How States Are Hurting Alligators—and Lying About It

The American Alligator, in addition to being a remarkably resilient animal, is a keystone species that shapes and supports its habitat and greater ecosystem. Alligator nesting leads to the creation of peat that, in turn, purifies water and offers flood protection. Water remaining in the holes alligators dig creates a refuge for other species during drought. Even turtles use alligator nests to incubate their own eggs. Yet, states encourage and financially Support the hunting and trapping of alligators under the guise that these methods of population control help the species. Worse still, states allow egg poaching, habitat loss, and habitat degradation to continue.

Alligators have faced the threat of human-led extinction before and rebounded with the help of legal protections. Today, states treat them as economic tools and systematically profit off their killing. Considering the present-day threats that alligators face, it is time for laws to start protecting them again in earnest.

The (Human-Led) Ebb and Flow of Alligator Population Over the Years

Alligators have been around for more than 150 million years and, impressively, survived the mass extinction that wiped out dinosaurs. In the United States, approximately 5 million live in southeastern wetlands, streams, and rivers. Louisiana and Florida are the most populated states, with 2 million and 1.3 million, respectively.

Despite alligators’ resilience, unrestricted hunting and human-driven habitat loss in the 1900s brought their population so low that they required protection under a predecessor to the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Their listing as an endangered species put a temporary halt to hunting and egg poaching. In 1979, the species was also added to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which regulates the trade of plants and animals in the hope of increasing their chances of survival in the wild.

Laws That Have Successfully Helped Alligators

In an unexpected success story of the ESA, by 1987, wild alligator populations recovered enough to be removed from its protections. However, as international recognition of their continued plight, alligators remain regulated under CITES. States require hunters to obtain a limited number of “tags” before they are permitted to hunt alligators. These tags allow states to manage how many alligators are killed and thus hunting’s impact on wild populations. Under CITES, alligators experience a vast improvement on the unregulated hunting seen in the early 1900s, even though it is less than offered under the ESA.

Additionally, critical Conservation areas, like South Florida’s Everglades National Park, have been established by federal and state governments. Everglades National Park alone covers 1.5 million acres and is home to 200,000 alligators. Protected conservation areas like this ensure that some habitat remains despite human expansion and encroachment.

The preeminent importance of these laws is their exemplification that, when willing, states can protect their wildlife.

Source: Shelly Collins/Unsplash

Current Threats

Alligators today are faced with a myriad of threats. Not least among them are hunting and egg poaching, habitat loss, and Climate change. Hunting harms alligator populations in obvious ways but state laws amplify the damage. Alligators reach reproductive maturity between ages 8 to 15 years, depending on gender and growth rate, yet states allow the hunting of alligators much younger than that. States also allow egg poaching, most often as a source of alligators for farm production. Hunting of mother alligators can be particularly harmful because female alligators protect their young up to three years old. Together, this results in much pressure on populations’ reproductive and survival rates.

Habitat loss occurs through direct loss of land (like dredging and filling wetlands) and through losing access to other land (like roads cutting through alligator-inhabited land). Of course, habitat loss means less range for living and feeding. This not only impacts alligators but also increases the risk of alligator-human contact because homeless and hungry alligators make their way into neighborhood ponds, canals, and pools in search of homes and food.

Climate change is a threat to all but will have a disproportionately negative effect on wild alligator populations. This is because of the water that alligators live in and how alligator sex is determined. Alligators live in freshwater, and occasionally brackish water but cannot survive in saltwater. Sea level rise will mean that freshwater is inundated and made uninhabitable by saltwater. Whether an alligator turns out to be male or female is determined by the egg’s temperature in a critical time during incubation. Below 88.7 or above 94.1 degrees Fahrenheit and eggs will become female, between 90.5 and 92.3 degrees Fahrenheit and eggs will become male. With temperatures rising, wild alligator sex ratios will begin to skew and impact their procreative abilities. By the end of the century, hatchlings could be nearly 100% one gender. 

What States Are Saying

Louisiana says that the goals of its alligator program “are to manage and conserve Louisiana’s alligators as part of the state’s wetland ecosystem and provide benefits to the species, its habitat, and the other species of fish and wildlife associated with alligators.” Yet, it also says that it solely “manages the American alligator as a commercial, renewable natural resource.” Texas says that alligator hunting is a “critical component of effective habitat management, which guarantees the future of the alligator.” Florida says that “[t]he removal of nuisance alligators does not have a significant impact on our state’s alligator population.” So-called “nuisance” alligators are killed for their meat and hide, which is the primary compensation of contracted trappers. Florida touts that this system “results in tremendous savings to Florida’s taxpayers.”

It’s time to dismantle states’ claims that killing alligators is the way to save them.  What states are really doing and readily admit to doing is using alligators as an economic tool to reduce their own responsibility. Instead of designating and managing wetlands or utilizing appropriate staff, they pass the burden of management and Conservation onto private landowners and business owners.

What’s Needed to Save Alligators

Despite states’ claims of thriving alligator populations, without action, wild alligators face a grim future. And as the species becomes increasingly impacted by population decline, the function that they perform in their ecosystems will cascade into problems for animals and humans alike.

So, what do states need to do for their alligator-protection sentiments to ring true? To start, outlaw egg poaching and hunting. Alligators of all life stages proceeding through their natural processes allows them to maintain the full range of beneficial impacts on their ecosystem and ensures survival of the species’ fittest. Establishment resistance to ending these violent practices will likely center on loss of revenue and tax advantages. However, states may continue to utilize the economic benefits of alligators through non-destructive and non-consumptive methods such as wildlife watching, boat tours, and educational centers.

As well, states must take the initiative to safeguard wild habitats. This can be easily accomplished by creating more state and national parks. However, it can also be accomplished on a more local level by restricting new communities from dredging and filling wetlands. As those areas are naturally low-lying and wet, avoiding building on them has the added benefit of making new communities less impacted by flooding events. Other simple methods for increasing habitat range are establishing wildlife corridors and retrofitting roads with wildlife crossings.

Finally, mitigating Climate change is a panacea for many current issues and is vital to maintaining the vitality of wild alligator populations. Rising temperatures will flood habitats with uninhabitable water and fundamentally change the gender ratio of surviving alligators. Emissions reduction tactics should be implemented at every level of governmental decision-making.

What You Can Do That Will Make a Difference

• Let lawmakers know that you value alligators’ lives, not just their economic value.
• Do not use, and encourage others not to use, alligator meat and hide products.
• Support habitat protections, especially in areas likely to be lost to human expansion.
• Reduce your emissions.
• Challenge the idea of “nuisance” wildlife.
• If you see alligators in the wild, leave them alone.

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