Texas Mayor Judy Cochran Shoots, Kills 12-Foot Gator


Livingston, Texas, Mayor Judy Cochran meant business when she took aim on her ranch and killed the alligator she believes killed her mini-horse three years ago. Cochran shot the 12-foot, 580-pound gator within the appropriate hunting season, but she had been keeping an eye on him.

Click2Houston says that Cochran said that she took him down with one shot.

“It’s big. One shot and he went under.”

Several alligators live in the pond on Cochran’s property, but she says that this one, her leading suspect in the death of her mini-horse, stuck out due to his extreme size.

“About three years ago, we came up missing a miniature horse. We highly suspect a gator got it.”

The grandma and mayor explains that out of concern for her family and other pets, the gator had to go, but she had to follow the rules of her municipality, Polk County.

“You can only hunt and kill a gator between Sept. 10 and Sept. 30, and you have to have a permit and a tag.”

Cochran explains that she got all bases covered before she contacted Stephen Moye to help her trap the large gator.

Moye says that they baited the male alligator in a particular way per the local rules.

“I’m a nuisance trapper. In Texas, we have to catch it on a hook and line.”

To aid Cochran, Moye tried several “meals” to tempt the gator out of the pond, but initially, he had no success.

“We tried chicken, we tried pork liver, wild boar, we tried roadkill raccoon. I understand it’s a well-seasoned raccoon that was the bait of choice.”

Cochran wanted to be the one who took the massive gator down, and so Moye called the mayor when he had the big guy on the hook.

“You just can’t abandon your office, so I did those things, ran home, changed clothes.”

The newly minted great-grandmother took the alligator down in one shot and proudly announced her intentions for the trophy.

“This head is going in my office. I became mayor in May, became a great-grandmother on Friday, killed the gator on Monday.”

The Star-Telegram says that the 73-year-old mayor had an audience when she took the kill shot as her son in law, Scott Hughes, stayed in the background as the gator was shot.

“Nana, you better hit him good.”

And she did. The next stop for the alligator is Moye’s taxidermy shop.

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