Mitigation banks seeking help in Alligator Bayou battle

Mitigation banks warring with Alligator Bayou Tours over the Spanish Lake Basin are trying enlist the aid of another state agency. A week after Natural Resource Professionals asked the Ascension Parish Health Unit for an investigation into the tour firm, its president, Scott Nesbit, asked the Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries to look into whether Frank Bonifay’s company was complying with state and federal wildlife laws. Nesbit — whose company represents Lago Espanol Wetlands Migitation Bank and Rivalake LLC — wants copies of Alligator Bayou Tours’ exhibitors license, as well as any monitoring, compliance or inspection reports. In a late August letter to the agency, Nesbit expresses concern about discharge of water from alligator pits and accuses Alligator Bayou Tours of “dangerous and irresponsible practices” in its hand-feeding of raw chicken to alligators. However, Office of Wildlife Administrator Robert Love in a recent letter assured Nesbit that Alligator Bayou Tours has a current valid exhibitors license and has been inspected once or twice annually for more than a decade. “We have always found the alligators to be maintained under better than acceptable conditions,” Love says. Nesbit now wants copies of those inspection reports. A recent Department of Health & Hospitals inspection prompted by the earlier request from Natural Resource Professionals also found no violations at Alligator Bayou Tours. For a recent Business Report cover story about the battle over Spanish Lake Basin, click here.—Penny Font