A 10-foot, 400-pound alligator was caught and killed last week in Marlboro County

A South Carolina animal control company captured a 10-foot, 400-pound alligator in a lake in Marlboro County last Wednesday.

“It was a big gator for this area,” said Ray Loflin, owner of Dreamscape Outdoors Animal Control.

According to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, 10 feet is the average length for male American alligators. Females average around 8 feet in length, SCDNR reports.

The largest alligator ever recorded measured just over 19 feet and weighed 1,043 pounds, according to SCDNR.

Loflin said the largest gator he’s ever captured weighed over 600 pounds and was about 13 feet long.

Wednesday’s alligator was captured and killed by Loflin’s company after they received a call that the alligator was posing a threat to swimmers.

He said the alligator had entered the swimming section of Lake Paul Wallace.

“We are required to remove them due to a danger of possible bites or attacks on swimmers,” Loflin said.

He explained that his animal control company used to relocate alligators if they were less than 6 feet long.

“The state requires that any nuisance gator be put down now, no matter what size it is,” Loflin said.

The capture took around four hours, according to WMBF News. The team used a hook to capture the gator, then shot it after pulling it to shore.

Loflin said his company covers 13 counties in the northeastern quarter of the state, including Chesterfield, Clarendon and Horry counties.

“We get calls for about anything you can think of,” he said. “Bats, beavers, birds, snakes, squirrels, hogs, coyotes — you name it.”

While the company is limited to that part of the state for most animal calls, Loflin said his team can respond to alligator calls statewide.

Dreamscape Outdoors Animal Control can be reached anytime at 843-910-0181 to help with nuisance alligators, Loflin said.

Loflin was working on another alligator call Sunday afternoon — he said this one was an 8.5- to 9.5-foot alligator.

He said of all the calls he receives, alligators are probably the hardest animals to remove.

“The best advice I can give people is to keep a safe distance and call DNR so it can be handled by a professional like myself or another NWCO (nuisance wildlife control operator) in that area,” Loflin said.

Loflin also reminds people to never feed an alligator.

“Once you start feeding an alligator, it starts depending on people for food and loses fear of people and starts moving in closer to people, which increases the risk of a gator attack,” he said.

It’s also illegal to feed an alligator in the state of South Carolina.

This story was originally published May 14, 2017 at 3:26 PM with the headline "A 10-foot, 400-pound alligator was caught and killed last week in Marlboro County."