Florida’s alligator hunt is unnecessary, according to state wildlife biologist
June 1st, 2009 by admin
Today the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) began accepting applications to participate in Florida’s 11-week alligator hunt, which begins August 15. 6,000 permits will be available, and each allows the hunter to kill two alligators.
Last Thurday, Fort Myers’ NBC TV Ch. 2 ran an interesting story about an annual survey conducted by the FWC to determine the size of Florida’s alligator population and to learn if the numbers of increasing, decreasing or remaining stable.
What caught our attention in the story was a statement by FWC Biologist Lindsey Hord, who implied that Florida’s alligator hunt is not held to control our state’s alligator population, nor to cut-down on “nuisance” alligator complaints. Instead, the hunt is held merely for the benefit of hunters and to raise money for the state wildlife agency.
According to Mr. Hord: “Alligators, particularly alligators as predators, will control their own population - they’re cannibals. If they get over populated, they start to eat each other and reproduction starts to decline.”