Alligator Attacks Elderly Woman in Gated Community, Drags Her Into Pond

An elderly woman is recovering after she was attacked by an alligator in South Carolina.

The Department of Natural Resources said the 75-year-old woman was trimming plants at the edge of the pond in her gated community in the Okatie area of Beaufort County on Friday, July 3, when an alligator measuring around 10 feet latched onto her leg and pulled her into the water.

David Lucas, a spokesman for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, said the woman was saved when a man passing by on a golf cart saw her in the pond and ran over, unaware that there was also a gator.

"He ran to the pond and jumped in," Lucas told The Island Packet. "He got his arms around her and pulled. He felt resistance at first but thought that was her weight."

Lucas said the large animal then pulled them both under water briefly.

"It then let loose and they came back up," Lucas said. "He was able to pull her out of the water."

The woman has reported to have already undergone one surgery following the incident. She is currently receiving treatment at a hospital in Savannah and awaiting an additional surgery but is in "good spirits" according to her family.

"Other than the obvious bite her family says she is doing pretty well," Lucas said.

Speaking to WTOC, Lucas warned that incidents like this can occur as alligators are "wild animals and unpredictable."

He added: "You just don't want to be that close to the edge of a body of water."

Jeff Spencer, general manager of the gated community on Callawassie Island, said this is the first he has heard of such an attack occurring in the area.

"I've been here for more than 12 years and for those that I've asked from before, this is the first incident of any kind, even to a person, an animal or anything," Spencer added.

"She's lived in the house for a long time, and so it's not totally clear what made this different," Spencer said.

Lucas told The Island Packet that there are three gators that residents of the gated community in Okatie are "familiar with" and it was the largest of the three that had attacked the 75-year-old.

A state-contracted alligator control agent later removed a 10 foot gator from the pond at the gated community and euthanized it, reported WSCS.

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources has been contacted for further comment.