Arden Dier

Newser Staff

(NEWSER) – Firefighters at Disney World were warned to stop feeding alligators two months before a gator killed 2-year-old Lane Graves, according to employee emails. Emails from employees of Reedy Creek Emergency Services—which operates inside the park—show firefighters had been feeding at least one of two gators apparently living in a pond near their fire station, less than a mile from where Lane was killed, reports the Orlando Sentinel. One alligator was believed to be four or five feet long, and the other was a juvenile. In one email to fire staff, a communications rep said an alligator had been spotted near the station where communications staff parked their cars, and some "expressed concern of becoming alligator food."

A Reedy Creek dispatcher later complained about two gators in the parking lot. "They are not docile gators, they are mean and they are out looking for food because people are feeding them," he wrote. "It's getting uncomfortable." A Reedy Creek district administrator says firefighters received "just a talking to"—though feeding gators is illegal in Florida—while Animal Control was called to deal with the larger gator. It isn't clear if the animal was ever removed, but the administrator says it's unlikely it was involved in the attack on Lane. He says the gator would've had "to travel across a couple roadways" to get to the Seven Seas Lagoon near the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, where the June 14 incident took place.

This story originally appeared on Newser:

Mile From Where Boy Died, Staff Were Feeding Gators

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