Issues Related to Accommodating Animals Traveling Through Airports (2015)

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21 chapter three STATUTORY AND REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS THAT AFFECT TRAVEL OF ANIMALS THROUGH AIRPORTS ADA AND ASSOCIATED REGULATIONS The ADA was signed into law on July 26, 1990, the culmination of the disability rights movement. This movement highlighted the unequal access that the disabled faced in society, in the work place, in the use of publicly available transportation and public accommodations, in state and local govern- ment services, and in telecommunications—access that the non-disabled enjoyed with unfettered access. The ADA codified comprehensive civil rights protection of the disabled through specific regulations for business, transportation, public and private restrooms, buildings and building codes, parking facilities, etc., so that disabled persons could more easily participate in all facets of life (EEOC 2010). The ADA has changed the facilities and services that both airports and airlines must provide to disabled persons concerning airport and aircraft accessibility and assistance and telecommunica- tions accessibility (i.e., Telecommunication Device for the Deaf, or TDD). Airport facilities must be designed to comply with ADA regulations. Although all disabled users must be adequately accommodated, those traveling with service dogs demand additional investment of time, personnel, and capital to meet the special needs of these passengers. Those facilities and services that directly impact animals traveling through airports with handi- capped owners include, among other things, TSA checkpoints for persons with disabilities that are animal-friendly, with personnel trained in the proper clearing of animals. Handicapped-accessible restrooms must be large enough to accommodate a wheelchair and service dog. Service dog relief areas (SARAs) are required, and they must be handicapped accessible. Signage to SARAs must have raised letters and Braille text. Restaurants and lounges must provide access to persons with disabilities and their service dogs. Access to the disabled passenger’s flight must allow for an uneventful boarding of the passenger and his or her accompanying service dog. Moreover, these requirements necessitate up to date, ongoing training for airport and contract employees both in the legal aspects of the ADA and in proper procedures to aid persons with disabilities and their service dogs. The original ADA defined “service animal” as a wide variety of species that perform tasks or give emotional support to the disabled. This created difficulties when some disabled individuals used miniature horses, dwarf pigs, cats, and a host of rodents (gerbils and the like) for tasks and support. Consequently, in March 15, 2011, the definition of a service animal was redefined by the U.S. Attorney General as “any dog that is individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability, including a physical, sensory, psychiatric, intellectual, or other mental disability.” (Note: Under specified circumstances, a miniature horse may qualify as a service animal.) This broad definition includes performing tasks such as non-violent protection or rescue work, guiding people who are blind, alerting people who are deaf, alerting to, protecting, and assisting dur- ing a seizure, pulling a wheelchair, calming a person with mental and neurological disorders during an anxiety attack, or other duties as needed. Service dogs are working dogs; they are not considered to be pets. As such, a service dog must be leashed, harnessed, or in some way tethered to the disabled person. The service dog must be continually under control, well-behaved, safe, and comfortable in crowded situations, and the disabled individual must communicate and control the dog verbally, with gestures, or other effective methods.

22 Airport staff are limited by the ADA to the questions they may ask to verify if the animal is a legitimate service dog. Questions are limited to whether a service dog is required because of a dis- ability, and what tasks or functions the dog has been trained to perform. Under no circumstances can the person be asked about the disability, required to produce medi- cal documentation, or be asked to demonstrate the task the dog has been trained to do. However, Section 35.136 of Title II of the ADA regulations provides two exceptions when an individual with a disability may be asked to remove a service animal from a public facility: the animal is out of control and the animal’s handler does not take effective action to control it; or the animal is not housebroken. Appendix A of this report gives examples of behaviors covered by these two exceptions. AIR CARRIER ACCESS ACT, ASSOCIATED REGULATIONS, AND FAA ADVISORY CIRCULARS The ACAA is Title 49, Section 41705 of the U.S. Code. It prohibits commercial airlines from dis- criminating against passengers with disabilities, and states that “no air carrier may discriminate against any otherwise qualified individual with a disability, by reason of such disability, in the provi- sion of air transportation” (U.S.DOT 14 CFR Part 382, § 382.1 Purpose, p. 3). In 1990, the U.S.DOT issued rules that clearly defined the rights of disabled passengers and the required duties of air carriers under this law. In 2009, the U.S.DOT rewrote a principal portion of the ACAA, known as Part 382 (P382), both adding to and specifying the rules and regulations of all aspects of air travel for disabled persons. Part 382 mandates the obligation to accommodate disabled passengers. This specifies that the carrier may not require advance notice that a person with a disability will be traveling, with the exception of a 48-hour notice if special or non-standard accommodations (such as hookups for a res- pirator or transport of an electric wheelchair) are required. Because airlines are required to provide assistance to disabled persons who need help with boarding, deplaning, and making connections, this may involve the passenger and a service dog, both of which move together through airports and at no charge by the airline. The AACA impacts airports in two crucial ways: If an airport agrees to take over a required function(s) such as providing or moving wheelchairs, specialized carts, escorts and transportation through the airport for disabled persons for the airlines, that passenger may be accompanied by a service dog, thereby adding complexity to care of the disabled passenger. Additionally, the airport is charged with designing, providing, and maintaining SARAs that must be handicapped accessible, accessible in a timely manner, and user-friendly for the disabled person regardless of the disability (sight, hearing, inability to walk and move through an airport without assistance, etc.). Requirements for SARAs state that: • Carriers must consult with local service animal training organizations to establish SARA; • The SARA must be within a reasonable distance of the gates; • The SARA must be accessible to all persons with disabilities and good for all sizes of dogs; • The SARA may not double as a smoking area; • The SARA must be equipped with a trash receptacle for waste disposal and be maintained regularly so that the area is clean of debris and dog waste (e.g., so blind users do not track waste away with them); and • The SARA must be labeled on online and in-flight maps. SARAs are discussed in detail in chapter four of this report.

23 What the new ACAA regulations failed to address was that areas must be safe, which can be interpreted as being within the secure area (airside) beyond TSA checkpoints. Those SARAs that are outside of the TSA checkpoints may also fail the “reasonable distance” test. The regulations mandate “reasonable distance” but do not address the amount of time required to use a SARA, which may be increased greatly if the passenger and his or her service dog have to exit security to use a landside SARA and return through security. The FAA issues Advisory Circular (ACs) for the purpose of guidelines and adherence to all aspects of air transportation and its associated facilities. FAA Advisory Circular 150/5360-14 addresses all airport accommodations for persons with disabilities, which includes SARAs. As of November 2014, the FAA was in the process of revising specific requirements for service dog/pet relief areas in airports. This revision of AC 150/5360 may affect the number and location of service animal relief areas, which in turn would affect capital and trained personnel requirements, as well as possible rearrangement of current facilities. ANIMAL WELFARE ACT, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE–ANIMAL AND PLANT HEALTH INSPECTION SERVICE, AND ASSOCIATED REGULATIONS The AWA of 1966 and the USDA cannot be viewed separately where it pertains to the movement and humane treatment of animals. The law sets the basic guidelines and grants the USDA the power to develop and promulgate detailed standards for the care of animals and the legal enforcement of those standards. The AWA (Public Law 89-544) authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to regulate the transport, sale, standards of care, and handling of dogs, cats, nonhuman primates, guinea pigs, hamsters, and rabbits intended to be used in research or “for other purposes,” including pets, breeding animals, and all uses in the private sector. The AWA provides definitions (such as “person,” “animal,” “commerce,” “dealer,” “cat,” and “dog”). The act provides the framework and outline by which the Secretary of Agriculture is granted authority to formulate and implement such rules, regula- tions, orders, fees, and so on as may be deemed necessary in order to fulfill its proposes. The AWA gives the Secretary of Agriculture the most powerful and far-reaching authority to affect the handling, care, and transport of the aforementioned species by air. Current regulations can be and often are updated and changed. The rule-making agency of the USDA with respect to animal regulations under the AWA is the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). APHIS is “a multi-faceted Agency with a broad mission area that includes protecting and promoting U.S. agricultural health, regulating genetically engineered organisms, administering the Animal Welfare Act and carrying out wildlife damage management activities” (USDA–APHIS 2014b). APHIS is also charged with prevention or cessation of the inhumane treatment of animals in commerce, breeding, handling, transport, and basic care. With regard to animals traveling through airports, the animal must meet APHIS health regula- tions in order to be transported either on public or private transport within a state, across state lines, or internationally. APHIS sets the minimum criteria, while each state may have more stringent or different criteria that the animal must meet in order to travel out of state. The minimum requirement for an animal to travel is a veterinary-issued health certificate that verifies the animal is current on required rabies vaccinations. However, each state sets its own rabies vaccination criteria with respect to the age that vaccination is first required and whether that state accepts three-year adult rabies vac- cinations or requires annual vaccination. Some states require vaccination for other communicable diseases (canine parvovirus, canine distemper virus, etc.). APHIS offices in each state are staffed with a veterinarian whose duties include, but are not limited to, approving international travel health certificates. Although APHIS has the complete listing of requirements for an animal to be transported out of the United States to a foreign country and is charged with verifying that each animal meets the requirements for the country of destination, those veterinary and health standards are set by each

24 country (USDA–APHIS 2014c–g). APHIS also sets guidelines in order to ensure humane treatment and handling of animals both in and out of airports (USDA 2014c). In addition to requirements set by APHIS, the USFWS sets the standards for the importing and exporting all fish and wildlife. Wildlife includes all wild mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, and invertebrates such as insects, crustaceans, arthropods, mollusks and coelenterates. A wild animal that is bred in captivity, even for generations, is still considered to be wildlife (USFWS 2014). INTERNATIONAL AIR TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION LIVE ANIMAL REGULATIONS The IATA sets minimum worldwide standards for the safe transport of all kinds of live animals by commercial airlines, including their travel through airports. IATA sets the standards for containers in which animals are shipped, how those containers must be handled when in airports and on air- craft, and acceptable methods of moving said containers. IATA standards impact airports because of climate controls, machinery, and employee training, as well as the space required to move different species through airports (IATA 2013). CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL LEGISLATION AND REGULATIONS The CDC set those standards and regulations for all species of animals that are imported into the United States, including, but not limited to, vaccination requirements, quarantine, testing for dis- eases, and surveillance of diseases. The mission of the CDC with respect to animals is the control and prevention of communicable diseases, with an emphasis on zoonotic diseases (Sinclair et al. 2014). The only interaction the CDC has with an airport concerning animals traveling through it is in the event that an animal does not have all required health clearances or appears to be unhealthy. In the case of a dog or non-human primate lacking required health clearances or appearing unhealthy, that animal will be held in quarantine, released to a licensed veterinarian, or returned to its country of origin (CDC 2014). U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION LEGISLATION AND REGULATIONS The CBP is responsible for allowing or barring all animals arriving into the United States from for- eign countries. CBP facilitates the release of imported animals by acting as a clearing agent of the federal government. CBP responsibilities include verifying that all shipping documents and health clearances are valid and complete; and that the owner or agent asking for release of the animal is the legitimate owner. If required by CDC regulations, some species may be moved directly into quaran- tine facilities. An animal lacking required health clearances can be returned to its originating country. CBP personnel are located in airports to clear passengers and animals carried on flights. There is a CBP office and facility either on or adjacent to airports. The only interaction CBP has with airports and the movement of animals through airports is with those international airports that have inbound international flights (CBP 2014a). U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE AND CONVENTION ON INTERNATIONAL TRADE IN ENDANGERED SPECIES OF WILD FAUNA AND FLORA The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) was proposed in 1963 at a meeting of members of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and adopted in July 1975. The mission of this agreement among 80 countries is to ensure that trade species of wild animals and flora do not threaten the survival of those species (CITES 1979–1983). CITES screening occurs only at certain airports in the United States. Although the agreement addresses which animals, animal byproducts, flora, and fauna can be imported into the United States, it is CBP that stops the import of animals and products that are not allowed into the U.S. There is virtually no contact with or impact on the movement of animals through airports with the exception of animals that will be denied entrance into the United States and either confiscated or returned to the country of origin. That, again, is handled by CBP (2014b).

25 STATE AND LOCAL HEALTH LAWS AND REGULATIONS All animals that are shipped on airlines must meet the requirements of each state in order to ship an animal into that state. Each state may have different health criteria for an animal entering that state. All states and territories require a veterinarian-issued health certificate, and each jurisdiction may use its own or USDA health certificate form. Veterinarians are charged with ensuring each animal meets the state of destination’s specific health requirements. The responsibility to have all required vaccinations and tests falls on the agent who will deliver the animal to the airport for shipping. However, it is unreasonable to expect each the airport to be knowledgeable about or communicate ever-changing rules and regulations for shipping animals.