I hope I did not offend your sensibilities with my lasted comment regarding alligators. The truth is, many more people hunt and eat alligator than the reverse. Aggressive alligators are shot. People eat alligator for dinner at Skipper's Smokehouse. It is really quite sad for the alligators, who can't help that some unthinking person fed them a steak.

Stephanie

no, I wasn't offended at all, simply fascinated at the idea of alligators living so close, and being so potentially dangerous if people encouraged them. I can well imagine how tempting it must be to throw food to an alligator, and can understand how this leads to confrontations.. interestingly, our dogs are still convinced that alligators are around.. if a log floats down the river, the dogs go absolutely mad, barking at the log in a terrified manner, they must have some sort of "race memory" of confrontations !

I live near Tampa, Florida, which is about halfway down the panhandle on the Gulf side of the state.