The Florida alligator that killed a two-year-old boy was simply acting on its predatory instincts, according to an animal behaviourist.
Biology professor Robert Reisz of the University of Toronto says alligators regularly attack small prey at or near the water's edge, including birds, raccoons and small dogs. In most cases, alligators will not immediately swallow their prey, but will instead haul it into the water to drown it.
"It's not unusual behaviour for an alligator to pull things into the water," Reisz told CTVNews.ca in a telephone interview. He said it's not uncommon for dogs to disappear in Florida, because they often fall prey to this kind of alligator attack.
"This is normal predatory behaviour, it just happens to be a child," he said of the attack that occurred Tuesday night.
A dive team found what is believed to be the toddler's intact remains on Wednesday afternoon. Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said the child appeared to have been drowned and left behind by the alligator.
The child has been identified as Lane Graves, 2, of Elkhorn, Neb. A funeral service for the boy is scheduled to take place in his hometown on Thursday morning.
"Of course the family was distraught, but I also believe somewhat relieved that the body was found intact," Demings told reporters on Wednesday.
Florida officials caught and killed several gators in the area, but it's unclear whether they caught the one involved in the attack.
Nick Wiley of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said the alligator in question is likely between 1.5 and 2 metres in length.
“There is a good chance that we already have the alligator because we focused our efforts…in the area of where this incident occurred,” Wiley said.
Reisz, who has spent a great deal of time studying alligators in Australia, says a similar attack occurred in that country several years ago while he was there for research. In the Australian case, an alligator grabbed a young girl in a park.
"I don't think they ever found the child," he said.
Alligator behaviourist Jim Nesci says the animals are highly mobile, so the gator responsible for the attack may have already moved on from the area.
"If there's not much food they'll move on to other areas," Nesci told CTV News Channel. He also pointed out that alligators are nocturnal hunters, and in the case of the child, the attacker might have thought the boy was in distress when it seized him.
"When kids start moving around, they splash – it's like a distress call, that something is in distress, and the gators will move in," Nesci said.
The child was less than half a metre out into the lake when he was attacked, officials say. The boy's father, who was nearby, attempted to fend off the alligator, but was unsuccessful.
Ian Tyson, co-owner of a travel company that educates tourists on alligators, said attacks are not common. However, he suggests the animals are becoming bolder around humans as housing developments encroach on their habitats, which can lead to alligators hiding in presumably safe, human-controlled bodies of water.
"In Florida, anywhere that there is water, whether it's a lagoon in the middle of Disney World or anywhere, these alligators are attracted," he said, pointing out that alligators can climb over barriers to reach water, so "fencing is not really a big thing."
When asked if the child and his family were warned about alligators, a Disney spokesperson said there are "no swimming" signs clearly posted around the area where the attack occurred.
Disney has since closed the beaches at its Florida resorts.
