Cow-eating alligator the 'size of a car' shot in Florida

A man in Florida has shot dead an alligator the size of a car which he believes was eating his cattle - and the photos of the 15ft reptile have gone viral.

Lee Lightsey, a professional hunter and farmer, killed the animal on a guided hunt on Sunday at Okeechobee. He says it was one of the biggest he has come across in 18 years.

"Although this animal is huge I was not that surprised it existed. We have come across lots over the last 20 years that have been only a little smaller," he told the BBC.

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"But what really drew our attention to this animal was the fact that it seems to have been feasting on the cattle on my farm, because mutilated body parts were found in the water. It was a monster which needed to be removed."

He added that he has killed 5,000 alligators bigger than five feet since 1988, but always "with the minimum of suffering, without allowing them to be injured before they die".

According to Florida's [2] Sun Sentinel newspaper, the animal was so big that photos put on Facebook by Lightsey were at first thought to be Photoshopped. A tractor was required to shift the carcass.

The alligator was "the size of a CAR", The Sun observes. But it wasn't the biggest recorded in Florida. By weight, it is substantially outclassed by a 1,043lb gator harpooned by a trapper near Gainesville in the late 1980s.

Lightsey said he plans to have the hide stuffed and to give the meat to charity. It's likely to be a substantial donation: the Gainesville alligator yielded 294lbs of meat and 15ft of hide, which together had a wholesale value of $2,500 - in 1989.