Texas Grandma, Mayor Bags 12-Foot Gator

The mayor of Livingston, Texas, a great-grandmother, took out a massive alligator that measured more than 12 feet in length and weighed nearly 600 pounds. The gator is believed to have killed a miniature horse on the mayor’s East Texas ranch.

Livingston Mayor Judy B. Cochran was busy at work on Monday when she received a call that her family finally trapped the alligator they had been searching for during the past three years.

“One of our miniature horses went missing about three years ago–and after an exhaustive search we believed it had been killed by a very large alligator,” Mayor Cochran told Breitbart Texas. “As quickly as I could, I ran home and changed into my ranch clothes.”

Cochran’s son-in-law, Polk County Precinct 1 Constable Scott Hughes, told Breitbart Texas their search for the killer gator came to an end when he finally took the bait, a days-dead raccoon.

Editor’s Note: Facebook censored the video of the mayor shooting the alligator. If you wish to see the video you may view it on Constable Hughes’ Facebook post directly.

“Before you can shoot a gator, you have to hook it,” Hughes explained. Trapping the gator ensures that the gator can be killed and not wounded.

The mayor calmly came to the river bank on their Simon Peter Bend Ranch and brought her rifle to bear. With a single round, the alligator was dead and ready to be pulled out of the river. “I’m a good shot,” she said. “They told me to shoot it in the brain and that’s exactly what I did.”

Before harvesting the gator, the family acquired the necessary permits and made preparations for a safe and ethical kill, Hughes said.

A local taxidermist officially weighed and measured the alligator. The gator, estimated to be between 50 and 60-years-old, weighed in at 580 pounds and measured 12.5 feet in length, Cochran said. “I knew he was a huge gator,” she said. “They say if you estimate the length of the gator’s head in inches, that is about how many feet it will be in length.”

It has been a big year for Mrs. Cochran. In May, the people of Livingston elected her as Mayor after she served 13 years on city council. Just recently, the mayor received one of the greatest of gifts, her first great-grandchild — and now the harvest of this alligator they searched three long years to find.

“I don’t know how I can top this,” she expressed. “It has been a great year.”

Constable Hughes posted the photos and video of the hunt on Facebook and news began to spread. Fox26 reporter Greg Groogan quickly jumped on the story, remembering that this was not the first big gator this family had killed on the ranch.

Nearly 10 years ago, Hughes’ son Simon, then 5, shot and killed an even bigger gator. Simon’s alligator measured 12 feet seven inches and weighed 860 pounds, Hughes told Breitbart Texas. The now 15-year-old wasted no time in telling his grandmother he still holds the record.

Hughes said that when you have a ranch like this, a firearm is a tool. He explained he taught all of his children to respect the power of firearms at an early age and how to safely handle the weapons under adult supervision.

“As a law enforcement officer, my sidearm is a tool,” he explained. “On the ranch, rifles and shotguns are also required tools.”

Mayor Cochran said the taxidermist will test the meat to make sure it is healthy to eat. Once it clears inspection she said they will keep the meat or donate it to a local charity. As for the hide, “I have been getting calls from all my friends telling me their boot size,” she said.

The Simon Peter Bend Ranch has been in her family for more than 50 years, Cochran said. Before that, her family had a ranch that now sits beneath Lake Livingston.