Chicken as Emotional Support Animal?

[bobbi-j]

I think your mother and your rooster would both be better off if you found her an animal in LA. I would think the travel and change of location would be quite stressful on your bird. I would suggest a nice dog or cat. Something that can live indoors and welcome petting and cuddling if she is so inclined. Chickens aren't so much that way. Your chicken would also miss having a flock. They are flock animals and do better as such.

 

[bobbi-j]

Any business can ask you two questions; is this a service animal? What tasks does this animal perform? You need only report two tasks. There is NO official organization for registering ESAs that is legally recognized.

That is it. That is all any company is SUPPOSED to be able to ask you. No documentation, no anything. However, please for the love of all that is holy do not use ESA privilege to circumvent airline rules. You're only making it harder for people with actual disabilities to utilize services they NEED.

x2

 

[frostic]

emotional support animals and service animals are 2 different things. service animals are like police dogs, seeing eye dogs and such wich people have to have to be mobile. a chicken can't be a service animal... and emotional support animals are NOT accepted... Sorry this is bad news however there are shipping services you can aquire for animals
through other companies. just not the airlines. birds like chickens could cause a lot of issues for the passengers and is a health RISK that no passenger airline will alow.... chickens can't even become service animals so there is no way they are going to allow them

 

[BrindleFinch]

Ok I just really want to clear up some things as smoothly as I can, as someone who has an ESA and a medically documented need for one. He went to college with me. He's been around, he's my world. He is not a dog; he is a cat. It does not matter.

Service animals are trained to do tasks. They must do 2 tasks that relate to the disability. ESAs do not have to do tasks - but store owners/etc cannot legally really check if they can or if they can't. Store owners cannot ask for certification as in the animal being registered to a database. The laws governing ESAs and Service Animals are different.

1. You need to have a medical note from a professional. This note cannot and should not outline your specific disability, but as with anything it is ILLEGAL to ask for a falsified document from a doctor. Any doctor who would give a perfectly healthy individual an ESA recommendation shouldn't have the power to do so in the first place, imo.
1a. You do not need to have any other or further certification for your animal.
1b. You do not need a vest for your ESA, though it's not necessarily a bad idea.

2. "According to the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) of 1986, emotional support animals are allowed to fly in the cabin of commercial airplanes, though each airline may have their own rules and standards for how this plays out." Found here. Government info on the ACAA here.
2a. This means that airlines DO have control over what animals can and cannot be allowed on their flights; transportation.gov states, "
A wide variety of service animals are permitted in the cabin portion of the aircraft flying to and within the United States; however, most service animals tend to be dogs and cats. Airlines may exclude animals that:

• Are too large or heavy to be accommodated in the cabin;
• Pose a direct threat to the health or safety of others;
• Cause a significant disruption of cabin service; or
• Are prohibited from entering a foreign country."

2b. Transportation.gov also states: "Emotional Support and Psychiatric Service Animals - Airlines can request specific documentation and/or 48-hours advanced notice for service animals that are emotional support animals and psychiatric service animals." and defines the specific request-able documentation as follows: "
Airlines may require documentation that is not older than one year from the date of your scheduled initial flight that states:

• You have a mental or emotional disability that is recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM);
• You need your emotional support or psychiatric support animal as an accommodation for air travel and/or for activity at your destination;
• The individual providing the assessment is a licensed mental health professional and the passenger is under his/her professional care; and
• The licensed health care professional’s;
  • Date and type of professional license; and
  • Jurisdiction or state in which their license was issued."

That is it. That is all they can ask for. HOWEVER, as I stated above, you MUST have a DSM recognizable disorder. A doctor is risking their license and you are risking your trip by trying to request anything special from them.

Any animal CAN be an ESA, as noted by what an airline can exclude.

A chicken would likely be considered 1. a disruption to service, 2. a health threat to other passengers, 3. may not legally be able to be shipped between states. After all, you're technically not SUPPOSED to move chickens back and forth unless you're NPIP certified, right?

Think about other passengers that may have chickens. What about Mereks? Do you know for a fact that your chicken is not carrying any diseases communicable via dander/air to either humans or other chickens? Do you have any vet paperwork for the chicken at all? No, you don't legally NEED it, but PLEASE consider the safety of other chickens out there. You could be introducing some really nasty diseases into an area, especially if your chicken isn't going to be vetted beforehand.

Also, roosters crow. I think that right there is enough justification to declare a rooster a "disruption to service," as the government allows airlines to deny animals for.

 

[EIEIO_farm]

Ok I just really want to clear up some things as smoothly as I can, as someone who has an ESA and a medically documented need for one. He went to college with me. He's been around, he's my world. He is not a dog; he is a cat. It does not matter.

Service animals are trained to do tasks. They must do 2 tasks that relate to the disability. ESAs do not have to do tasks - but store owners/etc cannot legally really check if they can or if they can't. Store owners cannot ask for certification as in the animal being registered to a database. The laws governing ESAs and Service Animals are different.

1. You need to have a medical note from a professional. This note cannot and should not outline your specific disability, but as with anything it is ILLEGAL to ask for a falsified document from a doctor. Any doctor who would give a perfectly healthy individual an ESA recommendation shouldn't have the power to do so in the first place, imo.
1a. You do not need to have any other or further certification for your animal.
1b. You do not need a vest for your ESA, though it's not necessarily a bad idea.

2. "According to the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) of 1986, emotional support animals are allowed to fly in the cabin of commercial airplanes, though each airline may have their own rules and standards for how this plays out." Found here. Government info on the ACAA here.
2a. This means that airlines DO have control over what animals can and cannot be allowed on their flights; transportation.gov states, "
A wide variety of service animals are permitted in the cabin portion of the aircraft flying to and within the United States; however, most service animals tend to be dogs and cats. Airlines may exclude animals that:

• Are too large or heavy to be accommodated in the cabin;
• Pose a direct threat to the health or safety of others;
• Cause a significant disruption of cabin service; or
• Are prohibited from entering a foreign country."

2b. Transportation.gov also states: "Emotional Support and Psychiatric Service Animals - Airlines can request specific documentation and/or 48-hours advanced notice for service animals that are emotional support animals and psychiatric service animals." and defines the specific request-able documentation as follows: "
Airlines may require documentation that is not older than one year from the date of your scheduled initial flight that states:

• You have a mental or emotional disability that is recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM);
• You need your emotional support or psychiatric support animal as an accommodation for air travel and/or for activity at your destination;
• The individual providing the assessment is a licensed mental health professional and the passenger is under his/her professional care; and
• The licensed health care professional’s;
  • Date and type of professional license; and
  • Jurisdiction or state in which their license was issued."

That is it. That is all they can ask for. HOWEVER, as I stated above, you MUST have a DSM recognizable disorder. A doctor is risking their license and you are risking your trip by trying to request anything special from them.

Any animal CAN be an ESA, as noted by what an airline can exclude.

A chicken would likely be considered 1. a disruption to service, 2. a health threat to other passengers, 3. may not legally be able to be shipped between states. After all, you're technically not SUPPOSED to move chickens back and forth unless you're NPIP certified, right?

Think about other passengers that may have chickens. What about Mereks? Do you know for a fact that your chicken is not carrying any diseases communicable via dander/air to either humans or other chickens? Do you have any vet paperwork for the chicken at all? No, you don't legally NEED it, but PLEASE consider the safety of other chickens out there. You could be introducing some really nasty diseases into an area, especially if your chicken isn't going to be vetted beforehand.

Also, roosters crow. I think that right there is enough justification to declare a rooster a "disruption to service," as the government allows airlines to deny animals for.

Thanks for all the info!! I honestly thought that there would be little difference in taking a chicken in a carrier vs. a small dog in a carrier. My rooster has a no crow collar that I would use just in case if he did start to crow. But I’m starting to think the efforts are not worth it in the end. It’s too many unknowns and “what if’s”. Thanks so much for your input!

 

[LDSmama]

please for the love of all that is holy do not use ESA privilege to circumvent airline rules. You're only making it harder for people with actual disabilities to utilize services they NEED.

This, exactly.

 

[4 Georgia Hens]

Do you have an update?

 

[beachbumbecks]

Aloha, I was thinking of doing the same with my pet rooster for travel. I do know that people have taken chickens on as ESA animals, and I know someone in Hawaii who has registered her chicken as an ESA animal. I think if its in a carrier under the seat, you might be able to do it. They are refusing to take some animals though. There was a peacock that was refused recently.

 

[Windchyme]

No airline will allow it. Not after the peacock debacle.

First what you are proposing is illegal and could get you and the dr in trouble for lying. Registering as an ESA or a service dog legally means nothing. You might as well show the reciept for the last time you went to the grocery store....same legal weight in proving an animals is one of those things.

ESA's don't become that way by "regsitration". They become that way because they are cleared by a doctor for someone with a mental illness that is disabling to a certian level.

And frankly I am offended that you would try to use the rules that protect the disabled to get around airline rules. This only makes it harder for those that are genuine.

Get a shipping box and send the rooster by USPS like other people do.

 

[ChickenRelatedUserName]

Trying to register a rooster as an emotional support animal for a one way flight is a slap in the face to people who actually need emotional support animals. Why can't it go on the cargo hold?