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It isn't illegal to eat alligators in Florida — but there are rules to follow. That's what got a man arrested Sunday after he allegedly killed five small alligators to cook for Super Bowl dinner.

Richard Nixie, 30, who lives in the small northeastern town of DeBary, admitted to officers with the Florida of Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission that he cut off the alligators' tails. He was charged with violating a state law governing the proper tagging of alligators taken from the wild. it wasn't immediately clear how he got caught. Attempts to reach him by phone Tuesday were unsuccessful.

Alligator hunting season in Florida is in the fall, when state officials hold a drawing for permits to harvest the animals in some parts of the state. Those alligators can be processed by licensed facilities and eaten.

Nixie was briefly locked up in the Volusia County jail before making bail, according to court records.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials say Richard Nixie admitted to trapping alligators less than five feet in length and cutting off their tails for his Super Bowl dinner. He's accused of possession and taking alligators without a proper tag.

— Jon Schuppe