Overview
- Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission records obtained in July 2026 show at least 414 nuisance alligators were captured and removed from Walt Disney World property since June 2016.
- Removals rose sharply after the 2016 death of two-year-old Lane Thomas Graves, with state-contracted trappers removing 83 alligators in 2016, 57 in 2017, an average of 36 per year from 2018–2025, and at least a dozen more in the first four months of 2026.
- Alligator removals are carried out through the FWC’s Statewide Nuisance Alligator Program (SNAP), which pays trappers a roughly $50 stipend per capture and generally results in euthanasia or transfer to farms, exhibits, or licensed operations rather than relocation.
- Walt Disney World installed shoreline barriers, large rocks, warning signs, reinforced staff wildlife training, and placed a memorial sculpture after the 2016 fatality, and the company says it continues to work with the FWC on wildlife management.
- The disclosures have renewed public discussion about guest awareness and safety while also underscoring that Florida’s alligator population is about 1.3 million so removals on resort land do not meaningfully change statewide numbers; the FWC urges keeping distance, leashing pets, swimming only in designated daytime areas, never feeding wildlife, and reporting concerns to 866-FWC-GATOR.