator started splashing around, the lifeguard told deputies, and then both went under as the gator dragged the boy farther into the lagoon.

Crews searched for nearly 16 hours before they found Lane's body intact not far from the shore. A medical examiner found he had a traumatic neck injury and drowned, the Sentinel reported.

Mile from where boy died, Disney staff fed gators

During the search, state conservation officers captured, examined and killed six alligators — including two females, both about 7 feet long — near the beach, the report notes. Officials tested both for evidence of an attack but couldn't find anything conclusive. Both had empty stomachs.

State investigators wrote that Lane “could have been mistaken for some of the animal's normal prey like opossum, armadillo or raccoon."

Since the attack, Disney has posted signs warning of alligators and snakes, and workers have been building wide boulder walls along the Seven Seas Lagoon beach line.

The family said last month that it would not sue the resort.

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