Man's emotional support animal helps him with depression. It just happens to be a 5-foot-long alligator.
Emotional support animals provide comfort, and, according to medical professionals, benefits for a person who may experience mental health conditions or emotional disorders. People who suffer from anxiety, major depressive disorder or panic attacks qualify for emotional support animals. Typically, the animal is a dog or a cat. In the case of one Pennsylvania man, it’s a 5-foot-long alligator.
Joie Henney, 65, says his emotional support alligator helps him deal with his depression, which occurred after the death of three close friends. He has received the thumbs-up from his doctor to use his alligator, Wally, as an alternative way to help with his depression.
“I had Wally, and when I came home and was around him, it was all OK,” Henney told Philly.com. “My doctor knew about Wally and figured it works, so why not?”
Wally, who enjoys chicken wings and shares an indoor plastic pond with another, smaller rescue alligator named Scrappy, was rescued by Henney when he was just 14 months old. And, despite being cold-blooded, Wally is warm-hearted when it comes to his owner.
The 60-pound alligator, who turns 4 this year, is a big teddy bear, according to Henney, and has never bitten anyone. On top of that, he’s afraid of cats.
Henney, who hosted ESPN Outdoors’ Joie Henney’s Outdoors from 1989 to 2000, often takes Wally out to meet-and-greets at senior centers or minor-league baseball games. “He’s just like a dog,” he told one woman at a senior center. “He wants to be loved and petted.”
Although Henney acknowledges that the reptile could tear his arm off, so far Wally has proven to be nothing but loving.
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