A Man and his Croc

Thanks to Karin Montin for the link.

globeandmail.com: SOCIAL STUDIES

Every Sunday, Gilberto Shedden of Costa Rica dons a tattered pair of leopard-print shorts, dives into a lake and splashes about in the water with his 4 ½-metre crocodile Pocho, to gasps from a large crowd of locals and tourists. Mr. Shedden, Reuters reports, rolls the croc on his back, cavorts with him, lifts his toothy head out of the water and even kisses him tenderly on the snout. Seventeen years ago, the fisherman found the then-2-metre American crocodile lolling about in a river with a bullet in its head. He brought it home and nursed it until it was better, then took it to a lake near his house. But to his surprise, it slithered out and followed him home. "That convinced me the crocodile could be tame," he said.