Support alligator visits retirement centres after rescue from Walt Disney World Florida

Disney was forced to relocate hundreds of alligators from its Florida parks. Photo / Al Messerschmidt, Getty Images

Travel companies are obsessed with emotional support animals. Ever since a passenger attempted to board a United Airlines flight carrying an "emotional support peacock" last year, the pets asking for transport have only been getting weirder.

However, Joie Henney's emotional support animal is taking the issue to a whole new scale.

Wally the alligator is just under a metre-and-a-half long, with a jaw full of teeth and hooded reptilian eyes. Now a resident of York County, Pennsylvania, he's a transplant from Florida.

His owner Henney - the former presenter of ESPN hunting show Joie Henney's Outdoors – was given Wally by a friend who rescued the young alligator two years ago from a lagoon at Walt Disney World.

In spite of this traumatic beginning Henney says his alligator loves people – and not as a potential snack.

In fact he decided the large carnivorous reptile would be perfectly suited to a career as an emotional support animal.

Joie Henney's Outdoors: The former wildlife presenter now lives in York County Pennsylvania with his two alligators. Photo / Facebook.com

"He's just like a dog," Henney told the York Daily Record "He wants to be loved and petted."

Wally and his handler have been touring retirement centres like the Glatfelter Community Center to give him an opportunity for human contact.

Swamped: Walley and Scrappy and at home in their 1000-litre pond. Photo / Facebook.com

"I'm not scared of snakes," one woman told the Record, "but that thing has a lot of teeth."

When not meeting humans Wally lives in a 1000-litre pond with another alligator called Scrappy.

Disney's Alligator Infestation

Henney told Cox Media Group that Wally the gator was rescued from Walt Disney World when the operator was forced to remove alligators from its Florida parks.

In 2016, two-year-old Lane Thomas Graves was killed by an alligator in the Seven Seas Lagoon at Disney's Grand Floridian resort.

Seven Seas Lagoon: Over the past three years FWC has removed 140 alligators from Disney's Florida parks. Photo /Orlando Sentinel, Getty Images

Although the park had been actively trapping the gators, efforts doubled following the boy's death.

According to the FWC, 95 alligators were harvested from the park in the 15 months following the incident compared with 45 alligators the previous period.

By the catch report released by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Wally was on the small side of gators harvested from the lagoons.

In May 2017 the park harvested an enormous 11 foot (3.4m) alligator from the waters and the average size was around six feet long (1.8m).

When asked what measures it was taking to address the number of alligators, Disney issued a statement to News 6, saying:

"In keeping with our strong commitment to safety, we continue to reinforce procedures related to reporting sightings and interactions with wildlife, and work closely with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to remove or relocate certain wildlife from our property in accordance with state regulations."

Lane Thomas Foundation: The memorial to Lane Thomas Grave who was killed by an alligator at Disney's Gran Florida resort in 2016. Photo / Facebook.com

The park has since erected a monument to the memory of Lane Thomas Graves at the site where the 2016 attack occurred. Walt Disney World's memorial is in the shape of a lighthouse and dedicated to the Lane Thomas Foundation.

According to the BBC wildlife experts, the killing had been a predatory attack, and the boy had done nothing to provoke the alligator.