Service Animals

An interesting article in Sunday's New York Times Magazine examines the changing world of service animals and what exactly qualifies as a service vs. therapy animal. Apparently the world of service animals has expanded dramatically from canines. The article details the work of a miniature horse as well as a parrot and monkey.

The questions arises with regard to the incorporation of these more exotic service animals into society. Should a service monkey be allowed to accompany his owner into a restaurant? Should a service pony be permitted to wander the aisles of a supermarket? And who draws the line?

If you speak to the people who rely on these more "exotic" service animals, they believe they should be allowed to take them anywhere a seeing eye dog is permitted to go--which is everywhere. The issue becomes more complicated because under the provisions of the Americans with Disability Act, there are very few questions that an employer can ask about either the medical histories of the people using the service animals or the exact tasks these animals perform.

There is very little surveillance of what qualifies as a service animal. Les Frieden, currently a professor of healthy information science at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston and a former director of the National Council on Disability, notes: "People shouldn't be able to carry their pets on a plane or into a restaurant claiming they're service animals when they're not. . . It's fraud and it results in increased scrutiny of people with legitimate disabilities."

In June, according to author Rebecca Skloot, the Department of Justice proposed new regulations that excludes psychiatric service animals and those used for "comfort" rather than actual service. Wording from the Department of Justice limits these animals to canines and "other common domestic animals", specifically excluding "wild animals" and "any breed of horse." Needless to say, those who use these animals for service, psychiatric and otherwise, are not pleased.

It is a curious situation and one that demonstrates the continual blurring of the line between humans and animals. We have a curious relationship with animals, depending on and being dependent on them at the same time and the expansion of the variety of animals on which we are dependent just continues to stretch the limits of this relationship.

Stay tuned because I don't think that this issue is anywhere near from being solved. And with animal law becoming more mainstream, I predict we will see lawsuits that challenge these definitions of service and comfort.