Louisiana authorities are offering up to $1,000 for information leading to the conviction of whoever killed an alligator with a crossbow and then abandoned the body.
Alligator hunting is tightly regulated. Hunters in Louisiana need a special license, and must lock a harvest tag to the tail of each animal killed.
Department of Wildlife and Fisheries agents were told on Monday that a 12.5-foot (3.8-meter) alligator that had been killed by an arrow was in Bayou Manchac near Alligator Bayou in Ascension Parish, the agency said in a news release Tuesday.
Agents found the animal with a 20-inch carbon crossbow arrow sticking out from the hinge of its jaws, agency enforcement division spokesman Adam Einck said in an email. The arrow had green-and-white fletching.
Louisiana’s alligator season ends Oct. 24 in southeast Louisiana, and Oct. 31 in the rest of the state. It usually runs for 30 days but was extended to 60 this year.
It’s legal for a licensed hunter to use a gun or arrow to shoot an alligator that has taken bait hanging above a waterway. However, each alligator must be kept and tagged.
Agents are asking anyone with information about this shooting to contact Louisiana’s Operation Game Thief at 1-800-442-2511 or use the tip411 app. “People with information can remain anonymous and could be eligible for up to a $1,000 reward,” the news release said.
The Associated Press contributed to this article