Wally the alligator’s owner pushes back against online conspiracy theories & accusations

Joie Henney made his way back to his buddy’s crib in Brunswick, Georgia, after a night of fishing off the coast of Jekyll Island. It was around 4 a.m. on Sunday, April 21. Joie has been making this trip from central Pennsylvania to southeast Georgia for a few years now. He loves spending time with his pals, fishing, and bringing along his emotional support alligator, Wally. He usually keeps Wally in an enclosure at his friend’s place. That night, they had some luck with fishing, catching a bonnethead shark and a few sting rays.

When Joie got back to the house in the early morning darkness, he checked on Wally. Wally was chilling in the water, and the gate seemed secure. Everything seemed fine, so Joie went inside to catch some z’s. But Wally, being the curious gator he is, wanted to come inside. Joie had to tell him to stay outside. Wally hunkered down in the water and blew bubbles, just doing his gator thing.

After about three hours of sleep, Joie woke up and went outside to check on Wally. He called for him, but Wally didn’t respond. It appeared that Wally was nowhere to be found. Joie couldn’t believe it. He thought there was no way Wally could have escaped from the enclosure. He checked the latch on the gate and realized it wasn’t completely latched.

Joie walked around the enclosure, looking for any signs of Wally’s escape. But there were no tracks, no evidence that Wally had made a run for it. Even outside the gate, there were no gator tracks in the sand. Joie couldn’t figure out how Wally could have scaled the chain-link fence, even if he had the motivation. “Wally is way too lazy for that,” Joie said.