Delta Is Getting Sick Of Emotional Support Animal Fraud, And I Blame This ENTIRELY On Ashley Judd.

According to this, Delta Airlines has had enough of everyone’s monkey business. This past Friday, Delta announced that they’ll be requiring more documentation from passengers who insist on bringing “emotional support animals” on board their planes, and to that I say, “It’s about FREAKING TIME.”

There’s a lot of confusion about the law with respect to emotional support animals and the ADA and lunatics like Ashley Judd who, until her dogs died, insisted that they had to be with her whenever she wanted, because of the “psychological support” they gave her.

It was all a lie. And you can read the entire backstory about that right here.

If you want the Cliff Notes version, then here are the key things you need to know:

1. There is a difference between “service animals” and “emotional support animals” and the distinction is important.
2. A service animal is a dog (or more rarely, a miniature horse, pig or monkey) that has been specifically trained to perform a specific task or tasks for a person with a disability recognized by the Americans with Disabilities Act. For example, a dog may remind someone to take seizure medication and keep someone experiencing a seizure safe. A seeing eye dog obviously has a very specific purpose.
3.  An emotional support animal is any animal that provides comfort simply by being with a person.  They’re not trained to do any specific task.  They are not qualified under the ADA.
4.  Ashley Judd has, in the past, linked to all kinds of DOJ rules about service animals to justify taking her now-deceased cockapoos everywhere with her, including basketball games.  However, she has also referred to those same dogs as psychological support animals, which means they are simply comfort dogs.  WHICH BASICALLY IS ANY DOG, because dogs are perfect creatures and I have no idea what humans ever did to deserve them.  Raise your hand if a dog has ever provided you emotional support.  Everyone?  Yeah.  That’s what I thought.

Ashley Judd, and other people who claim that their animals provide emotional support and therefore are entitled to accompany them everywhere regardless of the fact that they sometimes misbehave (or in Ashley Judd’s case, are barely conscious), do a huge disservice to people with legitimate disabilities and legitimate service animals.  And because there are now regulations that have made it nearly impossible for airlines and other public places to obtain legitimate documentation from people like Ashley Judd, people like Ashley Judd continue to abuse the system.

Actually, I take that back (partially.)  Ashley Judd’s dogs are dead now, and amazingly, right when they died, she somehow seemed to be cured of whatever psychosis required her to have psychological support dogs. Imagine that!  It’s a MIRACLE!

All airlines or other establishments can really do is ask the person if their animal is a service animal, and then they can ask what specific task the animal is trained to do.  That’s it.  They can’t ask what disability the person has. They can only ask about the task the dog is TRAINED to perform to assist with the disability. If the dog is a true service dog, for example, then it’s required to have four feet on the floor, and it’s required to be focused on the owner and the task it has been trained to complete.

In other words, HER DOG WASN’T A SERVICE DOG.  I give you Exhibit A:

FAIL. On all counts. That dog doesn’t have four paws on the floor. That dog is not focused on its owner or on a task. That dog is nearly comatose.

There’s a great explanation of all of this right here.

Anyway, back to Delta.  Last summer, a dude on a flight from ATL to San Diego got attacked by a dog that was sitting on the lap of the man next to him.  He ended up needing 28 stitches and has permanent facial scars.  The dog had been identified by its handler as an emotional support dog.  Delta claims to have flown a quarter million emotional support animals last year, and that’s an increase of 150% from 2015.  And wouldn’t you know it – the incidents of biting or pooping on flights or other related issues has doubled in the same time frame.

The reason?  These “emotional support animals” are complete bullsh*t in a huge majority of cases.  They are simply the pets of selfish, awful Ashley Judd-esque people who feel entitled, who love their animals and don’t want to be separated from them, so they game the system.

Delta will now require “increased documentation” from people who claim that they need emotional support animals, and it’s a step in the right direction.  19 states now have laws that criminalize trying to pass your pet off as a service animal – and I hope that becomes more widespread.

And there’s another issue here, as mentioned in the original sourcelink.  Why do people with severe allergies to pet dander get trumped by people who claim they need emotional support animals?

Unfortunately, there isn’t a consensus among disability advocates about this issue either.  Some want to follow the ADA rules which stipulate that emotional support animals should be limited to dogs and cats, but others want birds and rabbits included.  The National Alliance on Mental Illness is concerned that creating “undue burdens” with respect to providing suitable documentation or proof of needing a companion animal could prevent disabled people from traveling.  I think that’s ridiculous, and it sounds a whole lot like the morons who think requiring ID to vote is an undue burden.  If you can manage to get yourself onto a flight, you can manage to get yourself to a doctor to get a letter.

According to the sourcelink, here’s a summary of Delta’s new requirements which take effect March 1:

Passengers with trained service animals will need to submit a veterinary health form at least 48 hours before travel to the airline’s new “Service Animal Support Desk.” Customers with emotional-support animals or psychiatric service animals must do the same but also must provide a letter from a doctor or mental-health professional and a signed document saying the animal is trained to behave in public. (Delta also recently expanded its list of prohibited critters, including “farm poultry,” hedgehogs and anything with tusks.)

They had to Actually Document the fact that farm poultry cannot be on board aircraft as emotional support animals, you guys.  And you know why?  This is why. And this is why. 

Anyway, I’m glad Delta is taking the lead on this, and I hope other airlines follow suit.