Alligator Mauls 12-Year-Old Girl Playing In Shallow Water

A 12-year-old girl was mauled by an alligator on June 13 while playing in a shallow North Carolina lake, local authorities said.

The victim, who was not identified, was playing with other children in four feet of water when she said, “something bit me!,” the Lake Waccamaw Police Department said in a June 13 Facebook statement. The children then rushed out of the water, and the six to seven-foot alligator appeared, according to police.

According to the same statement, police indicated the child sustained “serious, but not life-threatening injuries” as a result of the incident, though it was unclear if the injuries were from the bite or the alligator’s claw. Police also said the alligator was “neutralized.”

The incident occurred at the lake near Waccamaw Shores Road, WECT News 6 reported Wednesday. Police said the victim was a minor, and WECT specified that the child was a 12-year-old girl.

The outlet described the child’s injuries as a “laceration and scratches on her legs.”

The child did not do anything wrong and the alligator “was not exhibiting normal behavior” at the time of the attack, according to Alicia Wassmer, an alligator biologist with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC), who spoke with WECT.

In response to the attack, Wassmer told WECT it’s rare for alligators to emerge in a lake during the day.

“They very rarely get in the lake, especially during the daytime,” Wassmer said.

She also speculated that the alligator might have been fed due to the rarity of unprovoked attacks.

“In that incident, that behavior that was displayed is very much associated with alligators that have been fed. It can create issues like this down the road. Not necessarily for the person who’s feeding the alligator, but for other people,” she said. (RELATED: ‘He’s Bleeding Everywhere’: Alligator Attacks Man Gardening At His Home, Wife Takes Tomato Stake To Beast’s Eyes)

Alligators are euthanized anytime they encounter a person, the NCWRC told WECT.

Feeding alligators is a felony in North Carolina because it can cause them to return to areas like  popular swimming spots, according to the New York Post.