OPINION: Politician waging war on emotional support peacocks

Jan 14, 2019, 5:45 PM | Updated: Aug 3, 2022, 2:45 pm

emotional support peacock...

Do you remember the emotional support peacock that was denied being allowed on a flight? Or the hamster that a student flushed down the toilet after Spirit Airlines said that it couldn’t ride with her on the plane?

Well, one Utah legislator wants to put a stop to anyone who pretends to need an emotional support animal.

Rep. James Dunnigan wants to make it illegal to pretend to have such an animal.

I don’t know if we need the law to regulate these kinds of things. However, I do think too many people are getting emotional support animal certificates off of the internet.

Do you really think that it would be OK to put on sunglasses, grab a cane and pretend to be blind? No. Never. But that’s what it’s like when you pretend to need emotional support animals.


Jay Mcfarland hosts the JayMac News Show as well as the fictional podcast, Hosts of Eden. KSL Newsradio is part of Bonneville Media and based in Salt Lake City, Utah.

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OPINION: Politician waging war on emotional support peacocks