A young girl ended up at the hospital after being attacked by an alligator while at a North Carolina lake. The reptile lunged at and mauled the girl while she was swimming in shallow water.
Multiple children had been playing in about four foot of water last Friday. That's when a young girl shouted, "Something bit me." All of them rushed out of the water as the alligator surfaced. Lake Waccamaw Mayor Matt Wilson told WECT it had been a 12-year-old girl who was attacked by the reptile. Fortunately, she didn't suffer any life-threatening injuries.
"A good friend of mine called me up and let me know the situation. I was over there about 30 minutes after that," he said.
Meanwhile, the police department also weighed in on the alligator attack. They revealed that animal control was able to capture and euthanize the responsible reptile.
Alligator Attacks Girl
"It is also unclear as to if the injuries were caused by a bite or a claw. But they were definitely caused by the alligator," the police department said. "The alligator responsible for this incident has been neutralized."
Meanwhile, local North Carolina officials expressed shock over the rare attack in the state. Alligator attacks aren't the norm for North Carolina. Alicia Wassmer, an expert alligator biologist with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, told WBTW that the reptile species doesn't usually react this way.
"Although the alligator's behavior was unusual, it was not predatory in nature," Wassmer said. "Anytime an alligator makes contact with a person, our protocol is to euthanize it regardless of the circumstances. Our officers responded quickly and worked with the community to identify and dispatch the alligator."
Meanwhile, the mayor believes that this is a cautionary tale for the community.
"People are coming in, tourists are coming in, we need to educate people," the mayor said. "There's more and more people moving to Lake Waccamaw, houses are being built everywhere, and there's more alligators. Be mindful of your surroundings, do not feed the alligators, do not dump your table scraps from supper from the night before in the lake."
