[nagdu] To Ginger: RE: DoJ's Rationale Behind Banning Non-Canine ServiceAnimals

Mon Jan 12 20:30:51 UTC 2009

Hi Ginger:

I don't think it will be accepted prior to the inauguration, but you never know.  As for it being a trial balloon, this is an interesting observation.  But my experience has shown that, if a regulation is before OMB, it is less likely to be taken back and changed. 

We'll have to wait and see what happens.

Craig

Craig Borne
NHTSA/DOT
(202) 493-0627 
craig.borne at dot.gov

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Ginger Kutsch
Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2009 5:15 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] DoJ's Rationale Behind Banning Non-Canine ServiceAnimals

Dear Craig,

With only six working days to go, do you think it's likely that this rule 
will be adopted before the new administration comes in? This whole thing 
makes me wonder if the "leak" was just a trial balloon.

Ginger
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <craig.borne at dot.gov>
To: <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2009 9:53 AM
Subject: [nagdu] DoJ's Rationale Behind Banning Non-Canine Service Animals

Here is a new blog entry from 
http://scienceblogs.com/culturedish/2009/01/dojs_rationale_behind_banning.php 
continuing and clarifying some of the debate yesterday.

Craig

DoJ's Rationale Behind Banning Non-Canine Service Animals

Posted on: January 7, 2009 10:26 PM, by

Rebecca Skloot

Yesterday, as part of

ongoing follow up

 on my

story

 in this week's New York Times Magazine, I posted about

a Department of Justice document leaked to me

 with the wording of their proposal to ban all non-canine service animals. 
Below the jump, for those interested, I've pasted an excerpt from that 
proposal,

which is not yet public. It outlines the arguments the DOJ heard for and 
against the species ban during this summer's

public hearings

, plus the DOJ's responses, and its final ruling on the issue.

Bottom line:

block quote

"The Department agrees with commenters' views that limiting the number and 
types of species recognized as service animals will provide greater 
predictability

for public accommodations as well as added assurance of access for 
individuals with disabilities who use dogs as service animals.

block quote end

More proposal details below:

block quote

"Species limitations ... The Department received many comments from 
individuals and organizations recommending species limitations. Several of 
these commenters

asserted that limiting the number of allowable species would help stop 
erosion of the public's trust, which has resulted in reduced access for many 
individuals

with disabilities who use trained service animals that adhere to high 
behavioral standards. Several commenters suggested that other species would 
be acceptable

if those animals could meet nationally recognized behavioral standards for 
trained service dogs. Other commenters asserted that certain species of 
animals

(e.g., reptiles) cannot be trained to do work or perform tasks, so these 
animals would not be covered.

In the

[Notice of Proposed Rulemaking]

, the Department used the term "common domestic animal" in the service 
animal definition and defined it to exclude reptiles, rabbits, farm animals 
(including

horses, miniature horses, ponies, pigs, or goats), ferrets, amphibians, and 
rodents. However, the term "common domestic animal" is difficult to define

with precision due to the increase in the number of domesticated species. 
Also, several state and local laws define a "domestic" animal as an animal 
that

is not wild. As a consequence, the Department has decided to limit title 
III's coverage of service animals to dogs, which are the most common service 
animals

used by individuals with disabilities.

The Department is compelled to take into account the practical 
considerations of certain animals and to contemplate their suitability in a 
variety of public

contexts, such as restaurants, grocery stores, hospitals, and performing 
arts venues, as well as suitability for urban environments. The Department 
agrees

with commenters' views that limiting the number and types of species 
recognized as service animals will provide greater predictability for public 
accommodations

as well as added assurance of access for individuals with disabilities who 
use dogs as service animals.

Wild animals, monkeys, and other non-human primates. Numerous business 
entities endorsed a narrow definition of acceptable service animal species, 
and asserted

that there are certain animals (e.g., reptiles) that cannot be trained to do 
work or perform tasks. Other commenters suggested that the Department should

identify excluded animals, such as birds and llamas, in the final rule. 
Although one commenter noted that wild animals bred in captivity should be 
permitted

to be service animals, the Department has decided to make clear that all 
wild animals, whether born or bred in captivity or in the wild, are 
eliminated

from coverage as service animals. The Department believes that this approach 
reduces risks to health or safety attendant with wild animals. Some animals,

such as certain nonhuman primates including certain monkeys, pose a direct 
threat; their behavior can be unpredictably aggressive and violent without 
notice

or provocation. The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) issued a 
position statement advising against the use of monkeys as service animals,

stating that "[t]he AVMA does not support the use of nonhuman primates as 
assistance animals because of animal welfare concerns, and the potential for

serious injury and zoonotic [animal to human disease transmission] risks." 
See AVMA position statement, Nonhuman Primates as Assistance Animals (2005),

available at http://www.avma.org/issues/policy/nonhuman_primates.asp.

An organization that trains capuchin monkeys to provide in-home services to 
individuals with paraplegia and quadriplegia was in substantial agreement 
with

the AVMA's views but requested a limited recognition in the service animal 
definition for the capuchin monkeys it trains to provide assistance for 
persons

with disabilities.

The organization commented that

 its trained capuchin monkeys undergo scrupulous veterinary examinations to 
ensure that the animal poses no health risks, and are used by individuals 
with

disabilities exclusively in their homes. The organization acknowledged that 
the capuchin monkeys it trains are not suitable necessarily for use in a 
place

of public accommodation but noted that the monkeys may need to be used in 
circumstances that implicate title III coverage, e.g., in the event the 
owner

or handler had to leave home due to an emergency, to visit a veterinarian, 
or for the initial delivery of the monkey to the individual with a 
disability.

This commenter argued that including capuchin monkeys under the service 
animal umbrella would make it easier for individuals with disabilities to 
obtain

reasonable modifications of state and local licencing, health, and safety 
laws that would permit the use of these monkeys. The organization argued 
that

this limited modification to the service animal definition was warranted in 
view of the services these monkeys perform, which enable many individuals 
with

paraplegia and quadriplegia to live and function with increased 
independence.

The Department has considered the potential risks associated with the use of 
nonhuman primates as service animals in places of public accommodations as

well as the information provided to the Department about the benefits that 
trained capuchin monkeys provide to certain individuals with disabilities 
and

has determined that nonhuman primates, including monkeys, will not be 
recognized as service animals for purposes of this rule. However, state and 
local

governments may be required to accommodate home use of such monkeys by 
individuals with disabilities as discussed in connection with Â§ 35.136(a) 
of the

final rule for title II.

Having considered all of the comments about which species should qualify as 
service animals under the ADA, the Department has decided to limit 
acceptable

species to dogs."

block quote end

ShareThis

Find more posts in:

Politics

Medicine & Health

Post a Comment

(Email is required for authentication purposes only. Comments are moderated 
for spam, your comment may not appear immediately. Thanks for waiting.)

Name:

Email Address:

URL:

Comments: (you may use HTML tags for style)

Preview  Alt+v

Post  Alt+s

Having problems commenting? (UPDATED)

list of 5 items

ScienceBlogs home

Last 24 Hours

Syndication Feeds (RSS)

Email Subscriptions

The SB Weekly Recap

list end

Blogs in the Network

All Blogs

Advertisement

Click here to find out more!

Top Five: Most German

list of 5 items

1. Help the real scientists! [Kritisch gedacht]

2. UFO-Angriff auf Windkraftanlage! [Frischer Wind]

3. Wissenschaftler als Frösche und Vögel [Mathlog]

4. Aung San Suu Kyi, Frieden 1991 [Nobel Faces]

5. Nach dem Kohlendioxid das Quecksilber [Geograffitico]

list end

More from ScienceBlogs.de

Search All Blogs

search

Peer-Reviewed Posts from Researchblogging.org

list of 5 items

1. Chocolate as Make-Up

Dr Shock MD PhD

2. Are funny ads worth the money? What makes ads memorable, and why

Cognitive Daily

3. Fisheries and food webs: a whole system approach to cod recovery

The EEB and flow

4. Aging brains lose their connections

Neurophilosophy

5. Sanger sequencing is not dead?

Genetic Future

list end

image

Powered by

SMG Technology

Science News From:

Science News from NYTimes.com

list of 5 items

1. Theory Ties Radio Signal to Universeâ€™s First Stars

2. Japan Seeks Australiaâ€™s Help to Thwart Whaling Opponents

3. Dot Earth: Whale Wars and Bison Burgers

4. Scientist at Work | Rob Holman: So Much to Learn About the Oceans From 
Sand

5. Basics: A Large-Size Focus on Life Lived Small

list end

Get more from NYTimes.com

The Latest From Seedmagazine.com

list of 1 items

Focus

list end

list of 2 items

News

Seed's Daily Zeitgeist: 8/7/2008

list end

list of 9 items

Magazine

Extending Darwinism

Of Primates and Personhood

The Seed State of Science 2008

Preserving Tranquility

Words on the Brain

The Mason's Apprentice

The Statistical Universe

Bacterial Foresight

list end

image

 YES! Send me a free issue of Seed.

SEED issue 1 cover

If I like what I see, I'll receive 5 more issues (6 in all) for just $19.95. 
If I'm not completely satisfied, I'll simply write "cancel" on the invoice

and owe nothing. The free issue is mine to keep.

table with 3 columns and 4 rows

First Name:

Last Name:

Address:

City:

State:

Zip Code:

Email:

submit

table end

(Non-U.S. subscribers,

click here.)

Copyright ©2005-2009 ScienceBlogs LLC ·

Advertise with Seed

 ·

Privacy Policy

 ·

Terms & Conditions

 ·

Contact Us

 ·

Home

Social WebPostSend/Email

what's this?

To ShareThis, click on a service below:

Reddit

Digg

Facebook

MySpace

Delicious

Stumbleupon

Buzz Up!

Mixx

Technorati

Google Bookmarks

Yahoo Bookmarks

Yahoo MyWeb

Windows Live

Propeller

FriendFeed

Newsvine

Xanga

LinkedIn

Blinklist

Furl

more

images/powered-by

Sign In

Craig Borne, Esq.

Equal Opportunity Specialist

Disability Program Manager

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Office of Civil Rights

1200 New Jersey Avenue, Southeast

Suite W43-321

Washington, DC 20590

Office : (202) 493-0627

Fax: (202) 493–2990

Email: craig.borne at dot.gov <mailto:craig.borne at dot.gov>

The information contained in this communication (including any attachments) 
may be confidential and legally privileged. This email may not serve as a 
contractual agreement unless explicit written agreement for this purpose has 
been made. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified 
that any dissemination, distribution, or copying of this communication or 
any of its contents is strictly prohibited. If you have received this 
communication in error, please re-send this communication to the sender 
indicating that it was received in error and delete the original message and 
any copy of it from your computer system.

_______________________________________________
nagdu mailing list
nagdu at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for nagdu:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/gingerkutsch%40yahoo.com

_______________________________________________
nagdu mailing list
nagdu at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nagdu_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for nagdu:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nagdu_nfbnet.org/craig.borne%40dot.gov