In the latest installment of social media "influencers" ruining everything, an alligator was likely severely harmed after a TikTok influencer harassed it with a drone to the point that the animal literally jumped out of the water to snatch the device, causing the drone's battery to explode in its mouth.
First found by PetaPixel, the video shows a TikTok influencer, Dev H Langer, harassing the animal in the Florida Everglades by flying a DJI Spark just a few feet above it. Unsurprisingly, a wild animal does not respond well to a strange object buzzing over its head, as shown when the alligator leaps out of the water, grabbing the drone and biting it, causing its battery to explode in a cloud of white smoke. A lithium-ion battery fire releases both high levels of heat and poisonous gas, and there is a good chance that the animal suffered burns from the incident if not a worse fate.
It's also worth noting that harming or killing an alligator is a third-degree felony in Florida, though Langer seems unrepentant, writing in the comments: "1) this is outside national park 2) this is on a tour 3) I’m clearly filming the drone and flying the drone 4) accidental 5) direct your anger at alligator farms."
No word yet on if Langer will face legal consequences for her actions.
Too bad she didn't jump in to try to save her drone.
Against stupidity even the gods fight in vain.
The problem is that the chemicals of the battery and the plastics perhaps they will kill the alligator...
I would really like to see the close-up footage that she got of the 'Gator ... but I guess that was destroyed. Bummer.
Really??? That’s what you’re interested in seeing?? No comment about this $&!?@ behaviour being reprehensible??
For F sakes…
Yes, really. I am very interested in seeing that footage that she captured, and I am not at all interested in putting her down for her behaviour.
I suspect this is not the first time that she has used a drone in this manner to record wildlife. I would be interested in seeing other footage that she has gotten over the years. Think I'm going ot Google her and see if I can find somewhere online to watch her content. If she has a lot of video of wild animals that are native to North America, then I will be very interested in watching her stuff, and learning more about the animals from the footage that she captured.
Then you're condoning animal harassment and cruelty, what a jerk.
What she did was clearly intentional and should have consequences. It's people like her who make it nearly impossible for people like us to enjoy flying drones, without severe restrictions.
As writer Harlan Ellison once noted, "the two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity".
Hopefully, someone will forward the video to the FAA and Florida Dept Natural Resources. They will both fine her for harassing wildlife. Anything that upsets the animal is illegal harassment.
This is why it’s illegal to fly drones in a National Park. It’s supposed to be one of the few places left where animals can live without being harassed by humans. She should be heavily fined, never be allowed to fly a drone again and she should be banned from all National Parks for life. What an absolute moron!
This was not in a National Park. Of course, that doesn't make it okay for her to do. But from the way you wrote your comment it seems like you thought she did this in a National Park.
People like this burn me up because this is the act of one stupid <insert derogatory adjective of choice here> that should be held accountable for her reckless stupidity, but now the ENTIRE drone-flying community will be painted by the same brush, it always does after a stupid high-profile incident like this.
Despite everything we’ve seen happen in the last 18+ months, I can still be astonished by the level of stupid some people can display, reprehensible!
I agree with you 100%. People like her are single handedly going to get the entire drone hobby either banned, or restricted beyond belief.
I’m going to take the opposite side of this argument. People hunt alligators. People put chickens on a hook and let gators swallow it and then come back days later and pull the gator out while it’s still alive with a hook stuck in its stomach.
This girl was getting a close video clip of a gator like every other animal Video we praise. It just so happens this gator ate it. I’m sure the gator is fine.
It’s so strange that people are outraged over “tormenting” an animal with a toy helicopter but have no problem torturing these same animals for sport or food.
Lee Morris,
I am totally with you on this.
There are even reality TV shows about guys hunting and killing as many Alligators as they possibly can in a given time period, and millions of people are entertained as they watch the show and root for the show hosts to kill more Alligators.
Millions of Floridians consider Alligators a nuisance species whose population is out of control and they want vast numbers of Alligators to be culled (hunted and killed) so that the Alligator population can be restored to a reasonable balance with what the habitat will support.
And yet people commenting here are outraged that a woman inadvertently caused an Alligator to have a bit of a toothache for a few minutes.
Sheesh!
I consider all animal cruelty and try to be outraged accordingly. I'm not going to cry for this alligator while others are literally being tortured for sport and entertainment. I'm not going to act like a gator eating a toy helicopter is as bad as raising millions of cows to live horrendous lives so that I can eat a burger whenever I want or torturing baby cows so that I can eat veal. People are upset this alligator had a smoking battery in its mouth for a few seconds while people are literally bombing feral hogs for the fun of it. Where is the outrage?
You think that I'm being cruel towards animals but I'm simply trying to be consistent. Almost everyone who pretends to be outraged over this alligator or Cecil the lion is actively supporting the most horrendous animal torture by buying meat and animal products.
If you're a vegan, then you have the right to be upset by this video, but even if you truly care about alligators, I don't think this girl is their biggest threat.
This is a rather cheap provocation. Your assumption the people are outraged over this while having no problems torturing these animals is simply wrong. It's adolescent asshole argumentation.
--- "It’s so strange that people are outraged over “tormenting” an animal with a toy helicopter but have no problem torturing these same animals for sport or food."
If you post such videos on here I guarantee folks will react the same way. I'm not sure how you came to the conclusion that we wouldn't.
Lee, while I appreciate that you take the point of devil's advocate, your argument just falls short. Just because somebody is an even bigger asshole by torturing and killing animals doesn't justify the actions of this drone pilot.
Harassing wildlife is morally wrong and illegal. Raising cattle for beef is not the same. The undercover news videos showing the bad practices of a few ranchers/ slaughterhouses are not reflective on the industry as a whole. Same applies here. Trying to equate these is immature and is poor reasoning.