A woman who was walking her dog was killed in an alligator attack in South Carolina Tuesday morning, authorities said, marking the second fatal gator attack in the county in less than a year.
According to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded at about 9:30 Tuesday morning to a report of a possible alligator attack near a lagoon bordering a golf course in the Spanish Wells community on Hilton Head Island. A 69-year-old resident of the community was located at the edge of the lagoon and appeared to be unresponsive, officials said.
“Rescue efforts were made and an alligator appeared and was guarding the woman, interrupting emergency efforts,” the sheriff’s office said. “The gator was safely removed from the area and the woman’s body was recovered.”
Deputies determined that the woman was walking her dog earlier in morning when she was attacked by the alligator. The dog was found safe, Major Angela Viens, a sheriff’s office spokesperson, told the Associated Press.
The Beaufort County Coroner’s Office will perform an autopsy on the woman.
In a tweet, the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources said its “biologists and officers are responding” to the incident.
The incident comes less than a year after another woman was fatally attacked by an alligator in Beaufort County. On August 15 last year, an 88-year-old Sun City woman was killed by an alligator at a lagoon near her home.
Fatal alligator attacks in South Carolina had never been reported until recent years.
In 2020, deputies shot and killed an alligator that fatally attacked a 58-year-old woman on Kiawah Island, South Carolina.
In 2019, a man was found dead on Kiawah Island with what authorities believed to be alligator bite marks but it was unclear how the man initially died.
In 2016, a 90-year-old woman walked out of a Charleston nursing home in 2016 and was killed by a gator, while a 45-year-old woman walking her dog was fatally attacked on Hilton Head Island in August 2018.
Prior to those attacks, South Carolina had never recorded a person fatally attacked by an alligator.
6 Responses
Sounds to me the Gators are pissed and taking out revenge on the older population. We have a lot more respect for them in Florida.
I live in Florida and some idiots actually swim day or night in Fresh Water Lakes or Rivers! Some People also Fish from Shore on these Bodies of Water where the Potential of having a Gator Encounter is HIGH! By the way, if you were walking around in some High Crime Area like the Southside of Chicago you would have Better Chance of being Killed by a “Brother” than being killed by a Gator in Florida! So beware of your Surroundings and Carry a Bug Gun no matter where you are!
What is a Bug gun ? Thanks
Go Vinnie , well said !
The gator populations need to be reduced drastically, this should not be happening
Too bad they hadn’t made shoes out of that animal. It’s not enough to moe these suckers they need to remove them like they need to remove JAWS.
It doesnt help to say “Oh they didnt mean it, they weren’t after a human” BULCRAP in my opinion a mistake can be fatal and?