A decision by a wildlife refuge in Florida to allow hunting of alligators within its boundaries has brought protests from animal rights activists.

The Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in South Florida has announced a hunting season, the first ever, saying it will help control the population of the reptiles.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service gave its approval for the hunt in March.

More than a thousand hunters applied to be one of the eleven who were given permits to each take two alligators in the 150,000-acre refuge of forests and swamps between now and Nov. 1.

Around a dozen protesters from the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida were on hand for the opening of the hunt, bearing signs reading "No Hunting in a Refuge" and "Stop Killing Our Wildlife.

Protester Lynda Cozart said she could see no justification for the hunt.

"I haven't been able to find a good enough reason," she said. "It's not for population control. People simply like to kill animals, and that's just not right."

Law enforcement officers were on hand to keep the protesters and hunters separate and reported no physical confrontations.

The population of alligators in the reserve is sufficiently healthy to support a hunt, officials said, estimated between 2,000 and 3,000 live in the reserve.

"We spent 12 years studying the alligator population and decided we had enough alligators to have a limited harvest without affecting the population," said reserve manager Rolf Olson.

The hunt may be expanded from the limited quantity of permits issued for the first one if the hunt proves sustainable, the refuge said.

Florida has allowed alligator hunting in some areas of the state since 1988, but this will be the first inside wildlife sanctuary

Because alligators living in wildlife refuge have never experienced being hunted or caught, they could be larger than normally found and likely less fearful of humans, experts said.

That's sufficient reason to hunt them, said Bill Imboden, who belongs to the Florida Sportsman Club.

"They need to be afraid of man," he said, explaining that alligators with no fear of humans might be more likely to attack people. "They are cannibals and become too large. That's dangerous. This is about science and management, not emotions."

Animal rights activists disagreed, saying the creatures, with roots going back to prehistoric times, have never needed control by humans.

"They manage their own numbers," said Don Anthony, of the animal rights foundation. "We're not doing them a favor."