Here is a story about a tough great granny in Texas: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ther-kills-12-foot-gator-one-shot/1354201002/
But it's not the alligators fault that it ate her horse... I can see shooting it if it was going to eat her. I just skimmed the story so disregard what I said if that's the case.
acccch I don't believe it ate her horse...I think she's just a bragging animal trophy hunter. She want the hide for boots and the head to hang on her wall?... and she's gonna eat the meat?...really?.. she's gonna eat the meat of the animal that supposedly killed her horse? Transpires even her 5 year old grandson shot an alligator too.. *ugh*
It was a miniature horse. Some of those are not much larger than a goat, or medium sized dog; so it is entirely possible that the gator ate the mini-horse. Also, it does not mention the age of the horse, so it might have even been a foal at the time it disappeared. That being said, it is also possible that some other predator killed and ate the little horse. It looks to me like this whole thing was set up for publicity, since she had to be notified that there was an alligator in the trap, and the whole shooting was on video. Maybe she is up for re-election this November ?
But we shoot predators here, too, if they eat our livestock. I just found it remarkable at her age that she was shooting predators larger than herself.
I totally agree with shooting predators, when they are a danger to your livestock, or especially your little pets and chickens. This seems to me to be a different thing, in some respects. It is possible that this alligator, ar at least one of the alligators on the ranch property might have killed the little horse. According to the information about this woman, they own a huge ranch, as well as local businesses in the town of Livingston; so they are a well-known local family, and several in her family have been involved in running the town. There are lots of alligators in the property, and on a ranch that size, I would guess that there would be other predators, coyotes, probably wolves, maybe eagles. Anything could have gotten that pony, and since no trace was found, it might have even been stolen, who knows ? But, back to the oversized alligator.....it was caught on a big hook. It couldn’t hurt her, couldn’t get away; so there was not much danger for her when she shot it. She had hired someone to trap it for her, and then she came and shot it in the head so she could have a picture of her doing that.
For sure, NOT ! ! But she has lots of alligators, and apparently they catch them on hooks and shoot them all of the time; so it’s hounds like they are trying to thing them down some. I was not suggesting that she should let the alligators go around killing things, just that it was not such a big deal that she shot it.
That would depend on how big of a yard I had. I don't mind having bears in my yard, so long as it's a 100-acre yard.