Britt Jones
Now, you’ve heard of taking a dog to a ballgame, but what about something a little... scalier?
Pets can come in any shape, size, and breed, but an ‘emotional support alligator’ could seem like a crazy thought to many - if you've ever heard of such a thing.
But this is what Joie Henney, 70, has, and its name is Wally.
Unfortunately, Henney and Walley were caught up in a storm recently when they were turned away from a baseball game in Philadelphia, but the owner is adamant that they were ‘invited’ to the game by the players.
Advert
Speaking to The Independent, he went on to reflect that they could see why Wally was turned away from the grounds during the Philly vs Pittsburgh Pirates, and that there are ‘absolutely’ no hard feelings about it.
The unusual duo have been to many baseball games together, which he spoke to The Guardian about.
He said that Wally was his way of coping with the loss of three family members and four friends in the space of two weeks.
He explained: “My doctor wanted to give me anti-depression medicine and I wouldn’t take it.
"So I went back in a month for another evaluation with my doctor. And he said, ‘What are you doing, Joe? You’re doing pretty good'.
“I said, ‘I’m hanging out with my alligator'.”
This led to the pair becoming inseparable.
Regarding the game, apparently it was all a big misunderstanding.
Henney stated to The Independent that they were both invited by a fan who knew some of the players, as they wanted to meet the two.
As it had been previously reported by US outlets, Wally was turned away because he did not meet the requirements of a ‘service animal’. Henney wants to set the record straight as to why he brought Wally in the first place.
He said: “Everybody thinks I just tried to take Wally to the baseball game. Well, that was only part of the truth.”
“He was invited there by one of his fans, who is friends with the baseball team and their wives and we were supposed to meet before they started the game.
“And a couple of the baseball players wanted to meet Wally and that's why we were there.
“Well, we got there after three o’clock so of course they couldn’t come out and we couldn’t go in. There was no upset, there was no arguing – nothing was done wrong.
“Somebody said they only allow service animals. That’s okay. He is not a service animal, he is an emotional support animal and there’s a difference.
“He’s been to ball games before. We didn’t go there for the intention of going to the ballgame. But that’s what we ended up wanting to do. But when they said no, we didn’t do it.”
Henney said that after being turned away, he put Wally in the boot of his car and arranged to go back when there was no game so that the players and fan could meet the alligator alone.
He wanted to clear up the misunderstanding that he was just 'a jerk trying to take an alligator to a game'.
“We were invited. There’s a big difference. I don’t just do stuff on my own. We were invited.”
Well, that's not something you hear everyday.