Late one afternoon in Costa Rica a farmer discovered a large crocodile near the watering
hole used by his cattle.
Fearing for the safety of his livestock, the farmer shot the crocodile through the left
eye, leaving the crocodile to die of his wounds.
Swimming away from the site of his shooting, the exhausted and mortally wounded crocodile
clambered ashore and lay on the cold mud, preparing to die.
Then, suddenly, a local man named Chito stumbled across the dying beast.
Wary at first, Chito saw that this crocodile was in bad shape- it hardly reacted to his
presence and was a very skinny 150 pounds (69 kg).
Without hesitation, Chito contacted several of his friends and convinced them to help
him load the injured animal into a boat to transport it to Chito's home several miles
away.
For six months Chito hand fed the injured crocodile- now named Pocho- chicken, fish,
and even medicine to help bring back the large beast from the brink of death.
To encourage the five meter long crocodile to eat, Chito even took bites of the same
food he was feeding Pocho and pretended to chew it, then fed it to Pocho by hand.
Chito was feeding Pocho and tending to his wounds, but deep down he felt that this wasn't
enough, that Pocho needed more.
As the weeks passed Chito began to make physical contact with the giant crocodile, at first
petting him but then eventually giving the croc kisses and even hugging it.
Pocho reacted to the affection, quickly making a full recovery from a wound that should have
been fatal.
As Chito would go on to say, “Food wasn't enough.
The crocodile needed my love to regain the will to live.”
For months Chito kept Pocho a secret from local authorities and hid his presence by
caring for the crocodile in a remote pond hidden deep in the Costa Rican jungle.
Eventually though the authorities discovered the strange relationship, but rather than
try to separate the two they issued Chito special permits to keep caring for the croc
and allowed him to do so on condition that an official veterinarian monitor Pocho's health.
Also, Pocho would have to eventually be released back to the wild, something Chito agreed to
despite his growing affection and deep bond with the crocodile.
Chito dedicated the bulk of his life to Pocho's recovery, even going so far as to sneak out
at night and go to the pond that was Pocho's home.
There he would swim with the giant croc in the pitch dark, cuddling with the animal and
napping alongside his prehistoric companion.
When he snuck back home early in the morning he would explain to his wife that he'd been
drinking with friends and fallen into the water.
As Chito's night time excursions mounted though his wife became deeply suspicious of just
how many times he seemed to 'accidentally' fall into random ponds or the river.
At last she had enough and divorced Chito, claiming that he spent more time with the
crocodile then with his family.
She wasn't wrong either, as by now Chito spent nearly every waking moment with Pocho and
sometimes slept with the animal until late in the morning.
Chito would later say of his divorce, “Another wife I could get.
Pocho was one in a million.”
Chito was probably right, as there have never been any recorded accounts of humans living
with a crocodile as intimately as Pocho and Chito's relationship.
The two were a fully bonded pair by now, and despite having the power to easily devour
Chito and rend him limb from limb, Pocho displayed an incredible tenderness with Chito, and even
allowed Chito to lay on him and ride him through the water.
Yet to observers it was obvious that Pocho wasn't just putting up with Chito's antics,
he was actively enjoying them.
Eventually however the day came for Pocho to return to the wild, and with a reluctant
heart Chito led Pocho to a local river and shooed the massive beast away.
Brokenhearted, Chito turned his back on Pocho and the magical relationship the two had formed,
knowing that in the end Pocho would be happier in the wild than in the small pond he'd been
living in since his injury.
Yet the next morning as Chito awoke, he was shocked to discover Pocho asleep outside his
doorstep- the big croc had somehow managed to track Chito for miles through the jungle
all the way back to his home!
More than that, it was obvious that Pocho had made a decision- he wanted to be near
Chito, not alone and living in the wild.
The bond between the two was firmly cemented, and from that day on the duo was completely
inseparable, with Pocho taking up residence in the water right outside Chito's home.
In July of 2000 word of Pocho and Chito's relationship spread across Costa Rica and
Costa Rica's Channel 7 aired a special showcasing the unusual pair.
The duo became instant stars, and visitors and scientists from around the world traveled
to observe and study their relationship.
The two even put on their own act every Sunday afternoon in an artificial lake at Finca Las
Tilapias, drawing packed clouds who couldn't believe a man could not just swim with a crocodile,
but cuddle it, ride it, and even hand-feed it without being devoured!
Scientists took the opportunity to study this incredible relationship, and Pocho and Chito
made modern biologists rethink their assumptions on the behavior and characteristics of an
animal that was for millenia seen as nothing more than a cold-blooded killer.
Reptiles have long been thought to not be particularly nurturing or caring animals,
and certainly nobody ever thought that a reptile was capable of developing as deep a bond and
relationship with the member of another species as say, a dog or cat was capable of.
Our own mammalian bias has for a long time cast reptiles off as uncaring, as emotionally
distant and cold as their blood, but Pocho was living proof that crocodiles could not
just form deep emotional bonds with people, but actually choose that bond over their own
freedom.
All the while Pocho and Chito's relationship blossomed, Chito knew that crocodiles are
capable of living for an extremely long time, sometimes upwards of a century or more.
Chito on the other hand was already in his 50s, and in all likelihood Pocho would outlive
him.
In this case Chito did not want Pocho to live alone, and though he didn't doubt Pocho's
ability to live in the wild, the thought of his best friend living a lonely life was enough
to break his heart.
Therefore Chito began to train his young daughter on how to handle Pocho, gradually acclimating
her and Pocho to each other and preparing her to eventually be Pocho's caretaker after
Chito's death, something she looked forward to eagerly.
Then, tragedy struck.
One morning Chito woke up and strolled outside to greet his best friend, but Pocho was nowhere
to be seen.
Chito checked the water around his home but couldn't find him there either.
Walking to the river where the two frequently played in, he spotted Pocho's large figure
hidden deep in the bushes.
Rushing to his best friend, Chito was dismayed to discover Pocho dead of natural causes.
A relatively young crocodile, Pocho should have lived for decades more, yet ultimately
it's thought that he likely succumbed to the injuries he suffered nearly twenty years ago.
Whatever the cause, Pocho seemed to have known that his death was close, and maybe it was
instinct, but maybe it was the desire to not have his best friend have his heart broken
that led Pocho to try and hide in his final moments.
Given the extraordinary relationship between the two, science now has to consider the possibility
that this five meter long crocodile did just that in order to spare his human friend the
pain of finding him dead.
Will you ever look at crocodiles the same way again?
All are animals capable of these deep emotional bonds, or was Pocho somehow unique?
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