State records show 414 alligators removed from Walt Disney World® Resort
State records show that at least 414 nuisance alligators have been captured and removed from walt disney world® resort since Lane Thomas Graves was killed there on June 14, 2016. The toll reaches back to the Grand Floridian Resort, where the 2-year-old was standing ankle deep or less in the water when an alligator attacked.
Those records put a number on what has happened on the property since that death. In 2016, trappers removed 83 alligators from the resort, and 57 more were captured in 2017.
Grand Floridian Resort records
A state investigation concluded that an alligator lunged out of the Seven Seas Lagoon and pulled Graves in while he was scooping water into a bucket. Over the eight years before his death, state-contracted wildlife trappers removed an average of 23 alligators from Disney property, then the average rose to 36 a year from 2018 to 2025.
The latest records also show at least a dozen alligators were captured on Disney property in the first four months of this year. Walt Disney World has said it continues to reinforce reporting procedures and works with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to remove or relocate certain wildlife from its property under state rules.
FWC nuisance alligator program
Hailee Seely, a communications coordinator for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said, “The goal of SNAP is to proactively address alligator threats in developed areas, while conserving alligators in areas where they naturally occur.” She said people with concerns should call the FWC’s toll-free Nuisance Alligator Hotline at 866-FWC-GATOR (866-392-4286), and the agency will dispatch a contracted trapper.
The state program captured more than 8,700 alligators that posed a threat to people, pets or property in 2024. Trappers receive a $50 stipend per alligator caught, and the commission said it does not relocate nuisance alligators because they often try to return to where they were captured and remote areas already have healthy alligator populations.
Disney property since 1971
When Walt Disney World opened in 1971, visitors were welcome to swim in the resort’s lakes. The current records show the property still generates nuisance alligator removals years after the 2016 attack, and those removals now run into the hundreds.
Some alligators captured under the state program are sent to animal exhibits or zoos. Others are transferred to licensed alligator farms and private hunting preserves, where Ian Hall said, “We received them all alive and they are released on our hunting preserve where our clients can hunt them. Then they are processed for eating.”
