Post: #1

While reddit is overrun with SJWs, occasionally I read interesting stuff from there. They recently posted about some man in Costa Rica who befriended a crocodile. I read his wiki and it turns out that when his wife complained, he told her to GTFO. He kept the croc, and got a new wife. Game recognized.
Also, there is an amazing documentary about the guy and the croc, definitely worth watching. I included it below.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocho_(crocodile)

Quote:Pocho (crocodile)

Pocho (around 1991 in Reventazón River, Costa Rica – October 12, 2011 in Siquirres, Costa Rica) was an American crocodile who became world famous for his relationship with Gilberto "Chito" Shedden, a local area fisherman. Shedden had found Pocho dying on the banks of the Reventazón River, and took the crocodile in, nursing him back to health. The crocodile refused to return to the wild and chose to stay with Chito instead. The pair became famous after they began performing together.

Dying crocodile is rescued
Shedden, a fisherman, tour guide, and naturalist from Siquirres, Limón Province, Costa Rica, discovered a dying male crocodile in 1991, weighing only a skinny 150 pounds on the banks of the Reventazón River, close to death. Upon closer examination, Shedden discovered the crocodile, shot in the head through the left eye, was alone and helpless. The crocodile had been shot by a local cattle farmer while preying on a herd of cows. Shedden took the crocodile home in his boat. For six months, Shedden fed the crocodile chicken, fish and medicine, sleeping with it at night in his home. Shedden also simulated the chewing of food with his mouth to encourage the crocodile to eat, and gave it kisses and hugs while talking to it and petting it. "Food wasn't enough. The crocodile needed my love to regain the will to live," noted Shedden. He hid the crocodile in an obscured pond under trees deep in a nearby forest until he obtained the necessary wildlife permits from Costa Rican authorities to own and raise the gravely injured crocodile legally.[1]

Crocodile and man form a bond
After the crocodile, named 'Pocho', improved to normal health, Shedden released it to a nearby river to return to its normal life. The next morning, Shedden awoke to find that the crocodile had followed him home and was sleeping on his veranda. Living in the water outside Shedden's home, the crocodile, who made a 'decision' and preferred to spend the rest of his life in Siquirres with the man who saved his life, became a member of Shedden's family, along with his second wife and daughter. Shedden's first wife had left him because he was spending too much time with the crocodile. "Once the crocodile followed me home, and came to me whenever I called its name, I knew it could be trained," noted Shedden. "Another wife I could get. Pocho was one in a million."

Man swims with crocodile
For more than twenty years, Shedden swam with Pocho the crocodile in the river outside his home, mostly at night, talking and playing with Pocho while hugging, kissing and caressing him. Pocho the crocodile would always come to Shedden when his name 'Pocho' was called.

Chito and Pocho go public
For more than a decade, Chito and Pocho performed a weekly act on Sunday afternoons in a 100 square meter artificial lake at Finca Las Tilapias in his hometown of Siquirres, Costa Rica, performing in the water for tourists from around the world, demonstrating the unique and seemingly impossible friendship between man and crocodile.[2] A video documentary was done about Chito and Pocho's friendship 'The Man Who Swims With Crocodiles' [3] which was completed by South African filmmaker Roger Horrocks shortly before Pocho's death. Horrocks speculated in his documentary that the gunshot wound to Pocho's head might have damaged the crocodile's brain, whereby the usual instinctive behavior of the crocodile changed as a result, allowing the crocodile to be susceptible to human emotions when it was rescued from near death. Horrocks, noting examples where humans had been attacked by their Reptilian pets even after ten year relationships or longer, felt Shedden's life was always in danger when he stepped into the water with what seemed to be his loving 'pet', Shedden stated "After two or three years, something could happen, maybe... but after 23 years of loving each other, nothing has ever happened, so I don't think so."

One of Pocho's behaviours was to rush at Shedden with his mouth open when he entered the water, but he would close his mouth before he got too close, allowing a kiss on his snout instead.

Natural death
Pocho died of natural causes in the water outside Shedden's home in Siquirres on October 12, 2011. After the first 'human' style public funeral ever given a crocodile and attended by human friends and admirers, at which Shedden sang to his departed pet and held his 'hand', Pocho, a national treasure of Costa Rican culture, was stuffed. Pocho remains on permanent display behind glass in the Siquirres town museum.[4] Shedden is currently working with a new crocodile named Pocho II. Chito had frequently encountered the crocodile on the river near his house while fishing, and had brought the crocodile food, while the crocodile allowed him to pet it. Although he has made progress in establishing a relationship with Pocho II, the prospects of long-term success remain uncertain, as the circumstances are not the same as his unique special relationship with the original Pocho.[4]

Post: #2

Thank God this was not about an epidemic of ugly bitches wearing those awful crocs.

Fascinating article!

Post: #3

This is fascinating to me. The worst nightmare I have as a scuba diver is encountering a saltwater croc. The fact that some guy can apparently just kick it with a croc of any kind of interesting to me. I really don't think this is some kind of friendship though. This is a cold blooded alien creature who is a vicious predator. A freshwater croc is more chill but I still think it's one of those animals that can turn at any moment.

Post: #4

Meanwhile, his evil twin:

Quote:Florida man arrested for raping an alligator
http://www.sickchirpse.com/florida-man-a...alligator/

Post: #5

(02-14-2016 09:28 AM)Handsome Creepy Eel Wrote:  Meanwhile, his evil twin:

Quote:Florida man arrested for raping an alligator
http://www.sickchirpse.com/florida-man-a...alligator/

Post: #6

(02-14-2016 09:28 AM)Handsome Creepy Eel Wrote:  Meanwhile, his evil twin:

Quote:Florida man arrested for raping an alligator
http://www.sickchirpse.com/florida-man-a...alligator/

Post: #7

Sadly in this article it wasn't (entirely) a case of birds before bitches:

Quote:Ziggy, an eight-year-old African Grey, had provided Chris Taylor with years of companionship until the fateful day when he opened his beak to mimic his owner's girlfriend and squawked out one word: Gary.

Ziggy's obsession with his latest impression grew and he began uttering "Hi Gary!" every time Suzy Collins' mobile phone rang. Chris's suspicions deepened after Ziggy started to make long kissing noises whenever he heard the name Gary on television or the radio.

Things between Chris and Suzy finally came to a head the night Ziggy decided to blurt out: "I love you, Gary" in her voice.

When Chris confronted Suzy about his pet's obsession, she admitted to having had a four-month affair with Gary, a former colleague.

The revelation ended the couple's two-year relationship, but also put paid to Chris and Ziggy's friendship. Unable to bear the verbal taunts of his faithful bird, the 30-year-old computer programmer gave Ziggy to a local parrot dealer and asked him to find him a new home.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/jan/1...es.uknews2

Post: #8

^

Let the story take place in Maine, combine it with Chris doing something unspeakable to Gary in their childhood and end it with him committing suicide by cutting his veins in a rusty bathtub after having been driven insane by the terrifying parrot's accusations, and you would have a good Stephen King short story. Not only inspired by Poe's "The Raven", but also based on real events.

Post: #9

(02-14-2016 09:15 AM)VolandoVengoVolandoVoy Wrote:  

Quote:Pocho (crocodile)
Shedden is currently working with a new crocodile named Pocho II. Chito had frequently encountered the crocodile on the river near his house while fishing, and had brought the crocodile food, while the crocodile allowed him to pet it. Although he has made progress in establishing a relationship with Pocho II, the prospects of long-term success remain uncertain, as the circumstances are not the same as his unique special relationship with the original Pocho.[4]

I'll put a tenner on this ending like Steve Irwin...

Post: #10

What a lovely story, thank you for sharing. I think the guy was reckless though, these predators aren't like dogs, the beast could have turned against him anytime.

Post: #11

A man would actually swim with a dinosaur than live with a woman who nags him. He isn't the first man to do this either.