WallyGator / Wally the Emotional Support Alligator

About

WallyGator or Wally the Emotional Support Alligator is a registered emotional support alligator from York, Pennsylvania owned by Joie Henney. Wally first gained online fame in January 2019 after several media outlets published stories about him and his owner, later gaining internet renown through dedicated social media pages on Facebook and TikTok. In August 2022, Wally gained further acclaim when he was spotted in Love Park, Philadelphia after posts of him went viral.

Origin

On January 24th, 2019, The Philadelphia Enquirer^[1] published a story about Wally the Alligator and his then 65-year-old owner Joie Henney. The story details how Henney had Wally successfully registered as an emotional support animal to help treat his depression, accelerated by the loss of three close friends in a short span of time, without the use of medication. According to the piece, Wally was rescued just outside of Orlando at 14 months old and his favorite shows are Gator Boys and Swamp People and he also enjoys The Lion King. Global News^[2] reported on the story on January 29th. On that day, the official Wallygator Facebook^[3][4] page opened and posted several photographs of Wally, including several photos of the day the Henney family got him (shown below). On February 11th, the wallygatornjoie Instagram^[5] page then opened.

Spread

On February 16th, 2019, a meet-and-greet with Wally took place, as announced on his Facebook^[6] page. On June 27th, 2019, Inside Edition posted a video to YouTube^[7] where they interviewed Henney and Wally, garnering over 5.3 million views in three years (shown below).

Wally's meet-and-greets and day-to-day life was documented consistently on Facebook and Instagram over the following years. On March 17th, 2020, the Beastly YouTube channel posted a video about Wally and his owner, garnering over 5.5 million views in two years (shown below).

On April 27th, 2022, the @wallythealligator TikTok^[8][9] page opened, posting two videos of Wally. The first shows him walking down the aisle in a tuxedo at what appears to be a wedding, gaining over 110,000 views in four months (shown below, left). The second is a slideshow of Wally meeting with people, garnering over 136,000 views in the same span of time (shown below, right).

On July 1st, @wallythealligator posted a video to TikTok^[10] where Wally swims in the lake with children, garnering over 7 million views in a month (shown below).

August 2022 Love Park Sighting

On August 26th, 2022, Twitter^[11] user @brimil posted a photo of Wally in a splash pad at Love Park, Philadelphia, writing, "This is NOT a drill there is an emotional support alligator in Love Park," garnering over 177,000 likes and 13,900 retweets in four days (shown below).

On August 27th, @wallythealligator posted a video of Wally in the splash pad on TikTok,^[12] garnering over 127,000 views in three days (shown below). The sighting became widespread news and was reported on by Dexerto,^[13] The Philly Inquirer,^[14] the Washington Post^[15] and The Guardian^[16] and more over the following days.

Various Examples

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7125100615985810731

https://www.tiktok.com/embed/v2/7116539488507137322

Search Interest

External References