A driver spotted an alligator tied to the rear bumper of an SUV while driving down a Florida highway on Saturday.
The massive gator appeared to be dead with a rope wrapped around its snout, body and tail as the vehicle traveled along Interstate-95.
“It was on I95 in Brevard County,” Karen Kress, who snapped the photo, told NBC 6 South Florida. “I'm 99% sure it was a real dead gator.”
Florida’s statewide alligator hunting season begins on August 15 and ends on November 1. A permit is required to hunt gators in the state.
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The large alligator appears to have been harvested during hunting season, according to one commentator on the post who wrote, You can see the yellow gator ‘tag’ fastened to his tail.”
More than 7,900 alligators were harvested during last year’s hunting season, according to the most recent data from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conversation Commission. The gators harvested ranged from nearly three feet to nearly 14 feet in length.
Wildlife experts estimate that 1.3 million alligators of every size live in Florida.
