Can Gyarados be found in the wild?

Yes, you can find Gyarados in the wild, although it is very rare. There have been a couple of sightings, here in Australia. It has also been registered in at least two different instances, on a collective spreadsheet for listing Pokemon locations in Sydney¹.

#130    Gyarados    Darling Harbour, Circular Quay

Gyrados is rarer than Magikarp, but consider that you need 400 Magikarp Candy to evolve a Magikarp. If you find a location accessible to you, that is known to spawn a Gyarados, it would be arguably more efficient than attempting to catch 100 Magikarp.

_{¹ Be aware that the creator, one Bradley Dowling, has been updating this list. However, for reasons that are lost on me, he made it available to anonymous public edit. The list, itself, is often stripped and vandalised. You have to revert to the last version posted by the original author to read through the legitimate list.}