29.07.2018
HUFFPOST UK - LIFE (Online)
The Emotional Support Animal - Why I Can Get Behind It
It might seem ridiculous to some people, but Mabel’s presence has already been life-changing for me
In January 2018 - too early on for us to foresee how mad the year was still going to get - one of the oddest pieces of news I came across in the papers was that a woman was banned by United Airlines from taking her emotional support peacock on the plane with her. Yup. An emotional support peacock. The actual weird thing though is that the peacock was not rejected on the grounds of it being, well a peacock. It was rejected because it wasn’t the right size and weight to travel in the cabin.
Like most people, I laughed my way through this article that basically seemed to be evidence of how out of control the concept of Emotional Support Animals (ESAs) are in the USA. Then I saw this petition campaigning to get ESAs recognised over here in the UK and, honestly, I can get behind it.
I’ve always wanted a dog but previously I’ve tended to agree that really you can’t utilise an animal for emotional support in this way.