July 4 (UPI) — A 69-year-old woman is dead following an alligator attack Tuesday morning in Hilton Head, S.C.
Police were called around 9:30 a.m. EDT to a lagoon near a golf course on Hilton Head Island. First responders then found the woman unresponsive, according to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
An alligator then began guarding the woman as first responders were attempting a rescue.
Officials estimated the reptile’s size at nine feet long.
The gator was safely removed and rescuers recovered the woman’s body but were not able to resuscitate her.
An autopsy will be conducted.
The woman was reportedly walking her dog when the attack happened, although police remain unsure about the exact location she was pulled into the water.
This marks the second fatal attack in less than a year in the area.
Last August, an 88-year-old woman in nearby Sun City, S.C. was attacked and killed at a lagoon near her home, also on Hilton Head Island.
At the time, the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office said she likely slipped and fell close to the water when she was attacked.
An 85-year-old woman in a Florida retirement community was killed by an alligator in February while walking her dog.
An estimated 5 million American Alligators live across 10 U.S. states, according to statistics compiled by CNN
The American Alligator is one of only two species of the reptile found in the southern United States, the other being the smaller Chinese Alligator.
