Protesters gathered last night to voice their objections over the decision by Florida officials to allow alligator hunting in the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge. 11 hunters received hunting permits after they were drawn from a pool of more than 1,200 applicants.

Although Florida has allowed legally sanctioned gator hunting since 1988, where licensed hunters are allotted up to two tags per season, this will be the first time that Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge will be open to the sport.

Over the past decade a heated debate about gator hunting in the refuge: “‘Swamp People’ had something to do with it,” said Tony Young, head of Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s hunting division, to the Fort Meyers News-Press.

After 10 years of monitoring the alligator population, Florida Fish and Wildlife officials determined there was a large enough, sustainable population to allow a small harvest. The decision dismayed protesters, while delighting hunters.

The Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge encompasses almost 150,000 thousand acres of the northern Everglades, and is a bastion for many animals. According to the Loxahatchee Refuge website, alligators are an “umbrella or keystone species” of the sanctuary. Not only do they occupy a position at the top of the food chain, but also dig shallow holes during the dry season, which collects water and provides a water source for birds, fish, and turtles.

“Refuges should be places where animals are protected from harm and not hunted for fun or profit,” said Nick Atwood, a campaign coordinator for the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida Yahoo News.

The hunt is not for the explicit purposes of alligator population management or control; gator meat from the tail and ribs can sell for up to $18 a pound, and the hunters stand to gain a hefty profit. Additionally, since the refuge has not been culled before, hunters are wide-eyed in anticipation of snaring a mammoth of the prehistoric beast.

“It’s just an untouched gem, to be able to hunt in a place that’s never been hunted before,” said Tony Majercik, one of the 11 hunters to receive a permit, to the Sun Sentinel. “Plus it’s doing something good for the refuge. None of the gators there have any fear of man. They’ll come right up to the boat and take the fish off your line.”