Speaking of interesting, Woodswoman found this blurb from the folks down under. Never know what quotes you give the old chaps will be used..........
BTW
Please take a moment to thank the reporters that covered the gator hunt as I'm sure they all took flack from the anti's. Give them a quick call or a short e-mail & invite them to another event.
The Australian � World Wide Weird
Hunters flock for alligator revenge
Jacqui Goddard, Miami
August 17, 2006
FLORIDA began its longest alligator hunt yet yesterday, with people queuing for a licence to kill after its busiest "nuisance alligator" season.
A record number of licences for the hunting season, which runs until November, were issued as people sought revenge for the deaths of three women in May. Every night, from half an hour before sunset until half an hour after sunrise, hit squads will stalk swamps, armed with harpoons and prods that fire a bullet at point-blank range.
For 8812 alligators, it will end in handbags at dawn. Processing plants and tanneries have geared up for an influx of skins, which will be descaled, pickled, bleached, dyed and glazed, ready to be turned into anything from shoes, wallets and hat-stands to chequebook holders and hot-pink clutch bags.
Last year, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission sold only 65 per cent of its permits, largely because of the harvest clashing with an overactive hurricane season and trappers being allowed to buy only one permit at a time.
This year, people are allowed two each and they have six weeks longer in which to carry out the hunt, which has meant all 4406 permits have been sold in only four hours.
Experts say there has also been higher than usual interest because of the publicity surrounding three fatal alligator attacks and a series of incidents, from septuagenarians beating off alligators with hosepipes to dog-owners leaping into canals to wrestle them off their pups.
"Revenge isn't a good word to use, but the attacks did bring more public interest to the hunt," said Captain Phil Walters, an alligator-hunting guide based in Tampa who offers anything from one-night "training runs" for rookie harvesters for $US185 ($240) to two-night trophy-hunting expeditions for $US2500. "The hunt re-establishes this old relationship we have with other predators that says, 'You're not going to eat us, we're going to eat you. We're still top dog'."
Since Hurricane Katrina devastated swamplands in Louisiana, the leading state for alligator production, the price of skins has doubled to about $US20 a foot as the fashion and luxury goods industries seek new sources for the hides.
The alligators can measure more than 3.5m and weigh more than 180kg.
The Times
