alligator Archives - South Carolina FYI

Here’s something you don’t see every day! A visitor to the Hilton Head Lakes golf course came across two massive alligators on the fairway fighting aggressively on Thursday. Matthew Proffitt recorded the encounter on the 18th tee, watching as the gators locked their jaws and rolling around, reports The State.

https://www.facebook.com/TheGolfClubatHiltonHeadLakes/posts/3440088129352951

“We were pretty sure they wouldn’t mess with us, because they were locked in on each other,” said Proffitt, a member of the professional staff at the Hardeeville club. “But it was pretty nerve-wracking seeing that.”

Proffitt says that although he went on his way, others reported that the gators struggled for over two hours. Alligators are not uncommon in Beaufort County along with ponds and lakes on golf courses and in housing developments where they sun themselves.

“We see an alligator pretty much every day,” Proffitt said. “But that is the first time we’ve seen anything like that.”

If you see an alligator be sure to steer clear, no matter how big they may be, and never try to feed them.

Image Source: Courtesy of the Virginia Living Museum

Named “Stallone” after famous actor Sylvester Stallone, for his misaligned jaw and crooked smile this alligator had been a local celebrity at his home in the Virginia Living Museum over the past six years.

Ready for retirement, this 40 pound 5.5 foot Alligator is now headed further down south to none only than Myrtle Beach where he will find a new sanctuary at Alligator Adventure.

Originally found by Virginia Department of Game & Inland Fisheries officers in Virginia Beach, May 2012, Stallone has spent his past in the museum’s cypress swamp exhibit.

Check out the video below of Stallone’s first steps back when he was introduced into his exhibit in 2015, after being a program animal for 3 years!

Stallone will now spend the rest of his days surrounded in an environment full of other alligators, and as many as 200 different species in the Alligator Adventure haven.

If you are in the Myrtle Beach area, be sure to stop by and welcome Stallone to his new home as he will be arriving mid-November!