Emotional support animals have gone to the birds
Earlier this week, a New York woman attempted to get her peacock, Dexter, onto an American Airlines flight from Newark International Airport.
Dexter is owned by a woman who goes by the name Ventiko, a self described “conceptual artist practicing in photography, performance and social practice.”
While Ventiko calls the bird, “mama’s little dinosaur,” she told the airline the bird was riding with her for emotional support.
In the past, Ventiko made a spectacle of taking Dexter onto the subway to get reactions. She also features him in art photography.
Still, Ventiko said the bird was not a pet or a stunt, but legitimately makes her feel emotionally supported.
Before she came to the airport, the airline told Ventiko three times the bird would not be allowed on the plane. When the photographer showed up at the airport with the large bird, she was again told Dexter could not ride in the cabin with other passengers, even if she bought him a ticket.
By law, airlines are required to accommodate legitimate service dogs. In the past, airlines have also allowed some passengers with emotional or psychiatric concerns to board with animals for emotional support.
But the number of emotional support animals has been rising in recent years, sparking suggestions that people are abusing the system and it’s not just on airlines.
Last year, a student sued the Ohio State University (OSU) because it ruled she could not keep her dog at a sorority house.
Student Maddie Entine said she has anxiety, so she bought a dog and trained it herself to sit on her lap and chest so she can pet it. She says this soothes her anxiety. Entine signed a lease to live in a sorority house that does not allow animals. Additionally, the sorority house is home to another student who has Crohn’s disease and allergies to the dog inflame the condition.
A school official decided both students were protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act and tried, unsuccessfully, to mediate a solution. The school official ruled because the other girl signed her lease first, she could stay and Entine must find other housing. OSU says it has used the same solution in other situations.
The university offered to help find other housing for Entine but none of the other options were acceptable. Entine’s attorney said living in the same house with her friends would bring them even closer.
Entine filed a lawsuit against the school under the Americans with Disabilities Act, saying she has been discriminated against.
The problem is as people continue to push the boundaries of what is acceptable, the public will begin to push back. Few people want to ride in a plane with a loose dog, but they realize a service dog makes it possible for the blind, people with certain forms of autism and people with a wide variety of legitimate conditions to live normal, productive lives.
But when the public is asked to ride on a plane with a turkey because the turkey’s owner feels better, it begins to become resentful.
When the public is asked to sit at a restaurant with a monkey because the monkey serves as constant companionship for a Missouri woman or next to an iguana that serves as stable friendship for a San Francisco man or beside a kangaroo because it helps a Wisconsin woman deal with emotional distress, they become less tolerant.
A turkey, monkey, iguana, kangaroo, boa constrictor, spider, hedgehog, penguin, lobster and chicken are all real examples of claimed emotional support animals. Unfortunately, these examples lead the general public to be less tolerant of the legitimate working animals and those who need them.
All of this upsets me. I think I need to go sit and pet my duckbilled platypus to calm myself.
-Mac Cordell is a reporter for the Journal-Tribune.