Emotional Support Alligator Makes New Friends At Assisted-Living Facility

YORK, Pa. (CBS Local) — Meet Wally, a four-and-a-half foot long emotional support alligator with razor-sharp teeth who likes to make new friends. Wally belongs to Joie Henney, host of Joie Henney's Outdoors, a hunting and fishing show that ran from 1989 until 2000 on ESPN Outdoors, Fox and other outlets.

Henney recently took Wally, on a leash, to the Glatfelter Community Center at the Village at Sprenkle Drive, an assisted-living development north of York, Pennsylvania. Henney told them his gator has never bitten at anyone and is even afraid of cats, the York Daily Record reported.

"I'm not scared of snakes," one woman said as she cautiously approached to have her picture taken with Wally, "but that thing has a lot of teeth."

"He's just like a dog," Henney told her. "He wants to be loved and petted."

Henney says he got Wally about three years ago after a friend rescued him in Florida. Wally was part of a congregation of gators that was to be destroyed to make room for a development.

Wally was just a pup at the time, about 14 months old and about a foot and a half long. After a few months, he started to become domesticated. Now, Wally lives with another gator in a 300-gallon pond Henney built in his living room.

Wally loves to watch TV and lay down on the couch or bed.

"They aren't for everyone,"Henney said. "But what can I say? I'm not normal."