Animal lovers fume at viral video of George the alligator trying to eat drone
A TikTok video posted earlier this week has gone viral on social media and has made many people, especially animal lovers and conservationists upset. In the video, one can see the moment when a Florida alligator, who is referred to as 'George' by the TikToker, caught and subsequently attempted to eat a drone. Such fury has the now-viral video sparked that many angered viewers said they have reported the creator to local authorities.
Posted by TikToker @devhlanger, the video was initially broken into two parts with the first part being shared on August 22. It shows how George the alligator catch the drone mid-air and brought it down into the water. The video's captions read, "Trying to get a close up of this alligator in the Everglades ... wait till he chews through the drone's battery."
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As the gator begins to chew on the drone, in the background, the creator can be heard screaming, "oh my god he's eating it." The video has amassed nearly 300,000 views. The second part of the video, which was posted on Monday, August 30, had the description, "Part 2 of the alligator eating my drone." In this video, smoke begins to blow from George's mouth as he attempts to eat the device.
At this point, the TikToker laughs as someone calls the alligator an "idiot," and another unidentified voice says, "Oh s**t we gotta get out of here." While the TikToker says the incident took place in the Everglades, they also claim it occurred in an area that is not controlled by the National Parks Service, where there is an anti-drone policy.
Because part two gained so much traction (3.3 million views), the creator combined both parts of the video into one, and posted that to their page. "Videos combined," the captions read. "We were trying to get a close up of the gator with its mouth open and thought the obstacle avoidance would make the drone fly away (was only our second time using the spark)."
The TikToker claimed in the comments section of "part 2" that the incident took place outside of the national park. "This is outside a national park... this is on a tour... I'm clearly filming the drone x flying the drone... [it was] accidental... direct your anger towards alligator farms."
In the state of Florida, it is illegal to intentionally injure or kill, or attempt to injure or kill an alligator. The TikToker states in their comments that the incident was accidental. The creator further explains in the video's description that "George is doing fine and still looked hungry after." The combined video has been viewed more than 122,000 times on TikTok and was re-posted to YouTube. From there, the YouTube video has been shared by Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet.
Many on social media were angry about the video. Many commenters pointed out that drone use is illegal in Everglades National Park. "No, drones and other unmanned aircraft are not allowed in the park, or any other National Park Service site," Everglades National Park says on its website. "This includes model airplanes, quadcopters, etc."
"The fact that they're laughing at it," said one user commented on the video, adding, "Poor animal. Why would you fly that close?" One user agreed that the incident is anything but comical, "Not funny at all the smoke comes from the lithium battery."
On Twitter as well, people slammed it. "Not cool! Alligator thought it was a bird and any intelligent human would know this is wrong," one wrote. Another added, "That is so sad! Not cool at all."
Not cool! Alligator thought it was a bird and any intelligent human would know this is wrong. https://t.co/XDlYWaIAPA
— PRINCE RAMSES 🛸🤴🏽 (@imthedronelord) September 1, 2021