Enough with the fake service dogs and 'emotional support' pigs: editorial

The Chicago Tribune 'Editorial Board' for Jan.16, 2015

Frequent fliers offer up a silent prayer each time they board a plane:Please, God, don't let me be seated next to a gregarious blowhard or a crying baby. Soon enough, they might want to add, or a pig.

In November, a woman and her "emotional support pig" were thrown off a USAirways flight after the 70-pound ham became disruptive — relieving itself in the aisle and grunting while the woman tried to stow her carry-on.

That was a first for most passengers, we suspect. But it's not unusual any more to find all sorts of emotional support livestock in the aircraft cabin. Or on a bus or train, in a mall or restaurant, even at museums and sporting venues.Chihuahuas, rabbits, monkeys, parrots, turtles, guinea pigs, snakes, you name it. 

Some of them are there because their owners have physical disabilities or crippling emotional needs. Others are there because their owners bought phony certificates and "service animal" vests online.

Which ones are real? It's impossible to know for sure, though we're particularly suspicious of the emotional support chickens.

Animals that are trained to perform tasks for disabled people qualify as service animals under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. They are generally allowed to accompany their owners wherever the public can go. Animals that provide only emotional comfort aren't service animals.

Emotional support animals provide therapeutic companionship for people with debilitating conditions. Proof of a disability — usually a doctor's prescription — allows those people to bring their pets on public transportation or to live with them in housing with a "no pets" policy. That doesn't mean the animals can go wherever their owners go.

But the ADA prohibits businesses from quizzing people about their disabilities. It's OK to ask if it's a service animal and what tasks it has been trained to do, but that's it. The animal can be evicted if it isn't under control, including housebreaking failures.

Denying access to a legitimate service animal can lead to a $55,000 fine — $100,000 for a second offense — so most businesses don't ask a lot questions. Factor in the confusion over service animal vs. emotional support animal plus the ease of obtaining Internet "certification" documents, no questions asked, and pretty soon there are monkeys riding in the shopping carts at your local grocer and yes, pigs on planes.

Some people are gaming it, which has angered people who legitimately rely on service dogs.

Check out the brisk online market for no-questions-asked doggy vests. A few states have laws against toting animals into restricted spaces under false pretenses, and for good reason. It's the moral equivalent of an able-bodied person using Granny's placard to park in a space reserved for the handicapped.

Organizations that work with disabled people are lobbying the U.S. Department of Justice to come up with some meaningful guidelines. People with legitimate but not obvious disabilities say they get the stink-eye from others when they appear in public with their service animals.

What's the harm? You can start with animals doing their thing in the aisle of an airplane. In May, a different USAirways flight had to make an emergency landing after a dog relieved itself at 30,000 feet. Animals will do what animals will do — barking, biting, squawking, stinking, etc. — which is why there are so many places they aren't allowed unless there's a very good reason. Not wanting to leave them home is not a good reason.
Copyright © 2015, Chicago Tribune

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