Argumentative Essay On Emotional Support Animals

Emotional support animals are animals that are there to help and assist people with anxiety, depression and etc. There are multiple steps that go into getting one, yet people just find some random website and sign their animal up so they could carry it around everywhere without being reprimanded. I believe emotional support animals should be better regulated, making sure that they are properly trained and that the people actually benefit from having an emotional support animal.

Some critics say there’s no need for more regulations because very rarely do poorly trained animals pose a risk and anyone should get an emotional support animal if they feel they need one. Getting an emotional support animal is really easy actually, just fill out a form and boom you got it. The process is simpler than getting a service animal, yes there's a difference.  A service dog can still give the comfort of an emotional support animal, but it has been programmed to do things that a support dog cannot.  

This is where the fault lies. Emotional support animals need rules and regulations because the need for them would be heavily abused . it would be beyond dangerous as well because they  are not for fun and that what most people think it is, they think it’s something cool to show off and to just have. Since they are sensitive they have to be programmed to protect you and only you. Like I’ve mentioned before in a previous essay I was attacked by a pitbull, if they had labeled it as an emotional support animal I'd be scared to be honest. I saw another dog like it and I instantly got chills and stayed my distance, I was lucky it’s trained and it likes me so trained animals pose no danger.  In an article published by the Washington Post from Karin Brulliard she had brought up an incident where a bear cub brought to campus during finals week nipped some students, causing a rabies scare that almost ended with the animal being euthanized. Animals are not to be played with, they require multiple tests and whatnot to be considered an emotional support animal to be brought into the public. 

On the other hand, why shouldn’t it be so easy? I have a dog that I hate being apart from so why shouldn’t he be able to go everywhere with me? Here’s the thing, my dog isn’t trained to be around people, he barks and tries to launch at everyone even though he's tiny and can't do any harm. It would be overly insensitive and selfish to put him around people knowing he’s uncomfortable and also it would be irritating to hear constant barking while you’re out and although I have anxiety my case isn’t so severe where he would have to be with me 24/7. In an article called ”People Are Taking Emotional Support Animals Everywhere. States Are Cracking Down.” from The New York Times by Farah Stockman she said “ Obviously, you want to accommodate people with legitimate requests, but that’s harder to do when you have so many bogus requests,” I'm not gonna invalidate peoples reasonings if they are legit, but an animals life is just as important as a humans. People have anything from insects to alligators, which makes it so hard to decipher if they actually need it or they just want it. 

There are multiple steps into verifying who actually needs one such as, determining if you would benefit from having one. Meaning if you have severe learning disabilities, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), anxiety disorders, depression, PTSD, phobias; you would have to think if you really require one. After you narrow that down, you’d have to go to a licensed psychologist and see if they see an issue with you to where they would have to diagnose one. This is where the main issue stems from. There is no legitimate process, you basically just have to get a letter which certifies you and boom you got it. Then you either adopt or use your own pet. Either way, you are gonna have to train what ever pet you desire to learn how to help you and your issues and also train them to get accustomed to the outside world. Yet, there are websites like Esaregistration.org and Usserviceanimals.org that constantly have ads that say hassle free and easy, which basically confuses the whole system as well as the letters. According to Joshua D. Carroll, Brian S. Mohlenhoff, Charlie M. Kersten, Dale E. McNiel and Renée L. Binder from the Laws and Ethics Related to Emotional Support Animals they stated “ Online resources may be incomplete or inaccurate, and information is often produced by lay animal enthusiasts and organizations, which can lead to a biased characterization of the benefits of ESAs.” showing that because there aren't enough regulations it can cause confusion because of all the false information given by websites and whatnot that can lead to the reason people question if emotional animals are actually needed.

Emotional support animals are precious and the usage for them is crucial but all people do is try to avoid the regulations and rules. It leads to lots of frustration and confusion for those that actually need it. Heavier regulations should be placed just because of the selfishness that people have and the false letters need to stop. It would not only benefit you but others and the animals themselves