If he were a fan of a Florida team this probably would have worked.
A Pennsylvania man was turned away from a Philadelphia Phillies game when he showed up at Citizens Bank Park to watch the game with what he claimed was his service animal. But unfortunately he was denied entry – because that service animal was an alligator.
The man is alligator expert Joie Henney, and he’s gone viral before with his bizarre service animal.
Henney found the alligator, which he named Wally, in a pond in Disney World. And since it’s illegal in Florida to relocate alligators to another spot in the wild, Henney decided to take him back home to Hershey, Pennsylvania with him.
Wally lives on a diet of Cheetos and chicken, and Henney says that he’s the first alligator he’s ever encountered that refuses to bite:
“I’ve never met an alligator that will not bite you. You fool around [with their head], their instinct is to grab you.
He does not do it. You can reach in there and rub his tongue. He refuses to close his mouth. We don’t know why.”
And the man says that Wally’s more than a pet: He really is an emotional support alligator.
“I’d lay on the couch, and I’d wake up and he’d be laying on my head. And I knew it was for a long period of time because I had his whole jaw print on my face…
I’ll get lonely and stuff like that and he seems to sense that stuff and he’ll come up and he’ll give me a hug,”
Henney walks Wally on a leash just like a dog, and the gator even served as a ring bearer at his wedding.
But apparently they’re not going to be able to take in a Phillies game together…
