Lake Okeechobee, Fla. – To the unaided eye, the swamp seems to sleep at night. But hit it with a spotlight, and alligators suddenly appear everywhere, bulbous red eyes glowing on the water’s black surface.
The biologists begin to count. In three hours, from just a pair of airboats, they find 754 gators in one small section of Lake Okeechobee, one of Florida’s most concentrated gator habitats.
The total becomes part of the state’s annual alligator count, used to set the number of hunting permits issued.
More hunters are expected this season after three fatal attacks on people this month.
Even with rampant development and loss of wetlands, officials estimate there are more than 1 million alligators in Florida – a miraculous comeback for a species that was approaching extinction 40 years ago.
State officials and environmentalists attribute the population growth to strict federal regulations on sales of alligator products such as skin and meat, along with tight limits on hunting and trapping.
Each year, scientists set out into about 50 locations statewide for the month-long population assessment, recording alligator size and estimating age.
Though its brain is only the size of a human thumb, the American alligator has proved highly adaptable. Now found from southeastern Oklahoma and eastern Texas across to North Carolina and Florida, the species can grow to 14 feet long and weigh up to 1,000 pounds during a life span of more than 30 years.
Based on previous counts, the state wildlife commission added six weeks to this year’s hunting season, which will run Aug. 15 to Nov. 1.
Sales of hunting permits, allowing for two kills each, are expected to top last year’s record of 2,770 because of media reports on the three recent fatal attacks, just as demand for shark- fishing permits soared after the movie “Jaws” came out in 1975.
