Service, Assistance and Emotional Support Animals

The ASPCA supports the use of appropriate, humanely trained, well-cared-for and professionally evaluated domestic service animals to assist people who have disabilities and seeks to ensure that individuals with disabilities can use their service animals where needed. The ASPCA also supports the use of well-cared-for animal companions who provide emotional support to people with disabilities while ensuring that such use does not impact animal health and welfare or public health and safety. Responsibility for the care and well-being of service animals and emotional support animals (ESAs) rests with the person who the animal accompanies (the “handler”). The ASPCA advocates selecting service animals and ESAs from shelters when feasible and recommends that retired service animals become household pets in their handlers’ homes or other carefully matched placements.

Current government regulations for service animals and ESAs promulgated by different federal agencies are somewhat inconsistent (see Addendum below). The ASPCA believes that these regulations should use consistent terminology and clearly articulate the requirements for service animals and ESAs in public facilities, the home environment, and air travel.

Public Facilities

The ASPCA strongly supports the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requirements that allow service animals to accompany their handlers in public facilities. The ASPCA also strongly supports the Department of Justice guidance prohibiting public facilities from discriminating against service animals based on breed.

The ASPCA agrees with the ADA definition of service animals, which is limited to dogs who do work or perform tasks for individuals with disabilities. The ASPCA also agrees with the provisions of the ADA that require public facilities to make reasonable modifications to their policies, practices, or procedures to accommodate miniature horses acting as service animals, where appropriate. The ASPCA does not support the use of nonhuman primates as service animals because of animal welfare concerns, the potential for serious injury, and zoonotic disease risks.

Housing

The ASPCA strongly supports the recognition of service animals and ESAs as “assistance animals” who require reasonable accommodations under the Fair Housing Act (FHA). The ASPCA also strongly supports the Department of Housing and Urban Development guidance that breed, size and weight limitations cannot be applied to assistance animals in housing. The ASPCA believes that FHA regulations should not create obstacles for reasonable accommodations but should include guidelines protecting animals and the public that are based on the conduct of the individual animal and their handler.

Air Travel

The Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) prohibits air carriers from discriminating against people with disabilities, and federal regulations require that air carriers allow service animals to accompany their handlers in the aircraft cabin. The Department of Transportation defines service animals in air travel as dogs, regardless of breed, who are trained to do work or perform tasks for an individual with a disability. The ASPCA supports this definition, which is consistent with the ADA. However, the ASPCA disagrees with the Department of Transportation’s decision not to require air carriers to make reasonable accommodations for miniature horses who are similarly trained, where appropriate.

The ASPCA recognizes that some people with disabilities may rely on ESAs in air travel and therefore disagrees with the Department of Transportation’s decision not to separately regulate ESAs and instead to allow air carriers to treat them as pets. The ASPCA believes that appropriate, humanely trained, and well-cared-for ESAs, including dogs, cats, and conventional small companion animals (e.g. rabbits, hamsters. guinea pigs), should be allowed to travel with their handlers in the cabin of an aircraft for no fee. Therefore, the ASPCA encourages the Department to consider regulating ESAs in a way that is reasonable, promotes animal health and welfare, and protects public health and safety. 

The ASPCA also recognizes that there are concerns over the use of ESAs on aircraft. This novel environment can seriously affect the welfare of animals unaccustomed to unusual conditions including cabin noise, the need for restraint or confinement for extended periods, and discomfort caused by changes in altitude. There are also possible issues of sanitation, allergies, odors, and aggression toward people or other animals. While service animals generally acclimate to a variety of situations without undue stress,[1] the ASPCA notes that ESAs may not have the same experience. Therefore, the ASPCA encourages ESAs to be appropriately trained and prepared for air travel and properly handled for the duration of the trip. To that end, ESAs should be safely and comfortably leashed, tethered, or otherwise restrained or contained while in the aircraft cabin.

Fraud & Misrepresentation

Existing laws and regulations pertaining to service animals and emotional support animals can be poorly understood by businesses and the general public, creating opportunities for misrepresentation or fraudulent certification. Improperly trained, socialized, supervised, or handled animals represented as service animals or ESAs can present health and safety risks to people and other animals. The ASPCA recognizes a need for better public education by agencies and businesses imposing and enforcing these rules.

Fraudulent or inappropriate representation of animals as service animals or emotional support animals can create obstacles for individuals with disabilities who rely on assistance animals. As of August 2023, more than twenty states have laws imposing penalties for misrepresenting animals as service animals. Allowing well-behaved companion animals more access to housing and public places could reduce the motivation to falsely identify pets as assistance animals and provide greater access for assistance animals as well.

 
ADDENDUM

DEFINITIONS AND EXISTING LAWS

Many terms are used in existing federal and state laws and regulations to describe animals used by people with disabilities. Three major areas of federal legislation specifically address such animals:

• The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
• The Fair Housing Act (FHA)
• The Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA)

The current array of state laws governing service animals is diverse.[2] Many of these laws deal with public accommodations, as well as specific penalties for harming or interfering with service animals or fraudulently representing an animal as a service animal.

Defining and Regulating Service, Assistance and Emotional Support Animals

The primary governing definition of service animal is provided by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations which define a “service animal” as:

“any dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability. Other species of animals, whether wild or domestic, trained, or untrained, are not service animals for the purposes of this definition.”

Specific regulations under the ADA require public facilities to make reasonable modifications to their policies, practices, or procedures for miniature horses that have been trained to do work or perform tasks for individuals with disabilities. In doing so, public facilities must consider whether the animal is house trained, under the handler’s control, can be accommodated by the facility, and will not compromise safety requirements.

Service animals, as defined in the ADA, may accompany their handler into areas where the public is allowed, including on public transit, and in airports and restaurants, without any additional fees that might otherwise be associated with an accompanying pet. They are not permitted in food preparation areas, sterile rooms, or jails. The ADA does not require certification or special identification of service animals.

The Fair Housing Act (FHA) prohibits public and private housing providers from discriminating against tenants or owners with disabilities. Disability is defined by the FHA as “a physical or mental impairment which substantially limits one or more of such person's major life activities, having a record of such impairments, or being regarded as having such an impairment.” A housing provider cannot refuse to “make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services, when such accommodations may be necessary to afford equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling.”

The FHA uses the term “assistance animal,” which includes: 1) service animals; and 2) “other animals that do work, perform tasks, provide assistance, and/or provide therapeutic emotional support for individuals with disabilities.” The Department of Housing and Urban Development has explained that “While dogs are the most common type of assistance animal, other animals can also be assistance animals.” Exceptions to the requirement for reasonable accommodation to possess an assistance animal are allowed if the specific assistance animal in question poses a direct threat to the health or safety of others that cannot be reduced or eliminated or would cause substantial physical damage to the property of others.

Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA)

The Air Carrier Access Act prohibits discrimination in air travel based on disability. ACAA regulations require air carriers to allow service animals to accompany their handlers in flight. Exceptions to this requirement are allowed if the animal poses a threat to health or safety or if the animal causes a significant disruption.

The Department of Transportation defines a service animal as: “a dog, regardless of breed or type, that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of a qualified individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability.” The Department does not currently require air carriers to accommodate emotional support animals in air travel.