Alligator kills 69-year-old South Carolina woman as she walked her dog
A 10-foot alligator killed a 69-year-old woman in South Carolina on Tuesday morning.
The woman, who has not yet been identified, was walking her dog when the beast attacked in the second fatal gator attack in the county in less than a year.
The gator was found guarding the victim’s mutilated body at the edge of a lagoon near her home and Spanish Wells Golf Club on Hilton Head Island.
‘Rescue efforts were made and an alligator appeared and was guarding the woman, interrupting emergency efforts,’ the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office said.
The gator was safely removed from the area and euthanized. The woman’s body was recovered and an autopsy is planned for Wednesday.
This marked the second fatal alligator attack in the same county in less than a year – after an 88-year-old woman was killed in August 2022.
It is unclear at this point where the woman was taken into the water. The condition of the woman’s dog is also unknown at this time.
Hilton Head Island is in upscale neighborhood in Beaufort County and is consistently ranked one of the best places to live in South Carolina.
Alligator encounters and attacks have increased in recent years across the US, especially in Florida and South Carolina.
South Carolina went years without having many alligator attacks, until 2022, when the state reported five alligator attacks in the year, two of which were fatal.