In the past year, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of

In the past year, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of people killed by alligators in Florida. During this same time, there has been an increase in the development of new houses, golf courses, and shopping areas in former wilderness areas within the state. Therefore, the increase in fatal alligator attacks must have been caused by the increase in the number of humans living in the alligator’s habitat.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously calls into question the explanation above?

Prethink: It's not the development done by humans, but something else has caused this issue


A. Two years ago, a government initiative to reduce the alligator population size by destroying alligator eggs ended.
-> Good one. If alligators egg are no longer destroyed their number would have increased from last two years. At least more than what it used to be when program was running

B. An increase in fatal alligator attacks tends to make people more cautious around lakes, ponds, swamps and canals.
-> This should have decreased the number of attack. Doesn't help us here

C. The number of people killed by snake bites, spider bites and scorpion stings in Florida has held steady for many years.
-> Good candidate, lets come back to this

D. Many of the new state residents have moved to newly constructed areas near water that is suitable for habitation by alligators.
->This help the argument and doesn't weakens it. Opposite of what we want

E. The undeveloped areas of Florida have decreased in area by 5% in the past year.
->Not sure if this area is same as where alligators were living

Why Not C?
We are assuming that alligators and these reptiles share same area. More over if snake bite have not increased, this means land explanation is not done in the snake zone. But doesn't confirm expansion was done in the alligator zone either. So in C we are assuming too many things to support the argument