Alligators are not a new phenomenon in the S.C.. In fact, they have existed here since the Ice Age.
The recent increase in alligator attacks is due to the population increase of alligators and humans. With more people moving into their habitat, they are coming into contact with them more often and therefore increasing the number of attacks.
There have been two high profile fatal alligator attacks on humans in South Carolina. The first attack happened in 2018 when a woman was walking her dog near the 13th green of a Beaufort County golf course when she got too close to the water and the gator tried to attack the dog, Beaufort County Coroner Edward Allen said. Sam Chapplear, assistant chief of wild life for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, said the woman “got involved” when the gator grabbed the leash and there was a tug-of-war over it.
The alligator dragged the woman into the water, officials said. The dog was not injured. This death occurred in Beaufort, S.C.
The second happened this week in the Burgess area of greater Myrtle Beach.
One person died after an estimated 11-foot alligator pulled them into a retention pond Friday at the Myrtle Beach Golf and Yacht Club near Burgess, officials said.
Horry County Police spokeswoman Mikayla Moskov confirmed that HCPD’s Environmental Services and Criminal Investigations divisions are investigating the death.
Moskov said Horry County Fire Rescue responded around 11:45 a.m. to the area of Excalaber Court, and “upon arrival, units determined that an alligator had taken hold of a neighbor and retreated into a nearby retention pond.”
The victim was recovered from the pond, Moskov said. She added that a South Carolina Department of Natural Resources biologist and SCDNR-contracted alligator removal service determined that the 11-foot alligator should be euthanized.