BRUNSWICK, Ga. — A famous emotional support animal has gone missing in Georgia, with its owner and handler believing it was stolen.
Wally the emotional support alligator has roughly 170,000 followers between TikTok and Instagram, beloved in part for giving hugs and kisses, according to USA Today.
In a TikTok message posted two days ago, his owner and handler Joie Henney said Wally had been taken from his enclosure where they stay with friends in the Brunswick, Georgia area.
"I'm Wally Gator's dad. Between 4:30 a.m. and 7 a.m. someone came in and stole Wally, he is missing," Henney said. "He was taken out of enclosure while we were visiting friends in Georgia. We need all the help we can get to bring my baby back."
Henney is offering a reward for the gator's return "no questions asked."
A Facebook post on the Wallygator page alleged Wally was "stolen by some jerk who likes to drop alligators off into someone’s yard to terrorize them." It said Henney and his supporters were in contact with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources after, they said, an agency trapper had been called to pick up the alligator and then took Wally to a swamp with about 20 other gators.
Georgia DNR said in a statement that on April 21, in accordance with protocol an alligator call was referred to a trapper in Brunswick and that the alligator was "released in a remote location."
"The swamp is very large and the trapper said the chances of them finding Wally is slim to none. But this is Wally….. Joie and friends are currently headed to the swamp to search and will continue daily," the post said. "... Please continue to pray because we need a miracle."
Further updates said they haven't yet been able to get an exact location for where Wally was released into the swamp.
"All we know is that it was private property not the swamp area we were originally told," that post on Sunday added.
In the most recent update, on Monday, they said they were still "desperately trying to obtain even an appropriate location."
"The agent trapper’s handling of a nuisance alligator was appropriate and routine. We have no information confirming whether this is the same alligator that is being reported as stolen/missing (aka 'Wally'). Additionally, we have no further information about the reported stolen/missing alligator," DNR said in the agency statement.
An agency spokesperson also said that to their knowledge, they have not directly been contacted by Henney himself. You can see the full statement at the bottom of the story.
Henney again posted to Tik Tok on Tuesday morning, addressing questions of whether Wally had simply dug out of his enclosure.
He said the fencing goes two feet deep into the ground and that Wally has stayed in the enclosure whenever they've visited south Georgia across the last couple years.
"He can't get out of here," Henney said.
11Alive reached out Tuesday morning to Georgia DNR for any possible additional information about Wally's case.
Full Georgia DNR statement
Georgia Department of Natural Resources offices routinely receive calls about nuisance alligators. Those callers are referred to a permitted alligator agent trapper, per agency protocols. Our offices have confirmed that a permitted trapper responded to a nuisance alligator call in Brunswick on 4/21/2024 and secured an alligator on their property. This alligator was later released in a remote location. The agent trapper’s handling of a nuisance alligator was appropriate and routine. We have no information confirming whether this is the same alligator that is being reported as stolen/missing (aka “Wally”). Additionally, we have no further information about the reported stolen/missing alligator.
Note: By Georgia Law, only licensed or permitted individuals can retain alligators in captivity. Most native species of wildlife cannot be held without permits or licenses. These licenses are not issued for the purpose of having native wildlife as pets.
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