Its one of the most iconic native species to Florida, but did you know at one point in the last 100 years, alligators almost became extinct? It’s only thanks to a robust conservation and hunting program that gators have become so common in the state once again. But a recent pair of gators found dead in a Lehigh Acres canal, could mean that poachers are on the prowl. 

From his home in Martin County, professional alligator hunter Mike Kimmel has helped manage Florida’s gators across the state. Today there are believed to be over a million alligators in the State of Florida, but it wasn’t always that way. 

“Now its been a real success story coming back from that to the point where there are so many we have to manage them.” Kimmel said. 

Alligators were overhunted in the 20^th Century, nearly to extinction. But successful conservation efforts, managed by a system of trappers like Mike, created a massive resurgence in the population over the past century. Now only private hunters who pay for the privilege can legally take gators. 

“The tag program is very important to Florida, without that we wouldn’t have our general public out here helping out with our alligators on public lands, pumping money back into conservation into our state with the tag process, the money these hunters pay.”

But recently, a pair of dead alligators were found floating in a Lehigh Acres canal, their heads and tails removed. To Mike, what had happened was obvious. 

“Its something I always try to speak against, usually you’ll see people when they poach these alligators, they will just waste the whole thing, cut its tail off, its head as a trophy.” he said. 

We reached out to FWC about the dead alligators as well. They told us while there is no way to prove the two alligators were actually poached, they don’t want hunters dumping their carcasses into canals. 

“Someone that just dumps them, doesn’t care about Alligator hunting, doesn’t care about alligators and dont care about our state.” Kimmel said. 

Despite the lack of proof of poaching, its not hard to imagine that a hunter who breaks one rule, doesn’t care about breaking others. It’s a slippery slope that could undo the hard work of brining the Florida Gator back from the brink. 

“They’re not going to let the animal go to waste, they will treat it with respect, they wont just illegally dump it, they want to continue to do this year after year, and the way we do that is by respecting these animals.”