The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office responded to a 911 call at 11:15 a.m. on Monday by a Sun City Hilton Head resident who reported a large alligator guarding a human body. “When we got there, that’s exactly what we found,” said Maj. Angela Viens, public information officer for the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office. Maj. Viens said the woman’s body had been recovered, but that officials with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, which is leading the investigation, were still trying to capture the animal as of Monday afternoon. Sun City Hilton Head, a multi-lake senior living community, is located approximately 15 miles west of Hilton Head Island and covers approximately nine square miles. The sheriff’s office has not released the victim’s name pending notification of next of kin. The lake where the body was found is surrounded by houses on all sides, Major Viens said, noting that it was the second alligator attack in the gated community in five years. The first was not fatal, he added. “Alligator attacks are rare but not surprising,” Major Viens said of the area. Fatal alligator attacks are rare in the United States. The latest was at least the fourth in the United States since May and at least the second this year in South Carolina. An 80-year-old woman was killed by two alligators in Englewood, Florida, in July. A man who was retrieving Frisbees from a lake in Largo, Florida, was killed in May. and in June, a man was killed after being dragged into a retention pond by an alligator in Myrtle Beach, SC Jay Butfiloski, the furbearer and alligator program coordinator with the state Department of Natural Resources, said he had seen an “increased frequency” over the past two years in alligator attacks, but “it’s still a pretty rare event.” He said the reports come amid an increase in building development and the number of people moving into areas previously occupied by alligators. Alligators tend to be more active at night, Mr. Butfiloski said, and come out around dusk. While mating season brings an increase in their movement around May and June, alligator movement this time of year tends to be between waterways. “Because they are cold-blooded animals, they regulate their body temperature as best they can based on the environment,” he said. “Early in the year, when the water is cooler, it’s common to see them on the banks sunbathing. When it’s very hot in the summer, they’ll spend a lot of time underwater, where it’s cooler.” While he did not know the details of Monday’s alligator attack, Mr. Butfiloski said such attacks usually occur when a person is near a body of water and occur more often when a person is accompanied by a pet. “It’s unlikely they’ll leave the water to chase someone,” he said. “You’re not going to be chased down the street in these golf communities.”
