Over the last several years there have been many national headlines about the different types of emotional support animals that airline passengers fly with (or try to fly with) such as peacocks, kangaroos, tarantulas, among numerous other animals and insects.
On December 2nd, the U.S. Department of Transportation has decided to revise the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) regulation on the transportation of service animals by air. The major part of the revision is it “no longer considers an emotional support animal to be a service animal.”
The final rule defines a “service animal as a dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of a person with a disability.” Airlines are still required to “treat psychiatric service animals the same as other service animals.”
This final rule will be effective in 30-days. The complete announcement from DOT can be read here.