FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Alligator hunting season is underway in Florida.
The Sun-Sentinel reports that 6,000 hunters received permits to kill up to two alligators. The season began Monday night and runs until Nov. 1.
Hunters work primarily at night and use harpoons, spear guns, fishing rods or crossbows to control the alligator and then kill it with a knife into the spinal cord or use bang stick to shoot it in the head.
There are approximately 1.3 million alligators in Florida’s swamps, lakes and freshwater ways.
A 2-month-old boy was killed by an alligator at Walt Disney World in June and two people were killed last year. Overall, the state says alligators have killed 24 people since 1948.
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