On Sunday, I witnessed the consequences of visitors feeding our alligators. I saw the removal of a creature that has lived in Shipyard Plantation for well over a decade. Officials estimated its age at about 50.

We called it Bubba or Big Al, and we all delighted in seeing it in our lagoons. Because it was fed and therefore approached humans as a source of food, it had to be removed and killed.

Perhaps our rental agencies should include information in their packets to explain that a fed alligator is a dead alligator.

Joyce Braude

Hilton Head Island