Hilton Head woman walking dog attacked by alligator in gated community. What we know
An alligator attacked an elderly woman walking her dog in a Hilton Head gated community on Thursday morning, authorities said.
After 8 a.m. Thursday, the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office was called to Hilton Head Plantation and found a woman lying near a lagoon with a leg injury from an alligator attack, according to Maj. Bob Bromage.
The lagoon on Rookery Way abutted the Hilton Head woman’s backyard. She was on her daily routine, walking her dog by the lagoon, when she was attacked by the 8-foot gator, David Lucas with S.C. Department of Natural Resources said.
Her neighbor heard a commotion and saw the woman, whom Lucas estimated is 79 or 80, struggling in the water.
The neighbor ran out, thinking she only needed help getting out of the water, and grabbed the woman by the waist. The neighbor realized something had her caught and called out to her husband.
The husband came out armed with a shovel and “was able to whack the alligator on the snout,” Lucas said. That turned the woman loose.
Bromage with the Sheriff’s Office said the Hilton Head woman was transported to Memorial Health University Medical Center in Savannah.
The dog was uninjured.
DNR officers and biologists, arriving afterward, oversaw the gator’s removal from the pond, according to Lucas. The gator was euthanized.
He said its stomach contents will be analyzed to find out if humans were feeding it, which is what leads to alligator attacks.
Alligator attacks in Beaufort County
S.C. DNR officials remind people that alligator attacks are rare, but they have been occurring more frequently in Beaufort County.
More development in the county means more homes built near lagoons and the increased likelihood of attacks, one DNR official told the newspaper in 2019.
That, in addition to a population of retirees, transplants, and a fluctuating amount of tourists who may be unfamiliar with alligators.
Officials stress not feeding alligators. Feeding them creates an association in the animals’ minds of humans with food, making them more likely to approach people.
On July 4, 2020, a woman living on Callawassie Island was attacked by an alligator while working on her yard.
She heard a splash and saw a 10-foot gator charging at her.
“He grabbed my right ankle and he turned sideways and pulled me,” the woman told the Island Packet newspaper. “You can’t imagine this is actually happening.”
It began pulling her into the lagoon. A passing golf cart carrying a family happened to drive by and spot the woman in the water.
They were able to rescue her.
A Yorkie puppy in Bluffton wasn’t so lucky.
“The dog didn’t even have time to bark,” the owner said, of the May 6, 2021, attack. “It was so fast.”
The 14-month old dog was eaten by an alligator by a lagoon near a home on Buck Island Road.
DNR tells people to avoid getting close to lagoons, especially with dogs and children. The agency also advises leaving gators alone and not harassing or throwing things at them.
“Alligators, naturally speaking, don’t want anything to do with people,” Lucas has said.
This story was originally published September 2, 2021 at 1:03 PM.
