Just when you thought you’d seen and heard EVERYTHING …
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| Joie Henney and his buddy "Wally" |
Man Says Emotional Support Alligator Helps His Depression
Associated Press
by Staff
YORK HAVEN, Pa. (AP) — A Pennsylvania man says his emotional support alligator helps him deal with his depression.
Joie Henney, 65, said his registered emotional support animal named Wally likes to snuggle and give hugs, despite being a 5-foot-long alligator. The York Haven man said he received approval from his doctor to use Wally as his emotional support animal after not wanting to go on medication for depression, he told Philly.com .
“I had Wally, and when I came home and was around him, it was all OK,” he said. “My doctor knew about Wally and figured it works, so why not?”
Wally was rescued from outside Orlando at 14 months old and is still growing; Henney said Wally could be 16 feet long one day. Henney says Wally eats chicken wings and shares an indoor plastic pond with a smaller rescue alligator named Scrappy.
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| A sweet cuddly little fellow, isn't he? |
Wally, who turns 4 this year, is a big teddy bear, in Henney’s words. The cold-blooded reptile likes to rest his snout on Henney’s arm, and “he likes to give hugs,” he said.
The alligator has never bitten anyone and is even afraid of cats, according to Henney.
Henney acknowledged that Wally is still a dangerous wild animal and could probably tear his arm off, but says he’s never been afraid of him.
Henney’s background also indicates a comfort with creatures like Wally. He hosted a show called “Joie Henney’s Outdoors” on ESPN Outdoors from 1989 to 2000, according to the York Daily Record .
Henney frequently takes Wally out for meet-and-greets at places like senior centers and minor-league baseball games.
“He’s just like a dog,” Henney told a woman at a recent outing to a senior center. “He wants to be loved and petted.”
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| Who could dare not call it love? |
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Information from: Philly.com,
... There are more things in heaven/ and earth than are included in your philosophy, Horatio ...
ReplyDelete~ Shakespeare - Hamlet
I fear we'll be hearing more stories in the future about this man and his alligators, and they won't be happy ones.
ReplyDeleteNo doubt. A leopard (or scorpion) cannot change his spots (nature).
DeletePerhaps not, FJ, but KIND TREATMENT born of genui[ne altruism obviously CAN influence many living creatures to hnge their tycal BEHAVIOR patterns.
DeleteDo look at the crocodile video just posted at 7:00 AM on 1/26/2019 /thanks to Kid's leading us to it.
SEEING IS BELIEVING.
The croc is just waiting for the day when he grows to a size where he can eat him in one sitting...
DeleteComme tu veux.
DeleteNot sure this is him, but a guy saved a badly injured croc and has been visiting him in the natural habitat ever since.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kid. Not the same guy, and this tme it's a crocodile in the wild not an alligator in a house in Pennsylvania, but it's even more amazing, if that's possible. I've taken the liberty of adding your cintributin to the post. Down deep, spit all the hostility and stupidity, I like to believe that AFFECTION is the most powerful force in the cosmos. From the look of these items I believe it realy could be true. HOSTILITY comes more from FEAR than anything else, –– even though all living things must EAT. };^)>
DeleteI have a great fondness of one particular type of reptile: the box turtle. And box turtles seem to like me, too! As do the big tortoises at the National Zoo.
ReplyDeleteI'm wary of crocs and gators, though. They are predators and meat eaters, and a human being is a piece of meat.
"... a human being is a piece of meat."
DeleteYes –– mong many other things. ;-}
I use to think most people thought life was precious and had at least a bit of common sense.
ReplyDeleteNice to know my premise was incorrect. Good luck fellas.
Life certailny IS precious, Bunker, –– and WONDERFUL –– but no one with any claim to sanity ever could think it was RATIONAL.
DeleteAt first, I thought that man was holding Nancy Pelosi!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the chuckle, Dick, but Nanny Pelousy's not nearly as attractive as Wally the Alligator.
DeleteMy concern is that, due to the fact that Wally can live 60 years, he will be left alone after his human companion dies.
ReplyDeleteAndie! How good to see you here!
DeleteYes, that IS a concern I hadn't thught of. I imagine it would be very hard for Wally to find another human friend who would take him in. Such people must be very rare, ndeed, if not UNIQUE.