Alligator kills 88-year-old woman in South Carolina, 4th death in US this year
An 88-year-old woman was killed Monday in an alligator attack in South Carolina, officials said, the second fatal attack in the state in 2022 and at least the fourth nationwide this year.
Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office deputies were notified around 11:15 a.m. of an alligator that appeared to be “standing guard” next to a human body near a pond in Sun City Hilton Head, a community town for adults closed just north of Savannah, Georgia. , Major Angela Viens told USA TODAY.
Emergency services were able to recover the body of the woman, identified as Nancy A. Becker, around 1 p.m., the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
Authorities said Becker, a Sun City resident, was gardening near the pond when she slipped into the water, where the alligators were present.
Officials said the alligator was a 9ft 8in male. He was removed from the pond on Monday afternoon and euthanized. Beaufort County Coroner David Ott said Becker’s autopsy would be performed at South Medical University in South Carolina.
Viens said when she left the scene at 3 p.m., officials from the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources were still trying to capture the alligator.
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Sun City Hilton Head spans more than 5,725 acres, including 1,500 acres of open land and wetlands, according to its website. Viens estimates that there are over 200 ponds and lagoons in the community.
This is the fourth confirmed fatal alligator attack in the United States this year and the second in South Carolina. A man was killed near a retention pond just outside of Myrtle Beach on June 24.
Spring and summer are usually when there is an increase in alligator activity, as this is usually when they breed and search for new habitats.
However, experts say alligator attacks — especially fatal ones — are rare. It was the fifth fatal alligator attack in South Carolina since 2000, the statement said.
Texas Parks and Wildlife says alligators have a natural fear of humans. Frank Mazzotti, a professor of wildlife ecology and a member of the “Croc Docs” at the University of Florida, told USA TODAY in July that animals “do not perceive humans as a threat or as food.”
He added that you are more likely to drown in water than to be attacked by an alligator, but being in the water with alligators present could attract them.
Follow Jordan Mendoza on Twitter: @jordan_mendoza5.
USA Today
