The Herndon family went crabbing but caught more than just crab.
Taking the family crabbing was supposed to be a fun experience. Josh and Brooke Herndon took their three children, ages 12, 9, and 6, to Cheraw Landing for a little family time and crabbing. Baiting the net with chicken, they had planned on catching a nice haul of crab. Instead of catching crab, they caught a large gator trying to steal the chicken bait.
“When we drove up, we could see an alligator in the water. But we baited our crab net anyway,” said Brooke. “When we pulled up the net, we caught a gator trying to get to the raw chicken.”
Josh ended up in a tug of war with the gator. Thinking that maybe the reptile was gone, they tried to cast the crab net again, but this time the gator won. He stole the chicken and was joined by another gator. One was 8 feet long, and the other was 10 feet long. The Herndons felt that by then they had experienced enough warring with two huge alligators
“Our children were frightened by them. The gators harassed us to the point that we finally had to leave,” Brooke added.
The Herndons posted a video of the experience on Facebook. Amazingly, it recorded over six thousand “likes”, one of whom was Charleston weatherman icon Bill Walsh. The video has since ended up on YouTube.
The family is surprised by the attention. “We have received so many “likes” on Facebook,” said Brooke. But in spite of word getting out, she also plans to contact DNR and report the dangerous behavior of the gators.
