Mike Dragich, a mixed martial arts fighter from Florida, managed to subdue and control an alligator eight feet long in Northside Jacksonville. The sheriff’s department called Dragich, a certified alligator trapper and former service member, in response to an alligator nuisance, even though he was missing his trapping gear. He took his quickness and power to a nearby shopping center, where he confronted the howling beast.
As the alligator cautiously crossed the road, the trapper followed closely behind, capturing the scene on tape.
As Dragich tried to grab the giant alligator by the tail, the animal viciously attacked him in the footage. The alligator frantically swung in circles, attempting to elude its captor, while the local veteran delicately positioned the loop at the pole’s tip around its neck. Despite the catch pole around the alligator’s neck, Dragich gallantly leaps upon its shoulders and settles down to calm it.
He pressed his neck against the gator’s neck. The teeth of the enraged alligator were exposed as it hissed. Dragich forcefully pressed down on its head to flatten the alligator’s nose on the ground. Dragich taped the gator’s mouth with deft accuracy to seal its jaws.
Dragich boldly marched along the highway, carrying the wiggling beast. The streets were crowded with curious onlookers who wanted to see the famous local hero. After receiving a distress call from the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office about an alligator, the FWC sent Dragich to the scene. A violent alligator was brought to Dragich’s attention in June of last year so that he could safely remove it from a Jacksonville elementary school parking lot.
Project Savior Outdoors, a charity that Dragich founded to provide getaways for war veterans to fight suicide, significantly benefited from his notoriety. Using outdoor activities as a weapon against post-traumatic stress disorder and veteran suicide is a central tenet of their mission statement.
