A Livingston great-grandmother has a long memory. And she’s been mad for several years.
Judy Cochran got even after presuming a 12-foot alligator killed a prized miniature horse on her ranch three years ago.
“The horse just disappeared, so we’re thinking the gator got it,” Cochran told Houston television station KRIV.
Cochran’s primary job is mayor of Livingston. But she doubles as a pretty good shot, needing only one blast from her trusty Winchester .22 Magnum to take care of the massive 580-pound gator.
The state’s small window for shooting alligators gave Cochran a tight window to exact her vengeance.
Apparently, gator hunting runs in Cochran’s family. The Houston Chronicle reports her then 5-year-old grandson Simon Hughes harvested another even larger gator from the same pond five years ago.
His grandma was similarly ready when she finally got her chance. After trying a variety of bait like chicken, pork liver and wild boar without much luck. But a well-seasoned roadkill raccoon apparently turned the trick as it enabled them to hook the gator.
Once the gator was hooked, the mayor got a call at her office. She sped home, changed her clothes and took care of the work at hand.
Cochran told Houston television station KPRC the gator’s head will be proudly hung in her office.
The shooting capped a wild run of recent life events, she said.
“I became mayor in May, became a great-grandmother on Friday, killed the gator on Monday.”
