Bystanders ‘ride’ massive gator at Hilton Head mini-golf course. It was later euthanized
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A giant alligator estimated to be more than 12 feet long and weighing more than 1,000 pounds was trapped Tuesday evening at Legendary Golf on Hilton Head.
The gator later was euthanized, reported Savannah television station WJCL.
Photos posted on Facebook show dozens of bystanders of all ages watching as the behemoth was bound and put on a tow truck to be moved.
“It was the biggest gator I’ve ever seen,” island resident Daisy Bobinchuck, who assisted in the capture of the gator, told The Island Packet.
Residents were angered by reports of bystanders “riding” the bound alligator before it was removed. Photos show at least two people sitting on the alligator’s back for photos.
Online comments said the capture effort turned into a “sideshow” off U.S. 278.
Bobinchuck, in yellow, said she was working on securing the animal’s back legs when a handful of people started to sit on the alligator for photos. She said the massive crowd that gathered near the golf course “was totally in the way.”
Dana Maffo of Critter Management told the television station that the 80- to 100-year-old alligator was not being aggressive but was looking for food.
“Our intention was to protect our customers, team members and community by capture and relocation...NOT by euthanasia! We are just heartbroken,” Legendary Golf owner Lorraine Berry posted on Facebook.
Bobinchuck said the team from Critter Management wanted to relocate the alligator, but the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources ordered the gator be euthanized.
“We wanted it to be a rescue, and we were coming up with a different plan for it not to be euthanized,” she said. “But DNR was very strict about that. We had to euthanize it.”
Alligators captured and killed
David Lucas of SCDNR told The Island Packet in 2018 that wildlife agents consider the size, level of aggression and distance the alligator traveled, among other factors, when determining whether it should be killed.
In the Lowcountry, roughly 100 alligators are ruled a nuisance each year, and of those, only about five are relocated, Lucas told the newspaper.
It’s illegal to relocate or remove an alligator without a permit in South Carolina. Even with one, it’s illegal to transport an alligator from one property to another, which is why SCDNR rarely relocates nuisance alligators.
In recent weeks, a number of alligator encounters have been recorded in the Lowcountry. In one of those, on Kiawah Island, a woman was killed.
In late April, a Hilton Head family found a large alligator known in Sea Pines as “Big George” ransacking their patio.
Last week, golfers at Hilton Head Lakes in Hardeeville watched as two alligators violently wrestled on the fairway near the 18th tee.
Alligators will fight each other and are more often on the move during mating season, which runs from April through June.
This story was originally published May 27, 2020 at 9:05 AM.
