Many people with devastating disabilities have found that dedicated, highly trained service animals can help them complete basic daily tasks. As a result, residents have been seeing more and more people taking service animals into public places. But countless others are taking advantage of this trend by acquiring $$support animals$$ that have very little formal training$$or none at all. While these pets are undoubtedly loved by their owners and may indeed provide emotional support, their lack of training can present a real danger to the public and to bona fide service animals. For that reason, I propose that airlines require passengers to provide proof that their service animal is certified before they can board the plane.

According to airline security sources, there have been three cases of attacks by $$emotional support dogs$$ in the last year. These animals had no formal certification because there is no formal process for designating an animal as an $$emotional support$$ companion. Recent airline surveys show that the number of emotional support animals boarding planes has tripled in the last two years, while the number of fully trained service animals has increased only slightly. This may be explained by the fact that trained service animals are expensive but anyone can declare a pet to be an $$emotional support animal.$$ Perhaps some people who have a legitimate need are unable to afford a trained service animal$$but maybe more people simply want to travel with their pets for free.

Whatever the reason, airlines must crack down on this explosion of nuisance animals whose owners are trying to game the system