Editorial: Designation of Gators No Longer Fits (COMMENTS ENCOURAGED!)

[CharlieJ]

Editorial: Designation of Gators No Longer Fits

Source: TCPalm Newspaper
For years, laws have protected alligators. Now it's time for laws to protect people against alligators.

The alligator is no longer an imperiled species in the Sunshine State. That fact, in and of itself, is reason enough to downgrade the reptile's classification and increase the number of gators that are harvested each year.

In 1967 the alligator was placed on the federal endangered species list. In 1987 the state of Florida changed the reptile's designation to a species of special concern. For the past two decades, state wildlife officials have issued only a few thousand alligator permits each year, thereby restricting the number of gators that are killed. It is against the law in Florida to feed, molest or kill alligators. And homeowners who want to kill a nuisance gator must contact the state's nuisance alligator program, which contracts with a trapper to remove the reptile.
The alligator's designation as a species of special concern served an important purpose: enabling the reptile to rebound from near-extinction and to thrive in our state. Officials estimate there are as many as 2 million gators in Florida today.
However, the success of the alligator has come with a price — for people.
Homeowners increasingly find themselves in close proximity to the reptile. Children and pets — in particular — who wander too close to the water's edge are especially vulnerable to unprovoked attacks. The deaths of three people — in separate incidents — to alligators during a one-month span earlier this year illustrate the tenuous relationship that now exists between the reptile and humans.
Florida wildlife officials are currently conducting a broad review of the alligator management program and have proposed possible changes, which include downgrading the reptile's designation, increasing the number of permits that are issued each year and allowing property owners to deal with nuisance alligators on their own.
The latter proposal sounds a bit extreme. Alligators are dangerous creatures, and their removal should be left to the experts. However, it's clear that the gator's success has created a host of problems — problems that will continue to exist as long as alligators and humans live in relative proximity to one another. Nonetheless, the state needs to take a more aggressive posture in managing the alligator population.
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[VoodooChile]

Wow, so basically the gators are endangered as long as we arent "bothered" by them...As soon as we are, its Huntin season again.
Although they did estimate 2 million gators in FLA.

[toker]

That is a sticky situation, like voodoo hinted on, if they are at the level where they are no longer endangered then people want to thin them out again, thus resulting in the very thing that made them endarged to start with.

[DaveA]

Maybe I'm to blunt minded sometimes...Don't live in a place with something that can kill you and your family.

[boafiend]

2 million is over populated tho, and they wonder y other animals are disappearing

[SoberGuy]

The impression that I have is that it's open season, simply because humans are encountering alligators more and more. However, is this honestly due to the increasing number of alligators, or to human sprawling, and the vast spread of our civilization into the habitats of such wildlife? I'm guessing probably both, but I hate the fact that wildlife will be thinned out simply because we've encroached on their territory.

[razeraze]

most alligators are protecetd under a Similarity of Appearance :

USFWS Threatened and Endangered Species System (TESS)

they themselves are not endangered but to most people they look a lot like the Crocodylus acutus which is endangered. do we really want people to kill nuisance gators and hope they know the difference?

[crush]

My outlook on this is the same as many animals. If you take 100 gators in 1000 acres thats not bad. Now cut down the tree build some town houses and turn that 1000 acres into 100. Now thats over population or did the idiots do this. We know the answer. I drive down the road and see 10,000 acres and think it is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Drive down the road a year later and there is 100 acres left that kills me.
This world is doomed anyway you look at it. Maybe not in our life time or our kids but in time this world will end itself. Animals are not the problem ever its the people that are the problem. Its people that need to be thinned out. Kill off a few billion people and thing would start to get better. In my eyes it people that are getting over populated.

[spottedleopard24]

people. I live in Tampa and can tell you that over the past ten years we have experienced unabated sprawl and new development. Sure - lets go ahead and pave paradise! The fact is that in Florida, the gators were here before us and they are going to be here after us. Floridians need to learn to live with this fact and stop cutting down forests and draining wetlands to build their McMansions and golf courses. Too many humans here already, and more yankees and Canadians moving here every day. Shame.