"In Florida, it's illegal to feed, entice, touch, or capture alligators, except for licensed trappers and permitted hunters.

Wildlife photographer and Silver River kayak tour guide Josh Swander said viral moments like this one can have deadly consequences for alligators.

"Really sad, because it's like the alligators just kind of live in their life, doing their thing, and then people start kind of messing with them. And then they get killed because of people just wanting a TikTok video," Swander said."

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"The video has reached audiences well outside Florida. Visitors from the United Kingdom told TV20 they saw the video before their trip and made sure to add wild alligator sightings to their itinerary.

"We came over for the football, and we're just heading up to Atlanta, so we thought we'd stop a few days on the way. Yeah, we just didn't really know what to do. So we just had a little look around, and that's what he said we should do. And these guys love alligators," said Bradley Hutchinson, a Silver Springs visitor."

"FWC is continuing its investigation into the encounter, and the woman in the video potentially faces charges.

The incident comes as multiple people have been harmed, and one person was killed in alligator attacks in Florida this summer.

In two separate attacks in Marion County, a 19-year-old snorkeler was bitten in Rainbow River, and an 11-year-old boy lost his hand to a gator at Nelson's Fish Camp."

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The Springs have some history:

"In the 1930s, Hollywood discovered Silver Springs and over the years, scenes from at least 20 movies were filmed here, including Rebel Without a Cause starring James Dean, Distant Drums starring Gary Cooper, the James Bond movie Moonraker, Creature from the Black Lagoon, and six Tarzan flicks.

Episodes of television shows such as Sea Hunt, were filmed at Silver Springs as well. In fact, legend has it that Sea Hunt star Lloyd Bridges learned to SCUBA dive at Silver Springs!"

#2

Gators who get fed once or twice tend to get teed off if the next person doesn't feed them, and they can get very aggressive.

I've been known to yell at such people who stand in front of a sign saying, "DON'T FEED THE GATORS" while they are feeding the gators so they can get pics or vids.