Justice for Wally.
Last month, 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.
That service animal? An emotional support alligator named Wally.
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.
Well although the two weren’t able to take in a baseball together (which could be why the Phillies lost to the Diamondbacks in the NLCS), Wally finally got his day to take in some sports when he was welcomed to the Wells Fargo Center last night to watch the hockey game between the Philadelphia Flyers take on the Carolina Hurricanes.
And not only did he get to take in the game, but Wally was also spotted hanging out with Flyers mascot Gritty.
It seems like Wally was quite the celebrity around the arena.
It’s just nice to see the emotional support gator finally get to enjoy his day out, taking in some sports like every gator wants.
