Hunter Catches 800lb Gator in Fla. Pond

An alligator hunting company found one of the biggest alligators you'll ever see, caught by Outwest Farms owner Lee Lightsey in a pond on his ranch in Okeechobee, Fla., CNN reports. Lightsey says he was out hunting that day with his 9-year-old son, a guide, and two other hunters when they spotted the creature—said by the Lightseys to be almost 15 feet long and weighing in at more than 800 pounds, per Fox 13—in one of the ponds that their cattle drink from.

Lightsey shot the gator as it started to emerge from the water about 20 feet away, and they used a tractor to drag it out of the pond, the New York Daily News reports. "We determined that he was in fact attacking our livestock as they came to drink," Lightsey says. The image of his son, Mason, posing next to the alligator has gone viral, already shared nearly 6,000 times on Facebook alone. "It is hard to believe that something this big exists in the wild," the guide who was on the hunt tells Fox 13. The farm says the alligator meat will be donated to charity, and the gator stuffed and displayed at future hunting shows. (Maybe the beast kept burglars at bay.)