Man performs with crocodile he rescued

Chito and Pocho are a loving but odd couple who have hardly spent a day apart in the past 20 years.

Pocho refuses to leave Chito's side no matter what and Chito feels things would not be exactly right without Pocho.

The odd thing about this relationship is that Chito is a 52-year-old Costa Rican fisherman and Pocho a deadly 17-foot crocodile.

Chest deep into the water with his 980 pounds mate, Chito plays with Pocho exactly in the same way as if it was a dog. Pocho rolls over, wrestles with him, allows Chito to hug him and even give him affectionate kisses.

The fisherman made friends with the crocodile after finding him with a gunshot wound on the banks of the Parismina river two decades ago. The croc had been shot in the left eye by a cattle farmer and was close to death.

Chito enlisted the help of several pals to load the massive reptile into his boat and brought him home. The fisherman says he he took care of the crocodile for months, even sleeping next to him at night.

Once Pocho recovered from his wound, Chito released him in a lake near his house but he says the animal simply got out again and followed him home.

Still, Chito says it took years before he felt that Pocho had bonded with him enough to get up close and play games with the animal.

Four years ago, Chito showed some of his tricks to friends, including getting the animal to close his eyes on command.

They were so impressed that they convinced him to go public with a show and the couple have been entertaining visitors in Puerto Limon ever since.