Photo Courtesy Of Gareth Rasberry/ Wikimedia Commons
A man has died after an 11-foot-alligator dragged him into Myrtle Beach pond in South Carolina.
According to a Facebook post by Horry County Police Department, the alligator grabbed hold of the unnamed South Carolina man who was initially standing at the edge of a retention pond and pulled him into the body of water. When Horry County Fire Rescue arrived at the scene, they recovered the man’s body and removed the alligator. They also euthanized the animal after a biologist with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources and an alligator-removal service contracted by HCPD determined that they should humanely put it to death on site.
“Our hearts go out to the family and community members impacted by this tragic incident,” Horry County Police wrote on its Facebook page.
Authorities said that an investigation of the victim’s death is reportedly underway, and his cause of death has not been released to the public. His name is also unknown to the public, but news reports said he was a Myrtle Beach yacht club community member.
Back in May, a resident of the private golf community took to Twitter to share an image of three alligators, including a 12-foot one, in his backyard.
“Hey @alligatoradvntr, found your next exhibits behind my condo in Myrtle Beach Golf and Yacht. There are three of them in this picture,” wrote user @RepakJason.
In June, he followed up his tweet, saying the sight was a rare occurrence and sent condolences to the victim’s family, who was killed by a gator.
“This tweet was in jest last month with the rarity of seeing this in person. I couldn’t have imagined that it was likely one of these alligators that would later kill a man,” @RepakJason said. “My prayers and heart go out to the family as my arms wrap tighter around my kids and dogs near these ponds.”
Myrtle Beach is reportedly home to 100,000 alligators, the only crocodile species native to South Carolina, a recent Sun News report indicated. They are known for eating whatever is available to them at the moment, including their own kind, other mammals, bugs, and fruit. However, the swampy creatures rarely attack humans.