Wild Animal Abuse: The Dark Side of Florida Fish and Wildlife

Over the holiday weekend, some friends and I were enjoying the beautiful Choctawhatchee River outside Panama City, Florida on a boat ride. The Native American word Choctawhatchee means- River of the Choctaws. Local folks just call it the river. We tied the pontoon boat to a willow tree jutting out of the water, after choosing a fishing spot. Myself, in all my redheaded freckled face glory hid under the boat canopy from the sun. I looked up in the trees watching a squirrel and said, 'What is that?' There was a dead animal tied up, swinging overhead in the tree.

No one on board could figure out why anyone would be so cruel. My shipmates are all native Floridians and had never heard of such a practice. The captain of our cruise remarked, "Oh, no there is another one!" I said, "What do you mean another one?" He said, "There was another animal tied up at the last place we stopped to fish but I did not want to upset anyone." I kept asking everyone on board if they had every witnessed anything like this before. Captain Stuart said it could be for baiting alligators, because they are opportunity feeders. He said an alligator could jump straight up, out of the water, half of its body length, when going after food.

I called the Florida Fish and Wildlife on Monday morning to report the wild animal abuse. Kathy Jackson of the FFW returned my call. On Wednesday, Ms. Jackson called to tell me she found the hanging animals and cut them down. She found the two raccoons we had reported and an opossum hung in the same fashion. In the photographs I took, you can see the raccoon has its limbs tied together with rope and it has been skinned. We did not see a gunshot wound to the animal so we do not know if it was hung alive. There was not any sign of blood, and the raccoon had its eyes wide open, as if it had fought for its life.

Kathy Jackson of FFW told me she questioned some old timers who have fished the river their whole lives. She was told hanging wild animals in the trees over the river could possibly be used for baiting fish, that as the raccoon decomposed, its dead body would draw maggots and attract fish to the site. What could possibly possess someone to want to catch fish that badly? There is no reason for this to be a nuisance kill. This is on the bank of a river, where there are no homes for miles.

Florida has coming up an open season on alligators, with permits going on sale June 3. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has 4,500 alligator harvest permits available. The permits sell until June 9 and each permit purchased allows the take of two alligators. The alligator-hunting season runs eleven weeks from August 15 - November 1.

There is a wildlife violation hotline in Florida to call to report violators at 1-888-404-FWCC. Violations include illegal hunting, killing or capturing protected species or fishing by illegal methods.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service classify the American alligator as a threatened species. This listing provides federal protection for alligators but allows state-approved management to sell tickets to a profitable thrill kill.

Sources:

http://myfwc.com/