Seven hunting parties that lucked out in a state lottery went on an alligator hunt Friday in Florida, where they were allowed to take two gators apiece.
The event that kicked off Friday marks the first-ever public alligator hunt in the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Palm Beach County, the Miami Herald reported.
"They've never been hunted before. There's a state record in here somewhere," alligator hunter Lyle Sisson told the Herald. "I want one that I look at him and say, 'Oh my God.' It's an adrenaline rush for sure."
Sisson, who is a taxidermist based in West Palm Beach, was on the lookout to beat the state record of longest alligator, which is 14 feet, 4 inches.
A total of 11 hunters was selected by lottery from 1,200 permit applicants. They are allowed to capture two gators each and had to kill the animals immediately after catching them with harpoon, rod-and-reel, snares or crossbows. The gators are to be killed with bang sticks or explosive charges.
Running through Nov. 1, the 2014 hunt is approved by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which has issued 5,886 gator-hunting permits throughout the state.
The Palm Beach County expedition was termed "state-sponsored animal killing" by Don Anthony, communications director for the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida, which was represented by a dozen protestors at the start of the hunt.
The animal rights activists carried signs that read "Ban Gator Hunt," "No Hunting in a Refuge" and "Stop Killing Our Wildlife."
While 30,000 acres of the 143,000-acre parcel have long been designated for duck and coot hunting, the gator expedition was only approved after two years of negotiations.
"I think it's wrong to go into the animal's natural habitat and kill it, stab it, harpoon it and shoot it with a bang stick," Anthony said.
Between 2,000 and 3,000 alligators are in the refuge, and only 22 will be captured altogether as part of the hunt, refuge manager Rolf Olson told the Herald.
"They might find some big ones," Olson said of the expedition. "But mostly they are going to find 10 to 12-foot alligators. There are quite a lot."
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