Latest news with #MikeDragich
Indianapolis Star
12-05-2025
- Indianapolis Star
Florida alligator moves through neighborhood, gets head stuck in lawn chair: Watch video
Ever seen an alligator take on a lawn chair? That's a normal day in Florida. Local authorities, including the Lee County Sheriff's Office, were called to collect a feisty alligator seen picking a fight with an orange lawn chair on a resident's front porch on Friday, May 9. (Spoiler alert: The alligator lost more than the fight.) Footage of the low-stakes battle was captured by the resident's doorbell camera, which shows the gator moving door-to-door in Tortuga, a residential neighborhood in Fort Myers, before it was apprehended by a state alligator trapper. "Knock knock! Your visitor is chomping at the bit to come in!!" the sheriff's office wrote on Facebook. "Our 3rd precinct deputies responded to a call this morning of a suspicious…. Gator knocking on doors within the Tortuga community." The trapper, with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, was able to wrangle the reptile off the porch and into a pickup truck with help from a couple of deputies. "Thankfully, he was secured and handed over to the trapper safely," the post reads. "How's that for taking a BITE outta crime?" Watch: From a loose emu to surfing dog: Watch the biggest animal moments caught on video in 2024 While alligator sightings are fairly common across the Sunshine State, nothing could've prepared state and local authorities in Jacksonville for what they saw go down on April 28. Local agencies, including a local wrangler named Mike Dragich, were on a mission to get an alligator off the streets after the apex predator was spotted in the median of I-95/I-295 in Jacksonville's Southside area. Dragich, who goes by Blue Collar Brawler on social media, was recorded attempting to coax the alligator into submission. Dragich was seen using a pole to engage the gator, who snaps and whips its tail at him in a grassy median as cars speed by on either side. 🚨 Only in Florida… 🚨featuring Mike Dragich. If you were cruising down I-95/I-295 on the Southside yesterday and thought you saw a barefoot man wrestling a giant alligator in the median—nope, your eyes weren't playing tricks on you. That really happened. 🐊😳 Your #JSO joined forces with Florida Fish & Wildlife, the Florida Highway Patrol and none other than local gator-wrangling legend, the Blue Collar Brawler, to wrangle this beast off the road and keep everyone safe. Just another totally normal day in the Sunshine State. 🌞💪 He then wrangles it onto the shoulder of the highway, then sits on its back to muzzle the beast — all while shoeless, wearing camouflage shorts and a sleeveless camo shirt. Dragich and a fellow state alligator trapper lift the gator off the shoulder of the roadway and load it into the back of a pickup truck. "Never in my wildest dreams," an off-camera voice says, as the gator wrangler laughs. 'If you were cruising down I-95/I-295 on the Southside yesterday and thought you saw a barefoot man wrestling a giant alligator in the median — nope, your eyes weren't playing tricks on you. That happened,' the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office wrote in a Facebook post. Alligator mating season typically occurs in May or June, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Yahoo
How Florida Law Makes Gator Encounters More Dangerous
After a 10-foot-long alligator was spotted on the I-95 median in Jacksonville, Florida, law enforcement officers were forced to stand idly by because they lacked the proper permits to remove the gator. It wasn't until Mike Dragich, a Nuisance Alligator Trapper licensed by the state, showed up sporting bare feet and camo accouterments that the alligator was wrestled and captured. While Dragich's wrangling was impressive, the fact that cops had to wait for him to arrive raises the question: Why is alligator management so complicated in Florida? Like other government-sponsored conservation programs, Florida's Alligator Management Program is a bureaucratic boondoggle. The program has five divisions governing gator interactions on private and public land, including the trapping of nuisance alligators like the one wrangled by Dragich. A "Nuisance Alligator Trapper" license, which garners an annual cost of $50, is required before individuals can remove alligators at least 4 feet in length that threaten people, pets, or property—even on privately owned land. And the licenses are limited in availability. Anyone who wishes to assist an alligator trapper has to have a license (a $52 annual fee). Trappers must also carry a harvest permit (an additional $62 annually) specifying how a nuisance alligator can be killed after capture. Additional and separate state licenses are required for alligator hunting, collecting hatchlings and/or eggs, farming, and meat processing. Alligators kept in captivity for educational purposes, exhibition, or sale need yet another license, and keeping an alligator for personal use requires a different pet license. Importing and exporting alligator products is under federal purview. All of these licenses and permits are limited in availability—only 113 trappers were permitted to serve 10,000 nuisance calls across Florida in 2023—and come with their own list of requirements, regulations, and costs. Meanwhile, any killing, possessing, or capturing of an alligator without the appropriate license is a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years imprisonment and up to a $5,000 fine. This complicated web of state regulations stems from the ongoing federal oversight of the American Alligator. Although the reptile has been deemed fully recovered since 1987, today's 5 million gators across Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and parts of North and South Carolina are considered "threatened due to similarity of appearance" under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) because they look similar to the American Crocodile—another threatened reptile—that only inhabits the southern parts of Florida. Under this categorization, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, limits the number of alligators killed by requiring a federally issued tag accompany each harvested reptile. By issuing a limited number of tags, the federal government constrains the alligator market and encourages states to heavily regulate alligator interactions to ensure compliance. While today's healthy number of alligators is often attributed to ESA limitations on commercial trade by federal agencies and certain conservationist groups, state regulations that embraced capitalist principles are what truly drove the population's comeback. Conservation efforts undertaken by the states in the 1960s to simultaneously regulate alligator hunting while incentivizing private land owners to view gators and wetlands as an asset, not a liability, significantly increased the overall population before the ESA took effect in 1973. Listing alligators as endangered under the ESA may have hampered conservation efforts because it prohibited states from setting reasonable hunting and harvesting quotas. It wasn't until the reptiles were reclassified to "threatened due to similarity of appearance" that states were given broader latitude to approach alligator management, including recreational and commercial harvesting. Ultimately, working with, not against, alligator hunters and traders and creating a legitimate market was key to the alligator's stunning comeback. Florida's stable and profitable 1.3 million alligator population stems largely from the state embracing, not limiting, commercial trade. However, Floridians still face onerous obstacles when interacting with the reptiles because of continued federal rules that penalize people and property owners from protecting themselves from gators. The police were able to call Dragich without getting hurt. Not everyone in Florida is that lucky. The post How Florida Law Makes Gator Encounters More Dangerous appeared first on
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Yahoo
Trapper wrestles alligator on Florida highway median
May 1 (UPI) -- A Florida alligator trapper teamed up with local authorities to capture a large alligator in the median of a highway. The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office posted a video to social media showing Mike Dragich, a wildlife trapper known as "The Blue Collar Brawler" on social media, wrestling with the gator in the median of Interstate 95/295 on the Southside of Jacksonville. "If you were cruising down I-95/I-295 on the Southside yesterday and thought you saw a barefoot man wrestling a giant alligator in the median -- nope, your eyes weren't playing tricks on you. That really happened," the post said. Deputies worked together with the Florida Highway Patrol and Florida Fish & Wildlife officials to keep the trapper and drivers safe during the capture. "Just another totally normal day in the Sunshine State," the sheriff's office said. Dragich made headlines earlier in April when he left his family's Easter dinner to capture an alligator that climbed a fence into a Jacksonville woman's back yard. In that incident, he was able to contain the reptile in the homeowner's trash can.
Time of India
01-05-2025
- General
- Time of India
WATCH: Man battles massive alligator with bare feet and a stick; here's the shocking result
In the middle of a week filled with viral challenges and social media stunts, a very real, very risky moment from Florida has taken center stage online. While timelines were buzzing with debates over hypothetical matchups like '100 men vs. a gorilla,' one man was out on a highway, face-to-face with an actual wild alligator– and he was barefoot. The jaw-dropping incident happened on a busy part of Interstate 95 near Jacksonville, where drivers were stunned to spot a large alligator moving dangerously between lanes. What followed wasn't a call to animal control– it was a direct intervention by a man who didn't wait for backup, and the entire moment was caught on video. According to a report presented by the Indian Express, the man in the viral video is Mike Dragich , a Marine veteran and MMA fighter known on social media for dealing with wild animals in Florida. In the clip, he's seen wearing camo clothes and no shoes as he carefully uses a long pole to move the alligator away from the road. The alligator swings its tail and snaps its jaws, but Dragich stays calm. With cars zooming past, he keeps his focus, finally climbing onto the alligator's back and quickly holding its jaws shut. It's a tense but impressive moment. According to the Indian Express report, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office later confirmed the incident with a post that quickly grabbed attention, stating: 'If you were cruising down I-95/I-295 on the Southside yesterday and thought you saw a barefoot man wrestling a giant alligator in the median– nope, your eyes weren't playing tricks on you. That happened.' Watch the video here: According to officials, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida Highway Patrol, and a licensed alligator trapper also responded to the scene. Once Dragich had the animal under control, authorities helped move it safely off the road and into a transport vehicle, the media report suggests. According to the report, Dragich is no stranger to such situations. Known on social media as the 'Blue Collar Brawler,' he frequently shares videos of himself catching and relocating wild alligators across Florida, often without wearing shoes. His hands-on approach and calm demeanor have earned him a large following and respect among locals who have witnessed his rescues firsthand. As the alligator is loaded into the back of a pickup truck, someone in the video says, 'Never in my wildest dreams,' while the alligator wrangler laughs. It's a moment that shows both relief and surprise from those watching.
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Yahoo
Barefoot Florida Man Wrangles Alligator Off Interstate
A barefoot Florida man was seen wrangling an alligator off Interstate 95 near Jacksonville, Fla., on Monday, April 28. The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office posted a video of Mike Dragich, also known as the Blue Collar Brawler on social media, wrestling the giant alligator in the median of I-95/I-295. The sheriff's office worked with Dragich, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Florida Highway Patrol to remove the reptile from the road. 'If you were cruising down I-95/I-295 on the Southside yesterday and thought you saw a barefoot man wrestling a giant alligator in the median — nope, your eyes weren't playing tricks on you. That happened,' the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Facebook post read. In the video, a barefoot Dragich used a pole to engage the alligator. After the animal snapped and whipped its tail, Dragich wrangled the gator onto the shoulder of the highway. He then muzzled the animal, all while cars sped past him in both directions. Related: Expert Advice on How to Survive an Alligator Attack Dragich and another responder moved the animal off the highway shoulder and put it into the back of a pickup truck. "Never in my wildest dreams," an off-camera voice said, as Dragich, who's dressed in an all-camouflage outfit, just laughs and shouts in excitement. Dragich later posted the same video to his Instagram account, which has a total of 381K followers. 'Why did the alligator cross the road? 🐊‼️⚠️,' he jokingly captioned the video. Related: 84-Year-Old Describes Surviving Alligator Attack While Walking Her Dog: 'Didn't Have Time to Think' Alligators are common in the South, from Florida to southern Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama, North and South Carolina, according to Defenders of Wildlife. Alligator attacks, especially unprovoked attacks, are relatively rare since the animal is naturally afraid of humans, according to the experts at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. It is advised never to approach alligators, regardless of size, or feed the wild animals. In potentially alligator-infested areas, always keep a close eye on your surroundings and dispose of food scraps safely. If you do see an alligator, keep your distance. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Representatives for Mike Dragich, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Florida Highway Patrol did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for more information on Wednesday. Read the original article on People
