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“Baby gators get more views, they’re much cuter,” Christen Wall says. She shares facts and pictures about life as a Louisiana alligator farmer on social media, in an effort to combat misinformation about the industry.

 Christen Wall

SPRINGFIELD, La. — It’s hatching season on Christen Wall’s family’s alligator farm.

“I’ve probably hatched at least a thousand alligators this morning,” Wall said cheerfully during an Aug. 14 phone interview.

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Christen Wall works to hatch baby alligators on her family’s farm, C&M Gator Farm in Springfield, La., the morning of Aug. 25. At the peak of the season, about 2,000 baby alligators will hatch in a day.
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A newly hatched baby alligator. The pink dots on the egg are made during egg collection to mark which side of the egg is “up,” Wall said.
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Christy Plott, board member for the International Crocodilian Farmers Association and consultant to the Louisiana Alligator Advisory Council. Her family owns exotic leather tannery American Tanning and Leather in Griffin, Ga., specializing in alligator and crocodile leather.
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A mother alligator defends her eggs during egg collection in June 2019. “It’s low-key scary out there, because those mama gators are not super happy when you want to come take their eggs,” third-generation Louisiana alligator farmer Christen Wall says.
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Third-generation Louisiana alligator farmer Christen Wall holds up one of the larger alligators raised on her family’s farm in Springfield, La.
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Examples of alligator leather.
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Louisiana alligator farmer Christen Wall will wed Bayer Crop Science chemical sales representative Ian Oppenlander, whose family raises seed crops in Madras, Ore., in 2024. They met when both were serving as state FFA presidents in 2014-2015.

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