A friend just sent me an email which included this large photograph, purportedly of a crocodile killed in "New Orleans":

The caption read:

This crocodile was found in New Orleans swimming down the street. 21 FT long, 4,500 lbs, around 80 years old minimum. Specialists said that he was looking to eat humans because he was too old to catch animals. This crocodile was killed by the army last Sunday at 3:00 pm, currently he is in the freezer at the Azur hotel. The contents of it's stomach will be analyzed this Friday at 2:30pm.

a survivor (while in the waters) said she witnessed a crocodile eat another human....there are times that I still can't believe what has happened.....

Like denial, the Nile is more than a river in Egypt; it runs through central Africa, and I told the emailer I'd be willing to bet that the men in the picture are from some central African country.

My view found confirmation at Snopes.com:

These photographs actually show a crocodile that was shot and killed on 6 July 2003 at Pointe-Noire in the Republic of Congo. According to an article in allafrica.com, the reptile was a Nile crocodile whose vital statistics fell a bit short of the claims made above: he was estimated to be 50 years old, about 16 feet in length, and about 1,900 lbs. (not quite the 80-year-old, 21-foot, 4,500-pound monster described in e-mail). The local mayor reportedly insisted on preserving the crocodile's carcass against the efforts of locals who wanted to eat it and arranged for it to be shipped to a taxidermist.

And what about the man eating alligators that everybody's been talking about? Why do I keep bringing up this story? Am I stuck on stupid?

Or just stuck on my man eating alligator denial?

Well, with great reluctance, the time has come for me to admit that there's more than one man eating alligator, and probably many more than one reported case.

There! I said it! My denial is over!

In fact, there are plenty of outlets to supply the man eating alligator -- or, for that matter, the many men who eat alligators.

Here's one:

Where's the meat? you ask?

It comes packaged, looking like this:

Of course, there'd be no man eating alligator without the man butchering alligator -- and that spectacle looks like this:

Recipe, you say? I thought you'd never ask!

No more denial about man eating alligators.

But let me make one thing perfectly clear: my coverup is not a croc!

MORE: In case any doubting types remains skeptical about the existence of a man eating alligator, here's the real thing:

More about gator nutritional value:

For health-conscious consumers, alligator meat is an excellent choice. High in protein and low in calories, fat, saturated fat (the one that's bad for you), and cholesterol, alligator offers flavorful, succulent options to the usual dining fare. It also is a superb source of Omega-3 fatty acids, the kind that have people clamoring for salmon and cold-water fish that protect against heart disease.

MORE: In the interest of complete accuracy, it should be noted that there is such a beast as an American Crocodile. But it is an endangered species -- found in this country only in saltier south Florida waters -- and man is not its normal prey:

American crocodiles inhabit areas where fresh and salt waters mix, such as coastal wetlands and canals. They are found in southern Florida, the Caribbean, southern Mexico, and along the Central American coast south to Venezuela.

Decidedly less aggressive than the infamous Nile and Australian crocodiles, American crocodiles are rarely seen by people. They eat a variety of crabs, fish, waterfowl, and small mammals.