How Florida Law Makes Gator Encounters More Dangerous
After a 10-foot-long alligator was spotted on the I-95 median in Jacksonville, Florida, law enforcement officers were forced to stand idly by because they lacked the proper permits to remove the gator. It wasn’t until Mike Dragich, a Nuisance Alligator Trapper licensed by the state, showed up sporting bare feet and camo accouterments that the alligator was wrestled and captured. While Dragich’s wrangling was impressive, the fact that cops had to wait for him to arrive raises the question: Why is alligator management so complicated in Florida?Â
Like other government-sponsored conservation programs, Florida’s Alligator Management Program is a bureaucratic boondoggle. The program has five divisions governing gator interactions on private and public land, including the trapping of nuisance alligators like the one wrangled by Dragich. A “Nuisance Alligator Trapper” license, which garners an annual cost of $50, is required before individuals can remove alligators at least 4 feet in length that threaten people, pets, or property—even on privately owned land. And the licenses are limited in availability. Anyone who wishes to assist an alligator trapper has to have a license (a $52 annual fee). Trappers must also carry a harvest permit (an additional $62 annually) specifying how a nuisance alligator can be killed after capture.Â
Additional and separate state licenses are required for alligator hunting, collecting hatchlings and/or eggs, farming, and meat processing. Alligators kept in captivity for educational purposes, exhibition, or sale need yet another license, and keeping an alligator for personal use requires a different pet license. Importing and exporting alligator products is under federal purview.Â
All of these licenses and permits are limited in availability—only 113 trappers were permitted to serve 10,000 nuisance calls across Florida in 2023—and come with their own list of requirements, regulations, and costs. Meanwhile, any killing, possessing, or capturing of an alligator wi
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