I was born, raised, and am still living in the state of Florida.
I grew up seeing this beautiful reptile. You would think that I would be sick and tired of it by now.
Negative.
I am always excited to see them. They are living dinosaurs. They don’t want to eat us and should be respected more than feared. They should also never be fed when in the wild as this will lead to them going after humans or even domestic pets. PLUS…
The line goes like this: a fed gator is a dead gator. They are a keystone species and very much needed here in the state.
Today, I saw this one right off the boardwalk at Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. It is fairly young and is about 5 feet in length. When we came upon it, it was hidden by all the salvinia, but decided to come up so that we could take a picture of it.
When in Florida, any body of water may contain this beautiful reptile so please be safe and do not harass or feed them.
My Life In Pictures 
This is interesting about people feeding the gators. We have the problem here in Minnesota with people feeding the bears. A fed bear is a dead beer. You are so right about the wild animals 🙂
I guess the same goes for all wildlife that is known to kill man as bears and alligators do. Yes, I would love to be able to pet, hug, or feed all wild animals whike in the wild, but unfortunately that is not the wise thing to do