A man saves crocodile’s life, then becomes his best friend.
Gilberto Chito Shedden, a resident of the city of Siquirres in the Limón province of Costa Rica, was earning his living as a fisherman. In 1989, when walking near the Reventazón-Parismina River, he noticed a huge crocodile deeply injured and lying on the river bank.
Gilberto made a decision to save the crocodile’s life, so he lifted the creature weighing as much as 1200lb, put it into a boat and took…home!
For the next six months he has been keeping the crocodile in the pond next to his house and feeding him around 65kg of meat on a daily basis. Chito was saying that food and habitat were not the important factors for the animal’s recovery. “Food wasn’t enough. The crocodile needed my love to regain the will to live,” Chito explained for the Tico Times. “I just wanted him to feel that someone loved him, that not all humans are bad.”
Interestingly, Pacho’s health – this is how Chito called the crocodile – significantly improved during those six months, and when he recovered fully, Chito decided to release the crocodile back into its biological habitat. Pacho did not obey the command; he simply refused to leave Chito’s side. And he did so a few times.
From that moment onwards, Chito and Pacho turned into best friends. Pacho lived in the pond next to Chito’s house for the last 22 years. They became extremely popular in the 2000s, when the duo was featured in a documentary called ‘The Man Who Swims With Crocodiles.’
Chito has never been afraid of Pacho, despite his aggressive appearance and 1200lb weight. The couple was even performing for tourist groups in the pond at Finca Las Tilapias.
Pacho passed away on October 21st, 2011 at the age of sixty. His incredible relationship with Chito, a human being, will forever remain both a mystery and a reality.
