That alligator in Love Park is actually an emotional support animal

Other cities may contend with the urban legend that alligators plague their sewer systems. But in Philly, we have them in our parks.

Or, at least in Love Park.

On Friday, visitors to the popular Center City tourist spot got a glimpse of a real, live gator perusing the park, complete with a leash. But it wasn’t a wild animal, a YouTube prank, or a Lacoste publicity stunt.

» READ MORE: The emotional support alligator that helps a York County man deal with depression

It was an emotional support alligator. That is, and we cannot stress this enough, not a joke.

As it turns out, that cosmopolitan crocodilian was actually WallyGator, an actual, legitimate emotional support animal owned by Jonestown resident Joie Henney. And he has a social media following — particularly on TikTok, where the WallytheAlligator account has racked up more than 718,000 likes at 71,000 followers.

So, think of him like social media star Noodles the pug, only with you constantly praying for a “no bones” day.

Henney took WallyGator to Love Park on Friday, and caused a ruckus on social media. But their relationship goes back much further than that, the Washington Post reports.

The pair first got together in 2015, when a Florida friend asked Henney if he was able to shelter a few gators rescued from a pond in Orlando. For some reason, he said yes, and took in three gators, but ultimately sent two of them to New York and New Jersey. He kept WallyGator, who was then just 14 months old.

“I bonded with him and was committed to caring for him,” Henney told the Post. This gator, he said, was different, noting that WallyGator refused to eat live rats, and really enjoyed a bag of cheese popcorn.

WallyGator ultimately came to follow Henney around his home, and enjoyed being held and cuddling on the couch. As Henney told The Inquirer in 2019, his doctor at one point wanted to put him on depression medication following the death of three friends, but Wally seemed to fill the void — and, ultimately, the physician approved of Wally’s role as an emotional support animal.

“My doctor wanted to put me on depression medicine, and I hate taking medicine. I had Wally, and when I came home and was around him, it was all OK,” said Henney, who was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer and is undergoing radiation treatment. “My doctor knew about Wally and figured it works, so why not?”

Not that this requires a source, but alligators can be deadly animals, and often don’t make good pets, a National Geographic article from 2020 notes. Between 1948 and 2018, Florida reported 410 unprovoked bites and 25 fatalities involving the animals. And in July, two alligators killed an 80-year-old woman after she fell into a pond at a golf course in the state.

Henney acknowledged in his Inquirer interview that Wally is still a wild animal. But, as the Post reports, Wally has never bitten anyone, and Henney always asks permission before taking him somewhere.

”He has never tried to bite no one,” Henney told The Inquirer in 2019. “I don’t push him on to people. I tell people to respect him, not fear him. He will not hurt you.”