Advertiser Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links below. This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers.
A service dog caused quite a stir at Denver International Airport (DEN) on April 26th when it allegedly bit an American Airlines employee and a passenger waiting for a flight. The Belgian Malinois named Bella is now being held in quarantine while an investigation is conducted.
The Denver Post reports that while its owner was waiting to board a flight, Bella, allegedly bit an American Airlines employee in the face and another passenger who was waiting to board the plane. The dog is now being held at Denver Animal Shelter on a bite quarantine for 10 days until May 6th while the investigation is underway.
Dog bites are measured on Dr. Ian Dunbar’s Dog Bite Scale. It rates the severity and frequency of a bite on a scale of one to six. This incident was escalated to a five because it was a multiple-bite situation. At that level, it’s said that “the dog is extremely dangerous.” Level six means that a person has died as a result of the bite. It was not confirmed if the dog was an official service animal.
Denver Department of Public Health & Environment spokesperson, Tammy Vigil, said:
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), service animals in training are afforded the same legal protections as fully-trained service animals and generally need to be considered the same in places like the airport and airlines.”
In the United States, it’s quite simple to claim that a dog is a service animal. The definition is broad and no official proof is required to claim a dog as one. To bring a service dog on a flight, owners must submit an official Department of Transportation (DOT) form to the carrier at least 48 hours before a flight. It must state that the dog is a trained service animal and has no history of aggressive behavior. It’s quite a lax process and I have flown with many claimed “service animals” that were just pets with owners looking to skirt fees for traveling with them.
Anthony’s Take: Emotional support animals might no longer be allowed on planes, but it’s so easy to claim a service dog that there is really nothing stopping anyone from traveling with their pooch. More regulation is needed because the current system is rife with abuse.
(Featured Image Credit: YuriyGreen and Miguel Ángel Sanz.)
User Generated Content Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat encourages constructive discussions, comments, and questions. Responses are not provided by or commissioned by any bank advertisers. These responses have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the responsibility of the bank advertiser to respond to comments.
5 comments
Well said.
I understand that under the ADA regulations that we cannot ask about training certifications or what the owners disability is, but I wonder if a business can ask if the dog is insured ? This would pass the liability from the business to the dog owner.
I used to work in a stadium where “Service” animals were sometimes brought in by their owners and we were trained on what questions we could ask. I’m sure many of these dogs were not trained as a service animal, but we could not use our discretion. OAnd there was one instance where a patron was bitten by a service dog and our business was sued.
It’s actually not the ADA that governs the air; it’s the Air Carrier Access Act, so the regulations differ a bit.
Do they realize the stress they bring on others flying with a dog of that size in an airplane cabin let alone the physical injury here
What a joke and mess the therapy service dog situation has become
As much as I hate lawyers and lawsuits… I would think this situation would warrant one.