The woman was given her marching orders after her havoc-wreaking hog began walking up and down the aisles. Even attempts to strap it to an arm rest failed to settle the farmyard animal on the flight from Connecticut.
Source: Woman kicked off flight after emotional support PIG became rowdy
According to Wikipedia:
Service animals are animals that have been trained to perform tasks that assist disabled people. Service animals may also be referred to as assistance animals, assist animals, support animals, or helper animals depending on the country and the animal’s function.
I am getting the small hint that people are starting to abuse the whole Service Animal thing. Therapeutic pigs? I reckon if you need to search for truffles at your destination or have a sudden urge to have some “supportive” BBQ, you may need a service pig.
Other than that, just hire Rosie O’Donnell. No, wait. She will also run up and down the aisle, squealing and being the obnoxious creature she can be. Just get a chihuahua.
Update: Reader @TXVB sends us an interesting info with a link
Service Animals and Emotional Support Animals. Where are they allowed and under what conditions?
“Emotional support animals, comfort animals, and therapy dogs are not service animals under Title II and Title III of the ADA”
Well, well, well. And it makes sense too.
Mmm … Bacon
I’m waiting for the inevitable conflict between the fragile snowflakes who need a support critter, and those who are offended because said critter is not halal.
As someone who supports disabled people, I can attest:
There is a HUGE difference between “support animals” and “service animals”, beyond one being protected under ADA Titles II and III, and the other not.
The training is VASTLY more in-depth, time-consuming, and expensive for an ADA service animal. We’re talking certified trainers, specialized “schools”, etc.
The analogy (not really) that most people can understand is this: One good example of an ADA service animal is a guide dog for a blind person. Another is an allergen-detecting dog. Literal life-savers, those are.
Those are MUCH more specialized and trained than a glorified pet, which is what most “emotional support”, “comfort”, and “therapy” animals are.
(And yes, SOME “emotional support” animals are trained to ADA Title II and III standards — say, for real debilitatingly-bad cases of PTSD. But most that you’ll see in real life … not so much.)
I’m told there isn’t really a standardized or centralized and accepted program or training for service animals, any idea if that is true?
@Matt:
You’re correct: there is no centralized program for training ADA service animals. However, there are federal guidelines on what kind of animal and what kind of training could qualify to be an ADA service animal.
See here: https://www.ada.gov/service_animals_2010.htm
In short: Only dogs are accepted under the ADA, and the training must be such that the dog is under control at all times, must be individually trained to perform a service for one person, and that service must directly relate to that person’s disability. They are working dogs, not pets, and it is a federal offense to disrupt or interfere with an ADA service animal performing its job (just FYI 🙂 ).
It seems to me it’s the “individually trained” part that disqualifies most support animals. A guide dog, for example, is trained FOR one person, to guide THAT PERSON. If anything happens to that person, or if that person decides for whatever reason they no longer want/need a guide dog, the dog is retired; he/she will never be retrained to guide another person. (To be clear, retirement isn’t a bad thing; the dog just becomes an extraordinarily well-trained pet for another family.)
But back to your question, there is no centralized program or training regimen, but several facilities around the country specialize in training service animals that meet ADA regulations.
The pig in the story, is right out; no way that would qualify. Not a dog, not under control, probably not individually trained, and I question whether the lady has a recognizable disability.
Thanks for the info! I recalled my gf telling me something similar re therapy animals, and was wondering if it applied to service animals.
She has a bunny she wants top eventually have as a therapy animal since she works in the sort of environment a therapy animal would be.
If I could travel back in time to tell 30 year old me that exact headline: that someone was traveling with an emotional support pig, on a commercial airline, and had to be escorted off the plane because the pig behaved like a pig, I think I would have thought it was some kind of awful joke.
There isn’t a week that goes by that I don’t think the world has gone totally FN.
I just took another look at the picture. That’s a full-size pig!
That ain’t no cute little pot-belly pig. That’s a PIG! Not sure how I missed that before.
If that animal gets rowdy, it could do some serious damage to someone or something, doubly so in confined spaces. I’d get it the hell off my plane, too!
I would call the animal John Cena. not because he looks like the wrestler but because “Cena” means supper in Spanish. 🙂
And also lol, the first thing I thought when I read the headline was who says we aren’t a bunch of hicks in CT! We have a very proud ag heritage what with UConn and CT rednecks and farms lol