© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Amid the ongoing discussion on Mr Beast’s ‘100 men vs a gorilla’ challenge, a video of a barefoot man wrestling a giant alligator in the median of a busy highway has taken the internet by storm. The incident occurred on Interstate 95 near Jacksonville.
The surreal moment was caught on video and confirmed by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, which teamed up with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida Highway Patrol, and a local alligator wrangler to respond to reports of the reptile wandering between the lanes of I-95 and I-295.
“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 Sheriff’s Office wrote in a Facebook post.
In the now-viral footage, a shoeless man wearing camouflage shorts and a sleeveless camouflage shirt can be seen confronting the alligator using a long pole. As vehicles speed by on either side, the reptile thrashes its tail and snaps its jaws while the man carefully maneuvers it onto the shoulder of the highway. In a tense yet skillful move, he climbs onto the animal’s back to muzzle it.
Eventually, with help from an official, the alligator is lifted off the pavement and loaded into the back of a pickup truck.
“Never in my wildest dreams,” says an off-camera voice in the video, while the gator wrangler laughs.
See here:
The man in the dramatic encounter is Mike Dragich, also known online as the Blue Collar Brawler. A Marine veteran and mixed martial arts fighter, Dragich has gained a large following on social media by sharing videos of himself catching alligators across Florida, often barefoot, USA Today reported.
According to News4Jax, Dragich has become a folk hero for his fearless wrangling skills. His Instagram includes a video posted on April 20 showing him luring an angry alligator into a large trash can, slamming the lid shut as it lunges inside, and then casually wheeling it away. OutKick.com reports he wrestled another alligator on Easter Sunday.
