As Spring arrives, it’s alligator mating season, which means all the gators in our region will be out and about.
Last month, a 12-foot gator blocked traffic on a road in Brunswick County.
And, on Wednesday a very large alligator was found dead along SC 707. It’s unclear what killed the gator.
In early June 2013, a large gator was spotted on the beach at Garden City. Around that time a man in a subdivision off SC 707 captured an alligator in his back yard.
In the Summer of 2014, a 10-foot alligator was shot and killed in the surf at Folly Beach southeast of Charleston.
In August 2013, a large alligator was caught and killed in Florence County after it persisted staying near a home that has children and family pets.
The 12-foot, 575 pound gator in 2013 was near a home on Old River Road, said Dennis Matherly, owner of Pee Dee Wildlife Control.
Alligators are said to be fairly common in South Carolina, especially in the coastal plain, according SC DNR.
It’s not unusual to see a few alligators in a pond in the Osprey Cove subdivision off Highway 707 in Horry County. A family there reported that they see several baby gators a day.
The period between early March and July is when most “problems” happen with alligators, SC DNR says.
Crocodiles, which are salt-water animals, are very, very rare in the state. The last known one was spotted and captured in the Summer of 2008 in the surf at Isle of Palms.
With the start of alligator breeding season, males “bellow ” to females and other males in the area.
Because alligators are regularly observed lazily basking along water bodies, many people mistakenly assume that they are docile and harmless.
Normally, alligators will stay away from humans and pose little threat to them. However, alligators should never be approached and people should avoid becoming complacent in and around water bodies. Alligators’ predatory nature and potentially large size demands respect.
Alligators can live more than 50 years and may exceed 1,000 pounds. The record length documented in South Carolina was 13 feet, 1 inch and because pets, such as dogs, closely resemble alligators’ natural prey, attacks on pets are not uncommon.
If a community has a problem with a particular alligator, he can issue a permit to have it removed. But if the permit is issued and DNR comes to remove it, it will be killed.
Also, although attacks on people are rare, they do occur, and more than 20 fatal attacks by large alligators have been documented.
