NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — The holiday weekend brought excitement to Myrtle Beach, when an alligator was spotted swimming in the waves.
A woman posted videos to Facebook on Sunday that show the alligator in the shallow water on the beach. In the videos, you can see a crowd of people gathered to see the animal. One video shows a man stepping forward and grabbing the alligator’s tail, attempting to push it further out to sea.
The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources was called around 3 p.m. to remove the gator, and told WPDE that the animal was approximately 5 feet long.
North Myrtle Beach Ocean Rescue responded to the beach, saying in a Facebook post that they removed the freshwater alligator from the beach, and that it was not hurt. Officials reminded people in their post that any animal out of its natural habitat is likely to be scared and confused, and urged people to give it space.