![A mother alligator will protect the nest from any intruder that might disturb her eggs. [Photo courtesy Thomas Rainwater]](https://retime.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Some-environmental-questions-have-no-easy-answers.jpeg)
Questions about environmental issues such as “What type of frog are you?” It is legal to have a pet snake in my state. These questions are easy to answer with straightforward answers. Questions that require subjective evaluations such as “What’s the intrinsic value of this or that animal?” A more nuanced response is required.
Q. I reside in Florida and have written to federal and state wildlife agencies. However, I have not received a satisfactory response to this question: What are the reasons for protecting dangerous reptiles such the alligator. It is a poor excuse to claim that it would disrupt an “ecosystem”. Is there a specific reason that the American alligator should be protected? What is its real value?
A. A.
Some people believe that preserving animals that could harm us is impossible, and so they will not allow us to preserve grizzly bears or tigers. Some people will always support the animals, but they will do so for many reasons.
Six categories, which can sometimes overlap, can be used to classify people’s attitudes toward wildlife.
The utilitarian category also includes the above-mentioned letter writer, who believes that animals should have at least the potential to be used pragmatically by humans. It must not be a threat, a competitor, nor a nuisance to us.
Humanistic views believe that animals’ feelings and their right to exist are just as important as ours. These two views are on opposite ends of the spectrum. One proponent of one is unlikely ever to present a compelling case to the supporter of another.
People who are more concerned about aesthetics will be more inclined to protect dangerous animals such as alligators. This is despite the fact that they are stunning. People who are environmentalists believe that all species are part of a complex network and have a role in nature.
Another category is made up of scientists who want all wildlife to be studied, including alligators. In today’s society, hunters are a third category. They want to preserve alligators, and other wildlife, so that they can kill them.
What about the danger alligators pose in their natural habitat? What danger does this pose? To whom? Evidently, alligators pose no threat to the daily lives of average Americans.
Let’s try to put it in perspective. Are alligators worse than lawnmowers, or electrical outlets? Automobiles are responsible for thousands of deaths and injuries each year. More people are killed by cars in one day than alligators have been injured in a century. Wild animals injure very few Americans. Even fewer people die from their encounters.
Most injuries caused both by alligators and by bears, snakes, or other wild animals in North America are caused when a person encroaches on an animal’s habitat. I don’t believe any wild animal should face criminal charges for that. It shouldn’t be exterminated just because it doesn’t have obvious value for humans.
Another reason we need to protect all wildlife species are that once we declare one species unworthy because somebody finds no value it, another plant and animal will be next on our list.
Which species is the most annoying, dangerous, or least useful? Are we going to get rid or channel catfish or blue jays because their raucous? Or squirrels because the squirrels eat our bird feeders? Who will decide which species should go next?
Lastly, many of us, perhaps the majority of North Americans, just like wild animals. That could be the best reason not to kill any of them, including alligators.
Whit Gibbons, professor of zoology, is also a senior biologist at University of Georgia’s Savannah River Ecology Laboratory. If you have an environmental question or comment, [email protected].
