BEAUFORT COUNTY, S.C. — A woman was killed in an alligator attack in South Carolina, the second person to die by an alligator in the state this summer.
The Beaufort County Sheriff's Office says the incident happened around 11:15 a.m. Monday at the Sun City Hilton Head development in Bluffton. A person called emergency services say they saw the animal near the edge of the water guarding what appeared to be a body.
When paramedics arrived they found a woman who was pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities have not yet said anything about who the victim was or whether she lived there.
The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources responded to the scene to attempt to capture the animal but as of late Monday officers had not found the gator. The Beaufort County Sheriff's Office says there are nearly 200 ponds inside the Sun City development.
On June 24, the Horry County Police Department said an alligator dragged a man into a pond. Prior to those attacks, authorities said, the state had not recorded any in two years.
In May 2020, a woman was attacked and killed by an alligator in the gated community where she'd gone to do a homeowner's nails. A 90-year-old woman walked out of a Charleston nursing home in 2016 and was killed, while a 45-year-old woman walking her dog was fatally attacked on Hilton Head Island in August 2018. David Lucas, a spokesman for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, said then that the state had never recorded a person killed by an alligator before those attacks.
Unprovoked attacks by alligators smaller than 5 feet long (1.5 meters long) are rare, according to the National Wildlife Control Training Program. Because alligators twist and roll after clamping down with their jaws, officials advise rolling with the animal to reduce further tearing of the bitten ligament. Officials also suggest striking the alligator's nose and gouging the eyes.