A female hunter has caught a record-breaking 13ft alligator in a
Mississippi river.
Tiffany Wienke had only been hunting the animals twice before
she snared the beast, which weighed a huge 311kg (49st), on
Saturday night.
She was with a party of six, who had been searching the waters
for 20 hours, when they ran into the 13 feet and 7/8 inch-long
alligator at Bayou Pierre.
The creature is just one-eighth of an inch longer than the
previous record.
Tiffany told MS NEWS : "He ran us - literally crashed us into
some trees, and bank-to-bank.
"He was pulling this boat full of people like it was
nothing."
She said that to get the alligator in the boat its head had to
be curled up in one corner with its tail reaching all the way up to
the other side and resting up on the opposite deck.
She added: "We're completely content with the fact that this
will probably be the biggest alligator that we'll ever catch."
The Mississippi Department, Fisheries and Parks have encouraged
hunters to continue searching the waters for more alligators
despite the record-breaking find.
They confirmed the record on their Facebook page.
Writing a post, it said: "New record length male alligator on
public waters taken by the hunting party of Tiffany Wienke from
Vicksburg, MS. It beat the previous record by just 1/8".
"The alligator measures 13' 7 7/8" and weighed 686 lbs with a
belly girth of 59" and tail girth of 43".
It was taken from Bayou Pierre in the SW Zone."
