A California federal judge last week sided with Louisiana in a lawsuit that challenged the Golden State’s ban on importing and selling alligator products.

This is a big deal, especially when one considers alligator exports deliver roughly $100 million a year to the Pelican State’s economy.

California’s ban, for example, meant residents in that state could not purchase alligator-skinned wallets, said an official in Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry’s office.

Complicating matters for Louisiana, as that state’s Deputy Solicitor General Scott St. John told The Hayride Tuesday: when it comes to buying alligator products, California makes up roughly one-third of the global market.

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“This was an industry-destroying move [for Louisiana],” St. John said, adding the California law forced one Louisiana alligator rancher — whom St. John did not identify — to “pull the plug on a million-dollar investment.”

“This was animal rights activists run wild in the California legislature, pure and simple.”

In the 1960s, Louisiana alligators were endangered, St. John said. State residents, however, increased the alligators’ population numbers and later made an industry out of them.

And this was good not only for Louisiana’s economy — but also its environment.

“You have thousands of square miles of wetlands that the state does not own, so how do you incentivize the landowners to protect it and take care of it?” St. John asked.

“Well, you make it valuable, and it became valuable through this alligator industry. The state developed — competently, and I know that is unusual for government —this program where we developed an alligator product industry. It incentivized wetlands landowners to protect their property and take care of it.”

Due to the adverse way that California’s law impacted Louisiana, the matter went to federal court, with Louisiana as the plaintiff and California as the defendant. There, Louisiana officials argued California Law is preempted by the federal Endangered Species Act. Through that law, the federal government affirmatively authorized the alligator trade. In other words, California law cannot forbid what federal law already permits.

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Chief U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of California Kimberly Mueller ultimately agreed with Louisiana’s position.

“This was sheer California wanting to dictate to other parts of the country, including Louisiana, Florida, Georgia and other states that have alligator ranches,” St. John said.

“They are trying to tell Louisiana residents how to live their lives so that it suits what their betters in California think. That is not how America should operate.”

The Hayride’s repeated requests for comment from California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office were not returned.