U.S. Airlines Ban Pigs as Emotional Support Animals on Flights
Pigs will no longer be allowed to fly inside the cabin on U.S. airlines as emotional support animals under a new rule from the Department of Transportation. Neither will peacocks or alligators or monkeys.
The new rule defines a service animal to include only canines trained to assist a person with a disability. Customers traveling with a support animal that isn’t a service dog would be required to pay an airline’s pet fee to bring the animal aboard. In addition, passengers are limited to two service dogs.
For years, the nation’s largest flight attendant union and Airlines for America, a group that represents carriers such as JetBlue Airways Corp., United Airlines Holdings Inc., and American Airlines Group Inc., have been advocating for a policy that would help airlines cut down on animals that they say pose a threat to passengers and crew, a Bloomberg Government article says.
Airlines for America said in a statement on Dec. 2 that emotional support animal behavior not only threatens the health and safety of passengers and crew, but also passengers with disabilities traveling with trained service animals.
A rising number of passengers have claimed they need their animals for emotional support on flights. In 2018, the Department of Transportation said it would not penalize airlines if they refused to let passengers fly with more than one support animal or require proof of an animal’s training.
Controversial decision
Earlier this year, the Department of Transportation’s proposal to ban emotional support animals from flights inspired about 15,000 letters from across the country weighing in on this sensitive issue, Bloomberg Government reports.
Curt Decker, executive director of the National Disability Rights Network, said on Wednesday that the rule will undermine the rights of people with disabilities and instead accommodate the interest of the airline industry.
A good move for the pork industry
With all of the foreign animal disease pressure facing the U.S. pork industry, some experts believe this is a positive move.
Dave Pyburn, National Pork Board vice president of science and technology, said in an article last January that although the use of airport therapy pigs will likely not result in an African swine fever (ASF) outbreak in commercial, feral or backyard swine in the U.S (assuming pigs are housed at the airport in between “work” or passenger contact periods), if one of these pigs were to turn up positive or die from ASF, U.S. trade partners would likely treat the country no differently than if we had an outbreak elsewhere in the U.S.
“They would likely stop all U.S. swine and pork exports immediately and for a lengthy period of time,” Pyburn said. “Right now, ASF virus is the fastest spreading foreign animal disease in the world. Swine are the only susceptible species to being infected with the virus.”
Although foreign animal disease threat is not the reason therapy pigs and other emotional support animals are being banned from airlines, it will provide one more hurdle to help keep our country and the U.S. swine industry safe.
More from Farm Journal's PORK:
Therapy Pigs in Airports: Now’s Not the Time
Researchers Analyze Risk for ASF Introduction into U.S. Via Airports
Research Brief: Could African Swine Fever Make its Way into the U.S.?
