This is Gwendolyn, a 11-foot alligator. For the past 47 years, he's lived with David Van Buren of Coconut Grove, Florida. The Miami Herald describes how they met:
This has been Van Buren and Gwendolyn’s routine for 47 years, ever since then-9-year-old Van Buren “cried and begged and pleaded” with his mom for the $2 gator while vacationing in Florida. He flew the tiny creature home to New York in the pocket of his baseball jacket and set him up in a fish tank. He used his allowance to buy goldfish (10 for a dollar) to feed his new pet.
Gwendolyn even went to college with Van Buren. Now he lives in a pond in Van Buren's backyard, where he hand-feeds the alligator pizza and chocolate chip cookies (specifically Chips Ahoy, which is his favorite brand).
They're lifelong friends, but the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission says that if Van Buren wants to keep Gwendolyn he'll have to make changes to his property. It's not acceptable for a large alligator to roam free in a residential neighborhood.
Be sure to watch this insane video of Van Buren casually feeding and petting his alligator.
-via Florida Man