“Gator Country: Deception, Danger, and Alligators in the Everglades” by Rebecca Renner

c.2023, Flatiron Books, $29.99,288 pages

Nobody will miss it.

That thing you want, but shouldn’t have? Nobody will even know it’s gone, so what if you just took it? There’s lots of them and nobody’s going to notice that you grabbed just one. There’s no harm, right? Unless, as in the new book “Gator Country” by Rebecca Renner, its absence could mean ecological disaster.

Jeff Babauta was looking forward to retirement.

All those years as a wildlife enforcement officer with the Florida Game and Freshwater Fish Commission (FWC) had left him fit and hale, but the job itself and the years he spent chasing poachers in Florida’s Everglades were taking their toll. So was the chance that someone he’d arrested might recognize him; born in Guam, he didn’t exactly look like your usual native-raised South Floridian.

Catching poachers had always been a tricky endeavor, and Babauta had mixed feelings about it. He understood that poaching from the Everglades was sometimes the only way for locals to feed their families, but he also knew that poaching-for-profit was harming the plants, birds, and animals there. And that really bothered Babauta, who was one of those guys who knew every inch of the swamp.

He was one of those smart, stand-up guys, a supervisor’s dream, you know? 

Which is why he got the call from FWC and he knew with resignation that he have to kiss retirement goodbye for awhile. Poachers were stealing alligator eggs in the Everglades and it was threatening the once-endangered animal. The FWC needed someone with Babauta’s skills to go undercover. It could be the biggest case he ever worked. 

As Renner was following Babauta’s job, she was also on a chase of her own.

Peg Brown was a legend in South Florida, a folk hero who always outwitted the feds, a sort of trickster-character who was larger than life. Was this the other half of the story of poaching that Barbauta told? Renner had to know, and so she went in search of the mythical Peg Brown by finding the wily man’s real family...

Reading “Gator Country” is a little like running a marathon.

Most of the time, you’ll race, your heart pounding as you read the chapters about Jeff Babauta and his dangerous, intricately-laid undercover work. There’s the tiniest bit of humor in this part of the book, but it’s mostly going to make you gasp for air.

In between those chapters, you’ll get a chance to catch your breath and walk, as author Rebecca Renner tells her own story, that of the legendary Peg Brown, and the history of Florida and the Everglades. This has the feel of a swashbuckling pirate story mixed with a memoir – history, environmentalism, and a few tall tales added. They’re welcome passages, not just for the content but because they also let your adrenaline subside. Seriously.

This is a book that an adventurous reader will be thrilled by, a history lover will want to have, and a science- and ecology-minded person will devour. Get “Gator Country.” You really shouldn’t miss it.