Topline: The Department of Transportation (DOT) on Wednesday proposed a ban on emotional support
animals aboard airlines following a dramatic increase in incidents involving
untrained animals in recent years— according to the Wall Street
Journal.
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The DOT’s proposed
rule would continue to allow trained service animals on flights, but it seeks
to define a service animal “as a dog that is individually trained to do work or
perform tasks” for a person with a disability, and would not consider an
emotional support animal as a service animal.
·
The proposal would
also allow airlines to create their own requirements for service animals, which
could include having passengers with animals check in early for flights,
enforcing a two-animal limit per person with each animal harnessed or leashed,
as well as making sure the animals fit in its owner’s foot space.
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Travelers with
physical or psychological disabilities who want to bring their dogs into the
passenger cabin of a plane would be required under the policy to fill out a form saying the canine has
been trained to perform specific tasks to assist them.
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“Flight Attendants
have been hurt and safety has been compromised by untrained animals loose in
the cabin,” said the Association of Flight Attendants in a statement supporting the DOT’s
proposal, adding: "The days of Noah’s Ark in the air are hopefully coming
to an end.”
·
Along with 22 states, airlines like Delta and Alaska
Airlines have already created stricter policies for support animals—and under
the new DOT rules, airlines would still be able to decide whether animals could
fly with travelers for emotional support, but would not be allowed to
discriminate against certain dog breeds.
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Public comments are
open for the proposal over the next 60 days, after which the DOT will analyze
them and issue a final policy (but there is no firm deadline).
Big number: 751,000. That’s how many emotional support
animals flew on commercial planes in 2017, according to the Washington Post.
Key background: Emotional support animals have proliferated on
airlines in recent years. And a plethora of creatures besides dogs have been
described by their owners as emotional support animals, ranging from a duck to a peacock—and going viral in the process. Over
3,000 complaints have been made to the DOT about service animals on flights in
2018, an increase from 719 in 2013. The DOT proposal narrows its 2019 guidelines which said that in
addition to dogs, cats and miniature horses would also be considered service
animals.
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