Thousands of Florida’s ‘nuisance alligators’ are killed each year. Is it necessary?

A nuisance alligator is defined as one that is at least 4ft (1.2m) in length and believed to pose a threat to people, pets or property. — Dreamstime/TNS

The 6ft (1.8m) alligator in a northern Hillsborough County backyard pond hadn’t bothered anyone. It wasn’t injured. But it was killed.

Phil Walters, a nuisance alligator trapper contracted with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission’s Statewide Nuisance Alligator Program in the United States, had been called after a mother whose child had been playing close to the pond in their backyard and reported the alligator was “lurking”.