Strange Supporters

Emotional support animals ....

Emotional Support Peacocks, Amongst Strange Animals

.... have always struck me as catering to people who are just rather self indulgent and emotionally needy, but hey ho in woke world, they have become accepted by some airlines and other organisations .... but with increasing limits.

For instance the UK Law does not regard emotional support animals as assistance animals (assistance animals are usually guide dogs or alert dogs and have to be certified as such), so there is no legal requirement to allow these animals on planes or in public venues, and in the USA Airlines are also not required to accommodate emotional support animals (ESAs) on flights.

This is because from January 11, 2021, the US Department of Transportation (DOT) no longer classifies ESA's as essential service animals, so airlines are not required to treat them the same as service animals.

Now normally the emotional support animal is a dog or cat, or perhaps a small rodent such as a hamster but then there are those who just go overboard and take the mickey. So for example, in January 2018, a US woman was banned from taking a large "emotional-support peacock" on board a United Airlines flight (it did not meet guidelines due to its weight and size), although she had offered to buy the bird its own plane ticket. After six hours at the airport arguing her case but as she had been told this before she arrived at the airport she lost her case, the bird and its human companions decided to take to the road instead and drive across the US. 

While in October 2018 a US woman got on a flight from Orlando to Cleveland with her ESA squirrel. The flight was delayed for 2 hours after she initially refused to get off when asked to do so. The woman and the squirrel were removed from the evening flight by the police. While all the passengers had to disembark and re-board, causing the  two-hour delay in the departure of Frontier Airlines flight 1612.

On the 2nd of September 2023 51-year-old Oksana Kiritchenko and her husband travelled from Los Angeles to Fort Lauderdale with her ESA, a 23lb French Bulldog named Pier, but on the return flight on the 10th of September they were refused permission to board a JetBlue flight with the dog. She's launched a lawsuit in July 2024  claiming that her Stage 4 cancer which she said had been in remission returned after the emotional distress caused when the flight attendants wouldn’t let her emotional support dog sit with her in first class.

There is even a report of at least one emotional support hamster Pebbles, whose owner Belen Aldecose was allegedly forced to flush the animal down the toilet prior to take-off, after a Spirit Aitline employee said she couldn't bring the rodent on board the flight. Ms Aldecosea apparently thought it would be inhumane to let the animal freeze outside, and decided to flush her in an airport toilet .... so much for the emotional support of her pet. PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said someone should be held accountable in the animal's death. "Flushing a living being down a toilet is not only cruel but also illegal."

In recent times Airline passengers have boarded planes or attempted to board planes with, among other species, emotional support iguanas, peacocks, squirrels, pigs, marmosets, ducks, turkeys, boa constrictors, turtles, kangaroos, goats, spiders, and JetBlue once allowed dogs, cats, and miniature horses in passenger cabins as emotional support animals, but like most airlines, not apparently anymore  .... Miniature horses on an aeroplane for gods sake!! 

However, airlines aside, there are other strange ESA stories such as at Citizens Bank Park the baseball Stadium in Philadelphia where home fan, Joie Henney attempted to go to a game with his ESA Alligator 'WallyGator.' 

Emotional Support Animal WallyGator

He was refused entry, despite the stadium allowing ESA's. Mr Henney claimed that the gator "had never bitten anyone," and helps him battle depression. Mr Henney said they had not actually gone to watch the match, but were due to meet the players - but by the time they arrived, the team were busy warming up. "It was no big deal," and that they simply turned and went home.

But the ban wasn't greeted well by all the Phillies fans, as the Chicago Cubs had suffered a 71 year losing streak, allegedly after a man with a goat had been refused entry in 1945, and they feared that  the same curse might strike the Phillies as well.