In Anahuac, the alligator capital of Texas, alligators are big business

The horn sounds and a line of pickup trucks approaches. These signs indicate that every hour the Great Alligator Roundup is taking place, which is celebrated at the annual Anahuac event. Texas Alligator Festivalhas begun and it is time to measure the last catch.

Steve Wells and his team of guides pull out an alligator they caught and killed that morning about a mile from the park. “I think this is the biggest one of the day,” someone whispers, as officials hang the gator’s lifeless body to be weighed and then displayed for all festival-goers to see. After several photo opportunities, the lumbering 600-pound reptile is lowered to the ground; it measures just over 13 feet from snout to tail. Site experts estimate it could have been around 100 years old — a dinosaur in its own right.

“We’re going to show him honor,” says Wells, of Friendswood, Texas, before the alligator is hauled away in a truck and put on ice. Soon, it will be a combination of ground alligator meat, turned into sausage, boudin or fried nuggets; its skin will be used to make leather boots, a bag or possibly a full-body saddle for hunters to see. While the sight of a dead alligator is a bit of a challenge, the alligator will be a great addition to any hunter’s collection. disturbing to those unfamiliar with the traditionThis is all part of the city’s long-standing process of keeping its alligator population under control.

Since 1987, Anahauc, The Official Alligator Capital of Texashas held the Texas Gatorfest, a celebration dedicated to the most popular and overpopulated animal in the area. The Lone Star State designated Anahuac, a Small town in Texas In 1989, Anahuac was the alligator capital, where alligators outnumber people by a ratio of three to one. “There are no predators that prey on the alligators. There would be no control over them if it weren’t for this festival,” says Samantha Humphrey, the public information officer for Chambers County, where Anahuac is located.

But the thriving alligator population was not always this way. History tells us that in the 1950s and 1960s, Alligators in the United States were almost extinct Due to overhunting, it was declared endangered in 1967. Soon, the country banned alligator hunting. Texas followed suit and offered full protection to the species in 1969, and then passed the Texas Endangered Species Act in 1973 to further emphasize its danger of extinction. The resulting laws “really provided an opportunity for alligators to thrive,” Humphrey says. “But not only did the alligator population rebound, it became too much for the ecosystem to sustain.” The alligators soon overate fish, crabs, and anything else they could hunt. Texas Parks and Wildlife Departmentthe state agency that manages and protects its outdoor parks and wildlife habitats, finally implemented a population management strategy in 1984 that regulated alligator hunting, granting local hunters and landowners permits with designated tags assigned for alligator hunting. In 1987, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service He removed alligators from the list of endangered speciesand Anahuac officially launched its alligator festival to raise awareness about the mission.

“We love them,” Humphrey says of the alligators. “We have a whole festival dedicated to them. We talk about them all the time. We respect them and want to make sure we’re doing the best we can to give them a healthy future.”

At Fort Anahuac Park, overlooking the marshes where real alligators roam, Gatorfest draws about 30,000 people from around the state for alligator-themed activities. There’s an on-site carnival, alligator-handling demonstrations, a beer garden, airboat rides, alligator-themed souvenirs from various vendors, friendly Gatorfest youth parades, a barbecue competition with an alligator category, and plenty of food. The county goes so far as to encourage food stands to use alligator meat by discounting their vendors’ fees if they offer alligator dishes. In past years, vendors have gotten creative, featuring a variety of dishes inspired by Southeast Texas Cajun cuisine, such as alligator dip with pecans, a tomato-based stew; alligator nachos; fried alligator bites; alligator sausage; and, a crowd-favorite festival staple, fried alligator on a stick. “We want to encourage people to use alligators,” Humphrey says. “That’s what the festival is all about.”

However, the hourly alligator race is the most popular event, where hunters are challenged to catch the largest alligator to win a cash prize. Depending on the season, for example, central counties Like Chambers, it runs for 20 days, from Sept. 10 to 30, and depending on the success of the hunters, the festival could see anywhere from 30 to 60 alligators a day, many of which are typically brought in “fresh,” caught and killed just hours before they are put on display.

Annie Mulligan

“This is something we’ve been doing for a long time,” says Jay Foster, a longtime competitor and local hunter who was featured in the Ninth season of the History channel Swamp PeopleThe reality show has helped document the world of alligator hunting in Louisiana and select areas of the South for 15 seasons. Foster, owner of the Cajun Outback Duck and Alligator Hunting Guide Company, caught a 11-foot alligator on Saturday, Sept. 14. A 12-year-old girl on the guided trip pulled the line. “From farm to table,” Foster says with a smile. Not bad, though the one he caught was more than a foot away from the winning alligator earlier that day. (According to the Texas Parks and Wildlife DepartmentThe American alligator can measure between 6 and 14 feet.)

“We’re just trying to conserve what we have by hunting them, and that may not make sense to a lot of people, but you have to get something out of the gene pool to help them thrive,” Foster says.

The festival also promotes the sale and sustainable use of alligator meat, and officials and partners are particularly adamant that all parts of alligator carcasses, including those featured in festival competitions, be fully utilized. Porter processing and alligator farmAn Anahuac-based company that’s considered the largest alligator-processing company in Southeast Texas, Porter’s transforms all of Gatorfest’s catch and about 600 alligators harvested during the Central Texas season into edible meat and trophy-worthy skin, says co-owner Lindsay Hedges. Hides sent to a tannery in Georgia are later transformed into leather products or saddles, while the meat undergoes a lengthy process at Porter’s, where it’s deboned, trimmed, soaked overnight in a vinaigrette mixture, tenderized twice and then vacuum-sealed in 1- or 5-pound packages, Hedges says. Much of the alligator’s white meat is packaged specifically for restaurants, while the red meat is shipped to meat markets, where Hedges says it’s typically used in sausage.

Porter’s clients include New Orleans Seafood Cuisine and Four Seasons Hotel Houstonas well as restaurants in Kemah and wholesale businesses in Beaumont. Hedges says Porter’s also helps with conservation efforts by collecting, incubating and hatching alligator eggs before exporting them to facilities in Louisiana where they are raised.

Both Hedges and Foster acknowledge that not everyone is thrilled with the celebration of alligator hunting, but for them, it all comes down to population control. “We do it with the utmost respect and with conservation in mind,” Foster says. “Hunters care about these animals as much as anyone else.”