Granny kills gator, 'Don't mess with Nana!'

LIVINGSTON, Texas — The town of Livingston might have some of the toughest leadership in Texas.

Its white-haired mayor may look like a typical grandmother, but this one shot a 12-foot alligator.

Judy Cochran has a class reunion coming up next month. Her classmates she stays in touch with on Facebook are finding it hard to believe the quiet girl in their class of '32 killed the giant gator she posted pictures of.

"'This is what I killed on Monday' [said the post] and several wrote back, 'No you did not.'  I said 'Yes, I did do that,'" said Cochran.

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The alligator she shot weighed 580 pounds and was shot at their family ranch along the Trinity River.

"One shot in the head and he went under. Typically they'll do what they call a death roll and just roll over and over and over. Well, this one didn't," Cochran told KTRK.

Cochran said the gator could be responsible for a missing animal from the ranch. "Three years ago we came up missing a miniature horse, they are about so big, about like a big lab."

Polk County is one of a few core counties where you can only kill a gator 20 days of the year. It must be baited and caught first.

The gator is now at the local taxidermist where its head and tail will be mounted. Cochran says she'll have the body made into boots.

Cochran says you never know where life might take you. The grandmother, traveler and avid Houston Astros fan did something else earlier this year she never thought she'd do by becoming mayor.

The mayor and grandma can add one more title to her resume: Gator hunter.

"I said 'Don't mess with Nana.' My grandchildren call me Nana," said Cochran.

CNN/KTRK