How should we handle invasive species, such as alligators who overrun parts of Louisiana? People make a living killing invasive species for the state, but is there a better way of handling them?
American alligators are not an invasive species; they existed in Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana long before humans did, and they existed in far greater numbers before white colonists arrived than they do now. Alligators also aren’t over-running anywhere, they aren’t even close to being overpopulated. They are only ever discussed as ‘over-running’ because they exist in the same spaces as humans and we’re afraid of them. This is what happens all over the world; as soon as a species isn’t in decline and has the potential to harm livestock or dare to show up on the golf courses we’ve built over their habitats they’re deemed ‘pests’ and culled.
The abundance of alligators is not an environmental problem, in fact, quite the opposite is true. The relative abundance of crocodiles and alligators is used by researchers as a determiner of environmental health, as the success of large predators often is, since for them to survive there must be a certain quality of water and the existence of prey in adequate numbers. Alligators play an important role in maintaining healthy local ecosystems, which is more than can be said for most of the humans who have enroached on their homeland.
Americans have chosen to live in the natural habitat of allogators, settlers knew this when they chose to settle there there so it’s up to Americans to adapt to the existence of the local wildlife, which in the case of alligators really isn’t that hard. They mostly stay within the same limited range, they don’t cause harm to buildings, they prefer swamplands which shouldn’t be developed anyway as they are areas of outstanding natural diversity, and attacks on humans remain very rare. There is absolutely no good ecological reason to cull alligators - we do it solely for our benefit, which is also true of most culled species.
