California: Newspaper Reports and Alligator

california: According to The Times-Picayune/the New Orleans Advocate, California banned alligator skins and meats in the 1970s but repeatedly issued exceptions that allowed sales, according to The Japan Times. The newspaper reports that the most recent exemption expires on Jan. 1 of next year, and this time California's legislature did not pass another exemption. In a lawsuit filed Thursday, Louisiana said the economy surrounding alligators has played a key role in bringing back the American alligator population and is an important factor in protecting wetlands and other species besides alligators that depend on the wetlands. ; California has nevertheless attempted to destroy the market for American alligator products notwithstanding the fact that no such alligators live in California, the lawsuit says. The newspaper reports the alligator ban was backed by a coalition of animal rights and environmental groups. But the alligator industry provides economic incentives for landowners to take steps to protect marshlands that serve as habitat for the alligators. Louisiana said in its lawsuit that because most of the state's coastal habitat is privately owned, the state does not have direct control over how it is managed. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.