Early Wild Harvest History

• 1800  Earliest record of use of alligator leather; thousands used for boots, shoes, saddles, etc. 
• 1855  Sporadic demand; first as a novelty leather and in Civil War to supply confederate with shoe/boot leather.  In late 1860s, alligator leather rose to top of fashion scale of all leathers.
• 1880-1933  Approximately 3.5 million Louisiana skins harvested, largest 19’2”.
• 1939-60  Commercial harvest of 18,005/year.
• 1962-72  Louisiana closed season statewide; turned attention to professional management of this resource, extensive research, and federal and state laws governing alligators enacted (listed in Federal Endangered Species Act, 1967).
• 1970  Louisiana Legislature enacted Act 550 giving Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries full authority to regulate the alligator.
• 1970-72  Framework for implementation of a sustainable use program developed.
• 1972  Experimental hunt in Cameron Parish yielded 1,350 alligators by 59 hunters.
• 1975-77  Experimental hunt expanded to three coastal parishes (Cameron, Vermilion and Calcasieu).
• 1978  No season – limited market in U.S. and ban on overseas shipments due to Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
• 1979-80  Harvest expanded to 12 coastal parishes.
• 1981  Alligator reclassified to Threatened due to Similarity of Appearance; harvest expanded to entire state.​

For more recent program history, as well as for harvest numbers and values for both wild and farmed alligators, see the Alligator Management Reports.