US Man: 'Help Me Find My Emotional Support Alligator'
A man from the US who says an alligator named Wally has helped relieve his depression for nearly 10 years says he is searching for the reptile after it went missing during a vacation.
Joie Henney has thousands of social media users following his pages devoted to Wally, the cold-blooded animal that he calls his emotional support alligator.
He has posted photos and videos online of people hugging the 1.7-meter alligator or petting it like a dog. Wally's popularity reached new heights last year when the alligator was not allowed into a Philadelphia Phillies baseball game.
Now Henney said he is distraught after Wally disappeared while accompanying him on an April vacation in the port city of Brunswick, Georgia.
He said he thinks someone may have stolen Wally from the outdoor enclosure where it spent the night.
"We need all the help we can get to bring my baby back," Henney said in a video posted on TikTok.
Henney, who is from Pennsylvania, has previously said he first got Wally in 2015 after the alligator was rescued in Florida at the age of 14 months.
Henney told The Philadelphia Inquirer in 2019 that Wally helped with his depression following the deaths of several close friends.
He told the newspaper that Wally has never tried to bite anyone.
No one has filed police reports about the missing alligator in Brunswick and the surrounding area, according to local police.
The Georgia Department of Natural Resources confirmed that a person in the Brunswick area reported seeing an alligator on April 21 — the day Henney said Wally went missing — and that someone was sent to capture it.
The agency said that the alligator was "released in a remote location," but that it didn't know if the reptile was Wally.
