Criminal Penalties For Harming Alligators And Crocodiles

Anyone who visits Florida or has recently moved here immediately notices how many alligators there are, how huge they are, and how longtime residents of Florida interact with these gigantic monsters like it is no big deal. The only people who bother to count how many alligators they see during an airboat ride or in the canals by the side of the road during a road trip are children too young to get a driver’s license. Everyone else has since lost count. Believe it or not, by the end of the 1960s, hunting and habitat loss had nearly annihilated the alligator population; the gator-filed swamps had given way to golf courses, suburban housing developments, alligator boots, and alligator sausages. In 1973, the Endangered Species Act granted the American alligator a protected status, making it illegal to hunt alligators and setting restrictions on building on their habitat. The alligator population has since rebounded, so what are the current rules surrounding confrontations between humans and gators? If you are facing criminal charges for illegal possession or hunting of an alligator or crocodile in Florida, contact a Tampa criminal defense lawyer.

Is It Ever Legal to Hunt Alligators in Florida?

Florida is home to not one but two native species of crocodilians. The American alligator has made a major comeback since its endangered species days, and it can now be found in rivers and lakes throughout Florida, as well as in several other states; if anything, their range seems to be expanding. Southern Florida is also the northernmost part of the range of the American crocodile. This makes Florida the only place on Earth that is part of the natural habitat of both an alligator species and a crocodile species.

Although both of Florida’s crocodilian species have robust breeding populations in the wild, Florida does not want to risk sending them back on the road to extinction. Federal law prohibits harming wild crocodilians, but the maximum penalty is one year in prison. Florida’s law is even stricter, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison. This law applies not only to killing and injuring crocodilians in the wild, including by hunting them, but also to illegally keeping them as pets.

There is a legal hunting season in Florida for American alligators. As with any other game species, you can only hunt during certain times of year, you must obtain a license, and there is a limit to how many individuals you may take during a single year. It is against the law to hunt American crocodiles. Their conservation status is “near threatened,” which means that they are not numerous enough for it to be worth the ecological risk of hunting them.

Contact Tampa Criminal Defense Attorney Bryant Scriven

A criminal defense lawyer can help you get justice if you are facing criminal charges for illegally hunting alligators or crocodiles or keeping them as pets.  Contact Scriven Law in Tampa, Florida to schedule a consultation.

Sources:

miaminewtimes.com/news/florida-investigating-key-largo-crocodile-abuse-after-video-emerges-40496582/

eregulations.com/florida/hunting/alligator-hunting-adventure#:~:text=Florida%20offers%20regulated%20opportunities%20for,all%20available%20alligator%20harvest%20permits.