Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff, Lauren vogelbam here the skies aren't always so friendly. A couple incidents have been reported of large dogs fighting airline passengers as the number of pets flying as service and emotional support animals has skyrocketed. According to Delta alone, it was up a hundred and fifty percent between twenty fifteen and twenty seventeen. This prompted the airline and others to
enact more stringent requirements for onboard animals. Delta's rules now say that owners of emotional support animals will be required to show proof of their pets health or vaccinations at least forty eight hours before a flight. They also need to present a statement from their doctor declaring a mental health disability. Finally, owners must also sign a statement saying
their animal can behave. Emotional support animals occupy a different category from service animals, which are highly trained to perform specific, potentially life saving tasks for people living with a disability. We spoke via email with Beth Zimmerman, founder of Pets for Patriots, an organization that matches shelter dogs and cats
with veterans. She said Emotional support animals are companion pets, ordinary house pets that are recommended by an individual's mental health professional for the alleviation of symptoms of an emotional disability. Emotional support animals do not have to be task trained or have any unique training at all. Their mere presence is assistive. Essays don't even have to be dogs. Snakes, rats and pigs can be used as e says a One photo that circulated the Internet recently claimed to picture
an emotional support peacock. Airlines don't have to accommodate unusual service animals, though, but they do have to provide the passenger with a written explanation of their reasoning. We also spoke via email with psychologist Tannisia Ranger, who works mainly with veterans. She said, the research on the positive impact that emotional support animals have on people who are struggling with mental illness is pretty plentiful. They have a calming
of effect lowering stress levels in the owner. They offer companionship and help to lessen isolation. They offer a sense of security and protection for those who struggle with PTSD, and to get a feel for how this works, we spoke via email with Ashley Jacobs, CEO of Sitting for a Cause. Jacobs has hereditary hemochromatosis, which requires her to have regular phlebotomies, to which she always brings her nine
year old Golden retriever Diamond. Jacob said needles are my biggest fear in the world, so my E s A comes with me to all my phlebotomies. Having her with me keeps me from panicking during the procedure. Yet, Jacobs also said she wouldn't take Diamond with her on a plane. For one, she doesn't need her dog for traveling. Also quote, while she is a very well behaved dog, it's hard to guarantee she wouldn't get a little antsy or anxious about the new sound, smells, an environment on a plane.
She's also about seventy pounds and takes up a bit of space. So for the comfort of other passengers and to avoid giving E s A is a potentially bad rep I figured it's best to leave her at home.
Unlike service dogs, who are allowed access pretty much everywhere by federal law, the only legal rights essays have our reasonable accommodation in no pet housing and the right to accompany their owners in the cabin of a commercial aircraft without having to be kept in a container or to pay a pet transportation fee, which is typically at least a hundred dollars each way. Many passengers looking to avoid this fee have started to classify their pets as emotional
support animals. Psychologist Rangers said there's a lot of fraud out there. A cursory Google search will find you any number of websites where you can buy letters from clinicians, tags and vests which may not be legitimate, and when untrained animals tech innocent bystanders, it further creates stigma for
those who actually need service animals. Christifed Father, operations administrator for Assistance Dogs International, said individuals with disabilities often have additional stress as they do not know when they may encounter a non trained essay dog that may inflict harm on them and they're trained assistance dog. The general public is also affected as they cannot determine which assistance dog team is trained or which ones are non trained ESA dogs.
The jury is still out on exactly what needs to happen to rectify the issue, but most industry experts agree that something needs to be done. The air carrier access Act lists these specific rules regarding service animals and e says aboard aircraft, and states that airlines may request documentation for e says, such as the type that Delta requires.
The rules say airlines can determine whether the animal is truly a service a support animal by quote observing the behavior of the animal, looking for physical indicators such as harness, and accepting the credible verbal assurances of an individual with
a disability using the animal. Some nineteen states have laws prohibiting people from passing off their pets as service animals, but they're hard to enforce due to rules from the Americans with Disabilities Act concerning what questions a business owner may ask about a service animal. For instance, a business owner cannot ask for documentation or demonstration of a service dogs training. There's also no registry of service trained animals.
Attorney Aaron Jackson has written about the hostility she encountered from airline employees and passengers when she traveled with her es A. She said, Unfortunately, the prevalence of e s a vest and registry scams desensitizes the public from understanding the impact and importance of the essays to individuals who truly need them for therapeutic purposes instead of viewing the animal as a therapy tool. Fellow travelers may resent other
passengers who are allowed to bring their pet on the plane. However, note that because e Says don't wear identification, other travelers may not be able to distinguish between a pet and an e s A. Today's episode was written by Alia Hot and produced by Tyler Clang for iHeart Media and How Stuff Works. For more on this and lots of other topics with unexpected peacocks, visit our home planet, how stuff works dot com.