Unheard of in South Carolina before 2016, six fatal alligator attacks have since rocked the coastal state, half of which have happened within the past 13 months.
Several of the attacks have taken place on Hilton Head where homes can cost up to US$10 million ($16 million).
Known as the Hamptons of the South, it has 19km of sandy beaches, 40 golf courses and 11 gated communities.
Family sues developer
Last summer, less than 32km away from where Jenkins was attacked, Nancy Becker, 88, was killed by a 3m alligator when she was gardening by a lagoon near her home just off the island. Her family is suing the developers for wrongful death.
In 2018, Cassandra Cline, 45, was walking her dog just 8km away from the spot where Jenkins’ body was found when she was dragged into a lagoon and drowned by a 3m alligator near her holiday home in the Sea Pines resort.
Weeks before she was attacked, the school teacher, from New York, had sent a picture of a large alligator in her garden to a friend, joking that if she didn’t return it “ate me for breakfast”.
Her husband, James, sued the resort for wrongful death, arguing it should have removed the alligator.
It has emerged that Jenkins had gone out for her early morning walk with one of her three dogs when she was attacked last week.
The mother-of-two had spent the past months buying the games, food and drinks for the Independence Day celebrations which she had organised with her “special touch”.
But when that morning her friends were unable to get hold of her, and her pet returned home without her, her family raised the alarm.
Fromdahl received a call at about 9am asking her to join the search party, but when she arrived at her friend’s house she had already been found dead.
She saw Jenkins in the middle of the pond, face down with the alligator beside her.
Rangers had to distract the reptile for “what felt like 20 minutes” so they could recover the body.
Inquest
Beaufort County coroner’s office confirmed Jenkins died from blunt force trauma and her body also showed signs of drowning.
Fromdahl said: “Holly has lived here so long and raised her children here. She would never have gone to the edge of the water.”
Kim Williams, 65, who lives two doors down from Jenkins, agreed, saying her friend “would never do anything to put herself at risk”.
She suggested that Jenkins was somehow “surprised” and then “this monster attacked her”.
“We all loved her so much and we can’t believe that this happened to our Holly,” she said.
Because gated communities are privately owned, it is the responsibility of the relevant homeowner’s association to deal with wildlife threats.
But while Spanish Wells has always been quick to deal with issues, Fromdahl said other communities can be reluctant to deal with the predators.
She said in one neighbourhood the association has “no problem hiring sharpshooters with night vision goggles to cull deer at night - because they eat landscaping flowers and pose a threat to motor vehicles - but they leave the alligators alone”.
When she lived on another part of the island, she saw two alligators playing with what looked like a beach ball, but on closer inspection, it was a golden retriever’s head. She had to put pressure on the housing association to remove the reptile.
And many residents do not want anything done. Fromdahl previously received hate mail after she persisted in having three 2.4m alligators removed from the pond backing onto her garden when her children were small.
“A lot of people that move down here like to watch them swim around the pond, a lot of the retired people think it’s cool,” she said.
“Alligators over 6ft long should not be in populated areas”, she said.
Population explosion
Experts believe the increase in alligator attacks is directly related to the over-development of the creatures’ natural habitat.
There has been a property development explosion over the past decades in Beaufort County and the population has jumped by 130 per cent since 1990.
There are also issues with tourists feeding the alligators which teaches them to associate humans with food.
Dr Frank Mazzotti, professor of wildlife ecology and conservation at the University of Florida, said: “Not only are they building more and more houses, but a lot of the stormwater features that go along with building that housing are very attractive to alligators.
“As long as we continue to develop alligator habitat, there will be more encounters between humans and alligators and there will be more severely negative encounters.”
