Species?

[Amber]

Is there any limitation on species that can be used as an ESA?  I know cats and dogs obviously, but what about other small animals - hamsters, gerbils, rats, rabbits, chinchillas, guinea pigs?  How about lizards, iquanas, geckos, salamandars, etc?  Trantulas?  Fish?  Hermit Crabs?  Is there any regulation whatsoever as long as it is therapeutically beneficial?

[Nianhel]

Interesting question. Does that mean somebody can have an emotional support alpaca in no pets housing?

[Amber]

That is what I was wondering...where do you draw the line?  Horse?  Giraffe?  Elephant?  Beluga whale?

I would like a gazelle as an ESA, think I can convince the YWCA to allow that?

[labs4ever]

nope because the wording also includes  "reasonable acomidation."   This means  a whale would not be reasonable accomidation. 


IF this is for your rule thingy I would simply state something like  Emotional support aninals   can include other types of animals  like dogs and cats, birds,  gerbals and  hamsters but not limmited to those species or something like that.

[Amber]

It is actually more for personal curiosity - obviously I couldn't have a gazelle, whale, or giraffe, as they aren't even allowed as normal pets because they are wild animals.  I was trying to make a joke.  I was just wondering if there were any rules anywhere that stated that certain animals were or weren't allowed.

[labs4ever]

I know you were joking. I am sorry I didn't make that clear in my post,   as far as I know an ESA can be any domestic animal. 

[Magesteff]

I don't know that there are limitation since ESAs are not granted public access. I would think that "reasonable accomodation would include any smallish animal that can be kept in a cage or aquarium (i.e. fish, gerbils, birds, hampsters, lizards, snakes) as these generally do not impact the common living areas.

Now start carrying around your 10 foot albino boa and you may have a problem with the apartment management office.

[Spectrum]

There is really no species limitation in the law itself, but the landlord can place species limitations on it. For example, there's really no reason a cat or a bird can't provide emotional support instead of a Great Dane or miniature horse. If you already HAVE the animal, though, you can make a better case for yourself because you already have a bond with the animal. In that case, maybe the Great Dane would be a reasonable accommodation (though I doubt there are many cases where a horse would be).

[Samwich]

You could say, "Oh livestock would obviously be out," but there's pigs, miniature equines, and even pet sheep and goats. Are there mini alpacas? I almost hate to look.  I'm not even going to think about the whale. Too late, I've already pictured "Mini Beluga Whale Rescue." *Sigh*

I know I've been in rescue too long when my automatic thought upon hearing a new type of pet is "X rescue." 

[Kirsten]

It's based on reasonableness like it is for SDs. Dangerous species can be excluded, as can those that would disrupt others' enjoyment of their homes, perhaps by being particularly noisy or stinky. If the ESA is acquired after tenancy begins, the landlord can place some limitations on species, breed, and size among other things. It would be extremely for a landlord to exclude common pet species such as dogs, cats, pet birds, and fish as ESAs. They probably could exclude exotic species. Reasonableness is the key. A common species would suffice in most cases unless there was a specific need, such as allergies. An animal whose presence caused the landlord's insurance premiums to go up could be considered an undue burden.

So are there limits? Yes. Is there a specific list of what is and is not allowed? No. Neither SDs nor ESAs are even mentioned explicitly in either statutory or regulatory laws under the FHAA. It all comes down to whether a specific modification to rules or policies would be reasonable.

[Magesteff]

You could say, "Oh livestock would obviously be out," but there's pigs, miniature equines, and even pet sheep and goats. Are there mini alpacas?

Look at it from a noise and housebreaking view then: dogs can be trained to keep barking to a minimum and housebroken, and cats are fairly quiet and use litter boxes,  some small cage furries (gerbils, mice, hampsters) and some species of birds are generally confined to cages unless under supervision of the owner. When you get to livestock, there is more of a noise issue (hooves, and bleeting) and housebreaking issues; while miniature horses are allowed under the current ADA rules as service animals, you still have hooves that would create noise and possibly harm flooring - not to mention housebreaking issues.

As Kirsten said "reasonable" would include what is commonly accepted as a pet species, and not farm or exotics.

[Kirsten]

Many cities have ordinances against livestock inside the city limits

[Samwich]

I was actually kidding! The whale got me. Emotional support whale! 

[Amber]

Wow, this is funny, I was googling random people/things and decided to search for Maigee by her show name and this is one of the pages that came up, but only two pages from SDC came up.

By the way, it might be a good idea to remove yourself from the web site www.spokeo.com it has lots of information about you...go to privacy and then enter your name and e-mail.

[sunshineone]

I have a variance for my land for 4 geese and a goat because of ESA.
I had to go to the zoning board to get it.