Alligator kills woman while walking dogs in South Carolina

Six people have been killed by alligators in South Carolina since 2000. Photo: tobiasfrei/iStockphoto

An elderly woman was the second person to be eaten by an alligator in a small South Carolina community over the past year.
The 69-year-old woman, who has not been named, was walking her dog on Hilton Head Island on Tuesday morning , when she was attacked and killed by a male alligator over nine feet (2.7 meters) long.

The woman's body was found on the edge of a lagoon in Spanish Wells, a residential area on the island, after her dogs returned home. without her.

According to Major Angela Wiens, a spokesman for the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office, she was spotted by a family member who contacted emergency services around 9:30 a.m.

While workers emergency services tried to resuscitate the woman, who was unresponsive. “An alligator appeared and began to protect the woman, interrupting the work of emergency services,” the sheriff’s office said.

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources said the alligator was captured and euthanized. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene.

According to the Department of Natural Resources.

Another death last August

Last August, another elderly woman was killed in a gated community near Hilton Head Island.

Nancy A. Becker, 88, is believed to have been gardening near a pond before slipping and falling into it.

Experts say there has been an increase in recent years fatal alligator attacks due to urban development encroaching on their natural habitat.

< p>Attacks are more likely to occur near bodies of water and when a person is near a pet, according to Jay Butfiloska, coordinator of the fur animal program and alligators at the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources.

«It's unlikely for them to get out of the water to go after someone,» he said. «They won't chase you down the fairway in these golf communities.»