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A 69-year-old woman in South Carolina was killed by an alligator while out on a walk with her dogs in the Spanish Wells neighborhood of Hilton Head Island.
Sheriff’s office deputies, Fire Rescue, Beaufort County Coroner’s Office and Spanish Wells security personnel responded to a report of an alligator attack on Brams Point Road in the Spanish Wells Community on Tuesday at around 9:28 a.m. local time, according to an alert by the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
Rescuers found the woman, whose name has not yet been released, unresponsive at the edge of the lagoon that borders a golf course. According to the Sheriff’s Office, responders initiated rescue efforts, but were interrupted by an alligator, which appeared on the scene to guard the woman.
Authorities said the alligator — a 9-foot, 9-inch male — was eventually “safely removed” so that the woman’s body could be recovered. The reptile was later euthanized, officials from the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources said.
The woman, who was pronounced dead on the scene, had left her house to walk her dogs around 7 a.m., according to deputies. Relatives went searching when her dogs returned home without her before finding the woman on the edge of a lagoon.
It is unclear when she may have been brought to the water, authorities noted. An autopsy on the woman will be done by the Beaufort County Coroner’s Office on Wednesday.
This incident was the second fatal alligator attack in Beaufort County in less than a year, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Last August, an 88-year-old woman from Sun CIty was also attacked by an alligator at a lagoon near her home and died. Another 85-year-old woman was killed in Florida in February by an alligator while out walking her dog.
Six people have died in South Carolina from alligator attacks since 2000, the Department of Natural Resources said.
American alligators are commonly found in coastal areas of South Carolina and can live in large river swamps, lakes, ponds and other bodies of water, according to the Department of South Carolina Natural Resources. They can live up to 60 years and grow to lengths greater than 13 feet.
The SCDNR noted that alligators, and particularly large ones, that live close to cities and residential areas, may “pose a threat” to humans. If they do pose a threat, they are deemed “nuisance alligators” and may be “removed” from the area or “destroyed.”
