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September 21, 2011
The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR)
recently recognized four hunters for harvesting the largest
alligators during the recent hunting season. The recognition is
based on the weight and length of the harvested alligators as well
as the hunting zones. A total of 250 tags were issued in three
hunting zones this year and 158 were filled.
Keith Fancher of Shelby, Ala., was recognized for harvesting the
largest alligator in the west central zone, which is also the
largest harvested since the regulated hunts began in 2006. His
838-pound alligator was 14 feet, 2 inches long (pictured left). This
zone, which was just opened to alligator hunting this year, includes
Dallas, Wilcox and a portion of Monroe County.
Two hunters tied for the largest alligator taken in the southeast
zone. Both Jonathan Perkins of Collinsville, Ala., and Jeffery Scott
Mann of Smiths, Ala., took gators that weighed 650 pounds and were
12 feet, 4 inches long. The southeast zone includes Barbour, Coffee,
Covington, Dale, Geneva, Henry, Houston and Russell counties.
John King of Spanish Fort, Ala., harvested a 12-foot, 7-inch
alligator that weighed 593 pounds. His alligator was the largest
taken in the southwest zone, which includes Mobile and Baldwin
counties.
Restoration of the American alligator is a national conservation
success story in which Alabama played a lead role. Unregulated
alligator harvest throughout the South in the 1920s, ?30s and ?40s
threatened the species with extinction. In 1938, Alabama took action
and became the first state to protect them. Other states followed
suit and in 1967, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service placed the
American alligator on the Endangered Species List. Two decades of
protection enabled the species to rebound. By 1987, it was removed
from the Endangered Species List but retained as a federally
protected species.
Alabama's alligator population has grown to the extent that they
pose a nuisance in many areas. Implementing a regulated alligator
hunt on a small scale is an important step toward controlling
populations and better managing this unique reptile.
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