Skeptics have raised the question of what ultimately happens to the farm alligators. Alligators do not breed well in captivity, so animals for the farms must be harvested in the wild. Louisiana allows such harvesting of eggs and young animals. Derrell Shipes, who supervises wildlife and fisheries policy at the S.C. Natural Resources Department, said his agency agreed to help the poultry industry determine whether alligators are efficient dead-chicken disposals. Gov. Jim Hodges said he has not seen the bill and doesn't know whether he would sign it.
Sharpe says the proposal is more economical than trucking the carcasses to incinerators.
And he predicted that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will one day prohibit burying the birds. Scientists say that alligators have the most acidic stomachs in the animal kingdom. Alligators can digest bones, beaks and feathers. Their muscular jaws do not chew food, but simply rip and tear their prey into chunks they can swallow. Last year, there were about 10 alligator farms operated in conjunction with chicken farms in Georgia.