Catching Alligator Feeders, Killing Alligators

In "Sting Launched to Catch Alligator Feeders" (AP, 7/15/06), Brian Skoloff reports that Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has set up a three-day sting in Broward County to catch alligator feeders and punish them (by fine and up to 60 days in jail, as it’s a second-degree misdemeanor).

That sounded great to me, at first. Similar to the issue with Muscovies, which I have previously discussed , feeding wildlife is a really bad idea, as it ultimately endangers the wildlife.

With the alligators, though, I’ve got a VERY Gray Matter.

• The sting? Love it.
• The punishment for offenders? Fabulous.
• BUT—Because state wildlife managers worry the snacks will make the gators aggressive, they will have to remove them and euthanize them (those are their words, not mine).

"Have to" euthanize them?

Let’s recap, shall we?

• Humans feed gators due to their erroneous assumption that:
  • the gators are starving and need us, and/or
  • they want to connect with us (and we initiate that connection with food).
• Alligator attacks are on the rise.
• Humans who think about this kind of stuff for a living (Fish and Wildlife peeps), realize that the feeding is related to the attacks, and develop a way to potentially end the feeding.
• Humans who feed are punished.
• Gators who are fed are killed.

I’m on board until that last one. Can’t we relocate them to a sanctuary of some kind? Why do we have to kill them? How is that humane or just?