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Woman Killed by Gator on Kiawah Island Was ‘Fascinated,’ Took Pictures Before Attack [“I Guess I Won’t Do This Again”]
The Post and Courier ^ | May 5, 2020 | Gregory Yee

Posted on 05/17/2020 5:24:54 PM PDT by nickcarraway

Cynthia Covert was waist deep in a pond behind her friend’s home on Kiawah Island clutching a rope as her friends tried to get her away from the alligator that dragged her into the water.

As her friends pulled, she calmly said, “I guess I won’t do this again,” according to a supplemental report released Tuesday by the Charleston County Sheriff’s Office.

Moments later, the alligator rolled. Covert, 58, went under.

The supplemental report provides further details on South Carolina’s third deadly alligator attack in four years.

Covert, a Johns Island resident, was on Kiawah doing her friend’s nails, the report said. The friend told investigators that Covert was “very talkative and acting strange.”

The deputy asked what she meant by that and the friend replied, “that at the salon Covert acts very professional but today she was very relaxed and excited that her boyfriend was coming from Tennessee to visit.”

Covert had a glass of wine but her friend wasn’t sure if she had consumed any other intoxicants, the report said.

“When Covert was doing her nails on the porch she saw the alligator in the pond and was fascinated by the alligator,” the report said. ”(She) stated after Covert was finished with her nails she went outside of the porch and was taking pictures of the alligator.”

The friend was cleaning her porch when she saw Covert by the water, the report said. She started yelling for Covert to get back, but her cries were ignored. She yelled out that the alligator grabbed a deer from that spot “the other day.”

Covert replied, “I don’t look like a deer.”

Then she moved to touch the alligator, the report said.

At that point, the homeowner’s husband ran down the stairs and tried to get to Covert, but the reptile had already grabbed hold of her left leg and started to pull her into the water, the report said.

A neighbor, hearing the commotion, came to see what was going on and went back to his home to get a rope, which they threw to Covert to try to pull her out of the pond, the report said.

By the time the alligator had Covert in waist-deep water and rolled, it was too late.

Deputies and firefighters arrived at the scene on Salt Cedar Lane and saw no movement, the report said. After about 10 or 15 minutes, Covert’s body surfaced but the alligator still had hold of her leg and took her body back under.

The alligator and Covert’s body surfaced a few moments later and a deputy shot the reptile in the head with his 9 mm handgun, causing it to release Covert, the report said.

Crews retrieved her body, which was intact and had severe wounds on the left leg, the report said. The alligator was shot several more times until it died and was brought to shore.

Covert is the third person to die from an alligator encounter in the state, according to S.C. Department of Natural Resources records.

The death of a 90-year-old woman in July 2016 in a pond outside a West Ashley extended-care facility was the first alligator-related fatality on record in the state, according to DNR.

In August 2018, South Carolina’s second fatal alligator attack in two years occurred when a 45-year-old woman was killed at a resort community on Hilton Head Island.

When the body of an elderly man who’d been reported missing was discovered in a pond on Kiawah Island in June 2019 with bite marks, some feared the incident was another alligator-related fatality.

But authorities later determined the man died of natural causes before the animal came upon his body.


TOPICS: Local News; Outdoors; Pets/Animals
KEYWORDS: alcohol; alligator; amosmoses; darwin; gators; qanon; southcarolina
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To: TigersEye
Would Mr Snappy cheer you up Mr Burns?


61 posted on 05/17/2020 6:34:18 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: nickcarraway

Sad ending for the alligator.


62 posted on 05/17/2020 6:44:15 PM PDT by Professional
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To: mylife

lol


63 posted on 05/17/2020 6:49:19 PM PDT by TigersEye (Criminals wear masks.)
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To: nickcarraway

Do Alligators Alligate?
+++
It seems so.


64 posted on 05/17/2020 6:57:48 PM PDT by sonova (That's what I always say sometimes.)
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To: Pajamajan

Most likely if she tested positive.


65 posted on 05/17/2020 7:00:47 PM PDT by entropy12 (covid-19 separates the fearful from the freedom loving! If I am not afraid, no one should be.)
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To: Cowgirl of Justice

https://blog.wildfloridairboats.com/3-florida-alligator-laws-every-floridian-should-know


66 posted on 05/17/2020 7:06:14 PM PDT by rolling_stone (tshf)
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To: Smellin Salt

Because she caused the gator to lose its natural fear of humans. If allowed to live, it would likely seek out humans for prey.


67 posted on 05/17/2020 7:18:07 PM PDT by BykrBayb (Lung cancer free since 11/9/07. Colon cancer free since 7/7/15. Obama free since 1/20/17. PTL ~ Þ)
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To: Grimmy

Probably not; one of the criteria for a Darwin is that the victim be mature and capable of sound judgment.


68 posted on 05/17/2020 7:26:01 PM PDT by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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To: Olog-hai

No it’s not.

The Darwin is rewarded to those kind enough to remove themselves from the gene pool by acts or actions of high stupidity.


69 posted on 05/17/2020 7:27:09 PM PDT by Grimmy (equivocation is but the first step along the road to capitulation)
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To: Grimmy

That’s not what the rules say; the removal from the gene pool has to be “spectacular” and the victim be uncharacteristically foolish at the time.


70 posted on 05/17/2020 7:29:22 PM PDT by Olog-hai ("No Republican, no matter how liberal, is going to woo a Democratic vote." -- Ronald Reagan, 1960)
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To: Olog-hai

That’s not what the rules say; the removal from the gene pool has to be “spectacular” and the victim be uncharacteristically foolish at the time.

*********

And getting killed because the person thinks its a good idea to walk up and pet a wild gator doesn’t count?

Ok.

suuuuuure.


71 posted on 05/17/2020 7:32:18 PM PDT by Grimmy (equivocation is but the first step along the road to capitulation)
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To: lee martell

In S.C.


72 posted on 05/17/2020 7:52:16 PM PDT by 353FMG
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To: nickcarraway
A different South Carolina alligator.

Not like Steve Spurrier or Will Muschamp, I take it.

73 posted on 05/17/2020 7:53:47 PM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: RetiredTexasVet

Weed, I’m guessing.


74 posted on 05/17/2020 7:56:02 PM PDT by A_perfect_lady (The greatest wealth is to live content with little. -Plato)
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To: rolling_stone

Not really a law except maybe the law of survival.

In the Spring, male gators can leave their lakes/ponds and go out looking to get lucky so they can end up in your house/garage/backyard, pool, wherever except maybe your attic.

Keep an eye out for a gator and if it “attacked” you on your property its fair game and the tail is good eating.

They are not endangered, they’re a menace near any body of water in Florida. I do wonder what an alligator egg omelet would taste like. ;-)


75 posted on 05/17/2020 7:56:05 PM PDT by Tunehead54 (Nothing funny here ;-)
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To: rolling_stone

I am in NC.


76 posted on 05/17/2020 8:00:15 PM PDT by Cowgirl of Justice
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To: nickcarraway

I guess Aligators really do alligate...


77 posted on 05/17/2020 8:01:33 PM PDT by sonova (That's what I always say sometimes.)
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To: Tunehead54

Forgot: Don’t go walking around close to Florida lakes/pond even at a hotel with or without “FiFi”.

Strangely, my wife (a Tampa native) and friends would float down the Hillsborough river (a good sized river) in innertubes with gators sunning themselves on the banks.

Crazy in my book. Circa 1969-72.


78 posted on 05/17/2020 8:04:37 PM PDT by Tunehead54 (Nothing funny here ;-)
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To: nickcarraway
“I guess I won’t do this again

Famous last words.

Still a very sad outcome.
79 posted on 05/17/2020 8:20:16 PM PDT by adorno
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To: ocrp1982

You got it right. I moved here to Alabama back in ‘99, and while I haven’t actually seen one nose to nose, this state is nothing but an endless terrain of swamps, ponds, creeks, lakes, and rivers. Facebook pages owned by locals are constantly posting pics of gators spotted in the area. Like they say down here, if it’s enough water to fill a bathtub, it’s got a gator in it. They just don’t want to be bothered unless you get too close.


80 posted on 05/17/2020 8:29:35 PM PDT by Viking2002 (Why should I walk into the great unknown, when I can sit here, and throw my bones?)
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