Joseph Henney was able to register his pet allgator Wallie as an Emotional Support Animal (ESA). While he doesn’t plan to take his reptile on a passenger plane, other pet owners have done that, citing the Americans with Disabilities Act to move into pet-free rental apartments. ESAs are not trained like service animals — seeing eye dogs and the like. There are no uniform standards differentiating ESAs from other household pets, other than demanding pet owners and pliable ESA certification services.
While a new Department of Transportation rule bans ESAs from airline cabin travel, only allowing service critters, and state governments are starting to criminalize ESA fraud, determined pet owners can just switch their animal’s fake ESA certifications for fake service animal certifications. There’s no central service dog registry, state and local governments can’t legally require certification or registration of service dogs, and businesses can’t require written proof.
More:
“How an alligator became an emotional support animal: ‘They said it was a midlife crisis,’” Erum Salam, The Guardian
“New California Law Cracks Down On Emotional Support Animal (ESA) Fraud,” Phyllis M. Daugherty, CityWatch
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