Debate grows over what defines a service animal
A service snake's days as a seizure-alert animal may end as the Department of Justice once again tries to define what animals provide a legitimate service to the disabled.
When Daniel Greene has a seizure coming on, he says a hug can help stop it.
As he walks through the small Agate Store near Shelton, a nearly 5-foot boa constrictor coiled around his neck, even a customer walking within a foot of him doesn't notice the snake. It's a different matter, however, at Burger King.
Greene, 46, approaches the counter, but the manager orders him and his snake off the property before he can place his order. Redrock the boa, Greene says angrily, is a service snake who alerts him to pending seizures by giving him a hug. The snake had been seeking the dark confines of Green's coat sleeve. At that moment, Redrock pulls his head out and stiffens.
"He's alerting me," Greene says. "I need to sit down." But instead, he walks across the parking lot toward a pet store, speaking comforting words to the snake and kissing its head.
As a service snake, Redrock is protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). But the Department of Justice (DOJ) again is trying to define service animals, and Redrock may lose his status, which at least in theory allows him to accompany Greene into stores, restaurants, theaters and other public places.
The DOJ was overwhelmed with thousands of comments about service animals last year when it announced plans to modify the definition to exclude wild animals, including reptiles, rabbits, farm animals, amphibians, ferrets and rodents. The guidelines also would have eliminated as service animals those whose sole function is to provide emotional support, comfort, therapy, companionship, therapeutic benefits, or to promote emotional well-being.
The outcry was intense ? with some 4,500 messages, more response than has been received for any other DOJ topic in recent memory, spokesman Alejandro Miyar said. After President Obama took office, he asked that all proposed rule-making stop until new DOJ appointees could review the proposals. The new assistant attorney general for civil rights came on board Oct. 7.
"We are now in the process of reviewing the proposed ADA regulations and the public comments that the department received," Miyar said. "We anticipate that we will issue final ADA rules this year."
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