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Officials at the Isle of Palms, South Carolina, ordered everyone out of the water because of a dangerous animal.
But it wasn't a shark. Instead, wildlife officials ended up trapping a 1.8m long American crocodile in the surf.
Steve Bennett of the Department of Natural Resources said that the crocodile likely escaped or was released by someone who illegally brought it from its normal habitat in southern Florida. But it was also possible the crocodile could have swum up the coast.
Officials say they shut down the beach and ordered hundreds out of the water as a precaution until the crocodile was trapped.
Officials planned to send the creature to an alligator park, or to a wildlife preserve in south Florida.
