Pocho had bonded with his savior. Their long nights sleeping with one another, the food and friendship that Chito had provided him, they all added up to a strange bond between man and beast. Chito worked with Pocho for a solid 10 years before he started to become more playful. It was a slow, grueling process and it all started with Pocho getting used to being called by name and responding to Chito’s small touches.
National Geographic
Now, years into their relationship, the two are inseparable. Every day, Chito wades out into the chest-deep green water in his 100 sq/m lake and calls out for his friend, who appears from beneath the murky depths to roll about and play with his keeper. The bizarre ritual has drawn the attention of tourists from around the world…
Every Sunday afternoon for the past few decades, Chito and Pocho have performed a weekly act in his own backyard. The trust relationship between man and reptile is highlighted by the water wrestling, belly rubs, and hand feeding that the two friends engage in during the show. They even made a video documentary about their friendship calls “The Man Who Swims With Crocodiles”.
There is some speculation that the gunshot Pocho sustained may have damaged part of the crocodile’s brain, thereby inhibiting the more aggressive, instinctual tendencies. As a result, Pocho is now more receptive to human emotions than he would have been before the accident. After 23 years of love, trust, and care, there was very little chance that those instincts would ever resurface. Chito was safe with Pocho. Others, however, were not…
At their shows, Chito always makes it clear that his and Pocho’s relationship is about trust between man and crocodile. Others would not be able to swim with the now 1000 lb reptile safely. “He will look me in the eye and he does not attack me,” says Chito at every one of their shows. “It is too dangerous for anyone else to come in the water. It is only ever the two of us.”
