Fake Service Animals California
Badly behaved fake service dogs are hugely damaging to public perceptions of service animals.
Fake service animals california. Fake service animals act like pets. Service animals are working animals not pets. Fake service dogs have disfigured at least six people and killed five since 2012.
Many service dog handlers have stories of being turned away from businesses where a fake service dog has made a nuisance of itself previously causing the business owners to adopt a resolute no-animals policy even though this is against the law. Polsky on February 26 2014. California has long addressed the issue.
Having a fake service animal is a misdemeanor according to legislation that became effective Jan. On January 30 2012 a six-year-old boy was killed at Fort Campbell in Oak Grove Tennessee by a German Shepherd medical service dog. It is a misdemeanor offense to pretend your pet is a service animal in California.
The problem isnt people who legitimately need the assistance. In February a powerful Chicago alderman introduced an ordinance that would ban illegitimate service animals from the citys two main airports and since the start of the year Delta and United. In 2014 the New Yorkers Patricia Marx gallivanted freely around the city with five successive fake ESA creatures including a snake an alpaca and a pig named Daphne demonstrating how easy.
Fake service dogs put unfair scrutiny on the people who actually need their animals for medical or emotional purposes and theyre an insult to the dogs that go through months of intense training to be good at their jobs. The penalties vary depending on where the infraction took place. The work or task a dog has been trained to provide must be directly related to the persons disability.
A service dog is not required to be registered certified or identified as a service dog. In California the punishment for falsely claiming to have a service dog or be a trainer includes a fine of up to 1000 and up to six months in jail. Food Agriculture Code 30850b.