My Friend Pocho, the Alligator

This has got to be the single craziest friendship story and video I’ve ever seen or heard. It’s as cute as it is astounding.

Not many people would dare to get up close and personal with a creature that could easily snap you in half and devour you within seconds. But Chito, known as ‘The Real Crocodile Dundee’, has a highly unusual friendship with a croc he named Pocho after finding him with a gunshot wound on Costa Rica’s Parismina River 20 years ago.

52-year-old Chito considers this 15-foot crocodile his best friend, and they playfully wrestle in the water. But nobody else can get this close — Chito earned Pocho’s trust after bringing the giant crocodile, shot in the left eye by a cattle farmer, into his home and nursing it back to health.

"I stayed by Pocho's side while he was ill, sleeping next to him at night. I just wanted him to feel that somebody loved him, that not all humans are bad,” Chito said.

"It meant a lot of sacrifice. I had to be there every day. I love all animals — especially ones that have suffered."

Over the years, Chito was amazed to discover that Pocho was growing attached to him. The crocodile began to come when Chito called his name, and at one point, when Chito tried to release Pocho into a lake near his house, the crocodile got out of the water and followed Chito home.

Now, Chito and Pocho put on shows for tourists, but Chito doesn’t take much money for them.

"He's my friend, I don't want to treat him like a slave or exploit him. I am happy because I rescued him, and he is happy with me because he has everything he needs."

Fuckin’ awesome. Total WIN for this guy … though, he might wanna think twice should he ever consider introducing Pocho to his other friends or family. Huh.

Fascinating as this is, it also raises questions about crocodilian intelligence, psychology and emotions. I used to believe that only mammals could form emotional bonds that conceivably went beyond animalistic instinct, and that only a comparative small number of creatures could form attachments that we may call “friendships”. I suppose it is now obvious that such thinking is wrong: it’s rather impossible to witness Chito and Pocho wrestling around playfully in the waters, with the croc posing absolutely no violent or threatening moves towards his friend, and not accept that you’re looking at two friends playing about, no different than two young human boys wrestling on the grass, or fox kits jumping around. Quite frankly, this is just amazing.

I’ve heard of people having wolves, boas, tigers and deers for pets, but an alligator? My mind has officially been blown, now.

(via The Daily Grail)
Technorati tags: Chito · Crocodile Dundee · alligators · pets · Pocho