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But in the eyes of reptile rescuer Joey Haney, there’s only one thing:
“Wally Gator” – his “gentle” certified emotional support alligator.
And now Wally is gone – far from home.
While Henny, from northeastern Pennsylvania, was visiting Brunswick, Ga., on April 21, Wally went missing from his outdoor playpen, according to the Wallygator Facebook page.
The Georgia Department of Natural Resources, “authorized to pursue animals, responded to a nuisance alligator call in Brunswick on April 21,” the agency confirmed to CNN in a statement.
The creature was secured and “later released at a remote location,” said the department’s Wildlife Resources Division spokeswoman Melissa Cummings.
“Trapan agent brawling with a pesky alligator was appropriate and routine,” she told CNN.
The department “routinely” gets calls about “nuisance gators,” she said, and refers callers to a licensed gator capture agent, according to its protocols.
Whether the animal released after the April 21 call was Wally, however, remains an open question: The Georgia Department of Natural Resources has no information to confirm that — nor any additional information about Wally’s whereabouts, Cummings said.
A GoFundMe campaign set up by Henney to cover travel, counseling and possible legal and veterinary expenses to “Bring WallyGator Home!” is nearly a third of the way to its $30,000 goal.
Haney did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment on Wally’s disappearance.
Wally is often shown allowing others to pet and hold him, with Heaney telling CNN in 2022, “He shows no anger. He shows no aggression. He hasn’t since the day he was captured. We could never figure out why. “
Henny has had Wally since the reptile was just over a year old and only 50 centimeters long.
He took the creature from Florida, where there is an “abundance of alligators” and they are considered a nuisance and are often euthanized or thrown into captivity, he told CNN.
However, Henney has often received criticism for Wally, he said, because people “don’t know the story behind everything.”
In fact, Wally has provided companionship and support through Henny’s radiation treatment for cancer.
“He’s just attractive,” Haney said.
“He sleeps with me, steals my pillows, steals my blankets. He’s just awesome.”
However, Georgia law allows “only licensed or permitted persons … to keep alligators in captivity,” Cummings said.
“Most native wildlife species cannot be kept without permits or licenses. These licenses are not issued for the purpose of keeping native wild animals as pets.’
And the Peach State isn’t the only place Wally isn’t welcome.
His fame exploded again last year when the gator was denied entry to a Philadelphia Phillies game.
“Wally has been to other baseball games, so we assumed it was all right,” Haney said.
“We never asked or checked with him, but they only allow service animals, like dogs and horses, into the stadium, not (emotional support) animals.”
Similarly, the US Department of Transportation announced in 2020 that airlines “are not required to recognize emotional support animals as service animals.”
The latter is “a dog … trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of a qualified person with a disability,” while emotional support animals are prescribed by mental health professionals to provide comfort and support to their owners, but do not need to be trained for specific tasks.
Henney, at the time of Phyllis’ rejection, made it clear: “There was no disagreement, no argument, no conflict at all. Everything was fine.”
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