Drone battery explodes in the mouth of an alligator, video resurfaces

Leave it to humanity to do something so stupid that it ends up viral on social media, twice. A recent video resurfaced and has gained recent hype for obvious reasons; the video showed an alligator snatching a drone in the air before exploding.

First and foremost, DroneDJ doesn’t condone any acts that harm wildlife. Acts like these are why drone laws are so restrictive and likely should require more restrictions on who can fly a drone.

A video posted by Instagram drone page @droneshakk shows a “crocodile” eating a drone, which has reached over 11 million views. The sad and disturbing part of the video is that the drone begins to smoke and explode due to the animal’s teeth penetrating the lithium-ion battery.

Sadly, this is not the first time we’ve seen drone users harass animals with their drones. Also, this isn’t the first time this video has gone viral; we actually reported on it all the way back then.

This video actually dates back to October of 2021 and was originally posted as a two-part video on TikTok. And to just clear things up, the reptile in question was not a crocodile but an alligator that was just minding its own business in the Florida Everglades.

The original poster has since wiped any reference to the video from their profile. However, the video has been re-uploaded over the years, most recently to Instagram.

So is there any new update on what happened? Newsweek’s story back in 2021 shared that the user who posted the video did not seem to feel the same sentiment that much of the drone community felt after seeing the video – which was outrage.

While the user stated the incident took place in the Everglades, which is mostly controlled by the National Wildlife Service, it was on a plot of land that was outside NWS control. This also meant that the drone ban in place at Everglades National Park was not enforceable.

Although there is a law on the books in Florida about intentionally killing or harming an alligator, no reports since the incident show any charges being brought against the drone user.

The drone in question was a DJI Spark, a discontinued entry-level drone that carried a 1480 mAh battery. The Spark has since been replaced with the Mini SE as the budget beginner drone from DJI.

Well, there you have it; while the video is old, the negligence is still very much real. And something is to be said for reposting such a video for views. It was wrong in 2021, and it’s still wrong.