He ‘didn’t even have time to bark’: alligator snatches dog from behind Bluffton home
This story has been updated. The S.C. Department of Natural Resources notes that alligator attacks on humans are “extremely rare.”
A six-foot alligator swallowed a Bluffton family’s beloved puppy Tuesday morning in a pond behind their home near Buck Island Road.
Mauricio Llambias said he was in his yard when wife Veronica’s 5-pound Yorkie puppy — a Mother’s Day present last year from her family — raced to the water. Llambias had built a retention wall at the pond to prevent Osito from getting in, but “the little dog likes to go for the turtles,” though “I always teach him not to.
“I lost sight of him for 15 seconds when I heard a splash.”
He said he ran to the side but didn’t see anything moving. He wanted to jump in, but didn’t know where.
“The dog didn’t even have time to bark,” he said. “It was so fast.”
The puppy, 14 months old, was gone.
Llambias said he continued looking for movement, and “the gator came out after 5 minutes” and watched the family from the pond.
“My kids have been crying all day long,” he said. “And my wife. It was her dog.”
He fears the gator “will be back for the other dog, or even my 6-year-old if he sees them outside.”
Llambias, who has lived in Beaufort County for more than 20 years, said he has never encountered an alligator before.
“I just want the alligator out ASAP,” Llambias said. “My house is 20-30 feet from the water.”
Llambias said his children play in a fenced-in area in his backyard, not near the pond, but he still worries about the gator hurting one of them while he waits for a permit to remove the animal. He was told it would be about a week while paperwork is processed, and that makes him anxious.
David Lucas, a spokesperson for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, said the necessary permits have already been granted, but the actual removal of the alligator depends on the owner of the property.
“HOA might want to put up warning signs instead of removal,” Lucas said. “There’s not always an agreement among the people who live there if it warrants removal.”
It’s not uncommon this time of year for alligators to go after small animals, but cases of of gators coming into contact with people “are extremely rare,” Lucas said.
Still, the alligator population is healthy and steadily growing. This is likely not the last time this season that a gator sees a pet as bait as alligators come out of hibernation.
“My advice is to avoid that location,” Lucas said. “No off-leash, and don’t let small children play by the pond.”
This story was originally published May 5, 2021 at 5:17 PM with the headline "He ‘didn’t even have time to bark’: alligator snatches dog from behind Bluffton home."
