Cha ching! Cha ching! Cha ching!

While reading stuff on line today, I came up with these two articles (both edited for space):

1. Women’s handbag designers, uncertain about the effect of Hurricane Katrina on Louisiana’s alligator habitats, spent the winter searching for new supplies
of hides, according to a March Wall Street Journal report. The fall gator harvest saw prices rise 50 percent from two years earlier, forcing Ralph Lauren,
for example, to raise the price of its most prestigious alligator purse to $14,000, and hide prices were expected to rise another 50 percent this summer.
Wall Street Journal, 3-18-06]

2. An alligator or crocodile has indeed been spotted in one of the two small bodies of water in Lafayette Park. LeaAnne DeRigne, Tower Grove resident, was with her daughter Ruby at the park last Wednesday, when they spotted the creature, estimated to be 2 feet long. The Arch City Chronicle has confirmed multiple sightings of the animal, and according to Leslie Compton-Pruittt, spokesperson for the Dept. of Health, Animal
Control has responded. In addition, both bodies of water have been netted by the Manager of Animal Regulation and the head of the Parks. Nothing has been
found by either Animal Control or park personnel, so it is entirely possible the creature is still at large.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, May 31, 2006
I don’t know about you, but when I read these two articles (within about 15 minutes of each other), a little something clicked, a wheel turned and dollar bills flashed in front of my eyes! Anyone up for gator hunting? We don’t even have to go to Florida!