2 dismembered alligators found near J.C. Mitchell Elementary School in Boca Raton

BOCA RATON, Fla. - For hours Wednesday morning two mutilated alligators sat only a few hundred yards from J.C. Mitchell Elementary School in Boca Raton.

Portia Dinkins and her daughter saw it on their drive to the school on Northwest 5th Avenue.

"That's something traumatic for especially a 9-year-old girl, my daughter, you know. That's traumatic for her. I don't know if she's every going to want to take this street again," said Dinkins.

The tails of both alligators were cut off.

Joel Young says he's never seen anything like it as he took pictures of the scene. Young works at a church next to J.C. Mitchell Elementary. "It doesn't seem very respectful to an animal that represents the state," said Young.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says hunters likely cut off the tails for the meat, then dumped them on the side of the road.

Alligator hunting season lasts until November first, but dumping their remains improperly is illegal.

An FWC spokeswoman said hunters should bag up the remains and place them in the trash or have them buried.

By mid-morning the Boca Raton Public Works Department scooped up the remains with a bulldozer and took them to a place to be buried.

If those responsible are found they would likely face misdemeanor illegal dumping charges.