No open season on gators for Florida
By the number of times I’ve seen alligators being removed from residences in Florida on television, I’d say it was a good bet that they could be reclassified as game animals. The over 8,000 taken by hunters in a controlled hunt this year is a good indication that the gator numbers are good enough that they not be considered a species of special concern. All Florida needs to do to make this happen is remove them from the state’s list of imperiled species.
This year there were 2,155 hunters who were issued permits during the controlled hunt, which was longer than last years by 41 days. Isn’t this proof that there are enough gators to open a season? Instead of the lucky few issued permits getting roughly four gators each, there could have been four times that many allowed one each. The same rules and regulations for the controlled hunts could be used for the open season.
At least the FWC does say that an open season isn’t out of the question, it’s just one or two more years down the road. So Florida sportsmen, it sounds like just a matter of time to be able to hunt gators.
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