A man was brought in critical condition at Medical University of South Carolina after he was bitten by an alligator when snorkeling at the Short Stay Navy Outdoor Recreation Area.
Bill Hedden, a 59-year-old from Summerville, was diving at Lake Moultrie near Short Stay Naval Recreational Park when the reptile attacked him and bit off his hand.

After the terrible accident, Hedden stumbled into a group picnicking at the lake. He was still wearing his diving mask and he was holding his shoulder socket to slow the loss of blood.

Fortunately, there were five nurses in the group, mostly members of the Bicol Assocation of Charleston, of group of Filipino Roman Catholics, and they intervened immediately with primary emergency treatment and probably saved his life as paramedics arrived at the scene approximately 15 minutes later and helped stabilize the patient until a helicopter arrived.

The doctors at the Medical University of South Carolina were unable to reattach Hedden’s bit-off arm, according to spokeswoman Heather Woolwine’s statement.

The alligator was killed by Ron Russell, a state contractor, and the reptile’s head will be mounted and offered to the victim.

"He's expressed interest in it through another officer," said, Russell, who cut into the animal to recover the man's arm. "I'll probably give it to him."

He usually gives the meat from alligators he kills to charity, but he won't be doing that for the 11-foot, 550 pound alligator that attacked Bill Hedden.

"I don't think anyone would want to eat it, if you get my drift," he said.

Russell, one of three state contractors who remove nuisance alligators for the Department of Natural Resources, said the meat will used to lure other alligators into traps