"Creature Comfots"

In her 2009 article entitled “Creature Comforts” Rebecca Skloot begins by telling the story of a blind woman named Ann Edie out for an evening stroll with her miniature guide horse named Panda. This may seem a little strange, but guide horses have been around since the early 2000s. In fact, some people believe that miniature horses are better than guide dogs; these horses are “mild-mannered, trainable, and less threatening than large dogs” plus with their eyes, they have the ability to see nearly 360-degrees. Above all else, these animals can be serviced for around thirty years, that’s the service life of five to seven dogs. Miniature horses aren’t the only taboo service animals, there is also monkeys, goats, and parrots. All of these animals help their owners in some way and do a good job at it too. If a service animal help is able to help its owner in any way possible wouldn’t society want that? Wouldn’t they want it not only for the safety of the person in need of the service animal but also for their own safety? I would certainly think so, especially in the case of Jim Eggers, a man with psychotic tendencies. If his parrot Sadie helps calm him down before he even realizes he’s angry it seems like it would be best for all of us. In my opinion, we should allow any type of service animal to go wherever their owner goes and have repercussions for all of the business that deny them access. After all, how would you like it if an establishment denied you access because they thought your service animal wasn’t a necessity?