So Many Alligators, Too Little Money

Does anyone want a new pet? Not a puppy, not a cat, perhaps an alligator? Roughly 6,000 are currently roaming around the Louisiana countryside, looking for a good home…or else.

These thousands of animals currently are not serving their intended purpose, which has cause yet another industry to suffer during this recession. Alligators in Louisiana and around the United States are used for creating very pricey items for luxury retailers. Purses, shoes, and more items all feature expensive skins made from these animals that can be resold for thousands with their well-known labels.

Brands such as Gucci, Versace, and Louis Vuitton usually buy material, so to speak, from an alligator farmer named Gerald Savoie Jr., who was featured on an episode of Dirty Jobs. This year, however, they are not selling at all and it is becoming quite an issue for a small town farmer like Savoie. In an article from the local newspaper in Abbeville, LA, 840,000 tanned hides waited to be sold last month alone, when normally there are only about 275,000 on the market.

The point now has become that people can skip out on the alligator purses, and go for, I don’t know, house payments instead.