I think I can answer question. I live in NC and we have many many gators. Gators at about six feet look cute. You want to put a leash on them and take them home for the kids to play with. At around eight feet they start to change; they get wide. They will eat your pets and take a bite out of you if they think they can get away with it. At around 10 feet, they start to think that you might be a tasty treat. Somewhere around 12 feet they think they are at the top of the food chain because no one has taught them different. Imagine a full grown grizzly living in your favorite fishing hole.
There is no shortage of gators. In fact if you want more gators then you kill the largest, because more than two six to eight foot gators can live in the same area as one large gator. Oh yes, they are cannibalistic, so the large gator can and do eat the small gators. They start reproducing at around six feet. So if you want a lot of gators that are not taking down your pets and livestock, you harvest the large ones. Gators are not smart, but they can be taught to stay away from humans by killing the large gators.
Oh by the way, gators taste good. Wild ones taste even better than farm raised gators. Farm raised gators taste like chicken, because that is what they are fed.
As a plus, women like fancy handbags and men like cool belts. To make it even better, the leather wears like iron, so you can pass them on to your kids. I personally have an alligator leather belt that was made in the sixties and it still looks good.
I like the way you think. Besides, that wasn’t the biggest gator, just the biggest one caught.