FWC – NBC 6 South Florida
A 36-year-old Miami man has a court date at the end of the month after officers found him with a dead alligator in the back of an SUV.
Steven Guzman admitted to shooting the gator with a 9mm handgun, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
He was a passenger in a 2014 Toyota Highlander that was seen speeding south on the Miami Canal Levee. FWC officers say they conducted a traffic stop at the S8 Pump Station in west Broward County about 4 p.m. Sunday.
Guzman said he and a friend had been fishing, but when the officers checked the rear of the SUV they saw an alligator carcass that had been tied up, according to the arrest report.
Steven Guzman (Broward Sheriff’s Office)
He admitted to shooting the gator with a pistol that he was still carrying, the report stated.
Investigators said Guzman had no hunting license or gator permit and the alligator was killed out of season by an illegal method.
Guzman was fined and ordered to appear in court May 30, records show.
Florida’s alligator hunting season runs from Aug. 15 to Nov. 1 annually with more than 10,000 people applying for about 7,000 harvesting permits.
There are strict rules and methods for gator hunting. Hand-held snares, snatch hooks, artificial lures, and baited wooden pegs, harpoons, gigs, spears, spearguns, crossbows and bows attached to restraining lines can be used.
Baited hooks, gig-equipped bang sticks and guns cannot be used. Bang sticks can kill the gator but only after it has been captured using the approved methods.
