A young child in Brazil is today recovering from the tragic loss of his friend Benjy, an alligator who befriended the boy who lived a lonely life near a forest in Brazil.
The child, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had found the alligator behind the sofa in the family's sitting room. Recent floods had brought the reptile into the house. On finding the sad child Benjy gave him a kiss and the boy stroked his glistening back.
A jealous mother snatched her child from the alligator and rang the Police. They sent the Fire Brigade and then the local zoo was called. The alligator specialist was on holiday so a vet was brought in.
Eventually the child and the alligator were parted with both of them in tears, although it was claimed the alligator's tears were, in fact, crocodile tears.
The vet told a local reporter that that alligators rarely eat children for breakfast, prefering cornflakes. However, before the reptile was released into the Amazon river it snapped at the vet's nose, causing a sneeze which resulted in the frightened alligator departing singing Fats Waller's famous song 'The Alligator Crawl'.
