One man's endangered species is another man's backyard pest. That modern-age anomaly is the crux of a dispute between the National Audubon Society and Louisiana's Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wild Life. Arguing that a surplus of alligators was eating up such income-producing wildlife as muskrats and waterfowl, Louisiana reopened the swamplands in Cameron Parish to hunters last fall after an eight-year ban. In 13 days, 1,347 alligator hides were turned over to state authorities to be auctioned off to private businessmen. The Audubon Society, which long ago branched out from birds to the protection of all animals, promptly declared open...
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