Conclusions: (1) Rabies is rare among ferrets, and extremely rare when you discount cases where the vaccine actually caused the rabies. (2) There is, indeed, a vaccine for rabies.
What about other students in the class? Do they have rights? What if I am absolutely terrified of mustelidae? What if my anxiety requires me to bring my mouse to class, and the ferret eats my mouse? What if I’m allergic to weasels?
For all these reasons, I think she ought not be able to take her ferret to class unless her reasons are much stronger than what we’re seeing. Of course, your objections would hold no sway if we were talking about a seeing eye dog.
Is anyone agreeing with her that she ought to be able to take the ferret to class?
Daniel
Seeing eye dogs are very well trained, of course, but I do wonder what the situation is when an animal assistant is in a room with someone who has allergies or anxieties about dogs.
I think if I were a teacher, I’d ask the class if it were OK. If every person in the class was OK with the animal, I’d let her bring it to class. Of course, she’s not going to get that kind of accomodation always, and in all situations, so a classroom might be a good way for her to start learning how to live and function in the real world.
How good is your lawyer?
The parallel to smoking is a good one. If someone blows the smoke through a window or vent, it won’t aggravate anyone but the most allergic. The ash and butts could be dealt with in a similar manner. Smoking alleviates many anxiety symptoms, including my own. What is the difference between banning the smoking of comfort sticks with a vent and banning a comfort animal?
Also, ferrets STINK. They’re related to minks and skunks, and have a very distinctive odor that is hard to scrub away. Any dorm room that contained a ferret is going to be bothersome for the next couple of people who have to live there, and intolerable for the allergic. Even if some dorms did allow pets, I guarantee they wouldn’t allow ferrets or other stinky animals.
I have seen skunks and ferrets and didn’t notice a smell. Skunks don’t stink – they have a stink bomb, but they don’t actually smell bad themselves. It might be one of those animals where the boys stink and not the girls – a lot of male animals have a musky odor.
Just trying to keep things complicated. I’m actually against skunks and ferrets as pets. I don’t think weasels are really domesticated animals. If they were, I’d have a pet otter (otters are cool).
The DOJ Link suggested to me that the person with the registered disability takes precedence. That may not be fair, but I think that’s the way the law works.
Daniel
Ferrets most assuredly have a ‘distinctive’ odor. Some vets and owners remove the scent glands of the animals to reduce (but not eliminate) the odor. We found a friendly ferret in the street about 2 years ago and kept it overnight in the garage before turning it over to a ferret rescue group. The critter stunk up the garage during its brief stay here and the rescue house was quite odoriferous! I suppose some folks don’t mind the odor, or possibly even like it. I know I think my dog smells nice. But, I can certainly understand those who think ferrets stink. They do!
I’m opposed to the girl bringing the pet to class. Ferrets can be rascally and would likely disrupt the class(es) with their antics, feeding, eliminating, and odor (when not asleep). I, personally, would resent paying for school and not getting my perceived value for it because some girl needs her pet there. I just don’t think she’s ready to go away to school if she needs that kind of security.
Ah, I forgot she was working from the POV that the university is breaking the law.
What’s wrong with her filing a complaint on the basis of her feelings is that her feelings have nothing to do with the law.
Unless the ferret has been trained as a councelor, she is creating a big stink for absolutely no purpose. If the Justice Department, against all odds, was moved by her plight and altered the ADA to redefine “service animal” to include animals like her ferret, the broader implications of allowing people to bring any pet anywhere would be unavoidable.
Suggesting the university ought to make an exception “just for her” is silly – because many other students could argue that the “no pets” rule shouldn’t apply to them. Never mind the 1-in-10 people who have anxiety disorders, there are countless other psychological conditions that people might feel are mitigated by the presence of their pet. What about them? Tell them all to arse off, because the university only revolves around this one girl?
People have recognized that pets don’t belong in class since… well, how old is Mary Had a Little Lamb, anyway?
I’m suprised at how many people here don’t seem to realize that the university is obligated to consider all students, not just this one girl. As precedents go, this one would be a technicolor bitch.
I haven’t the faintest idea how impaired this girl is, the reasons for it or possible palliatives. That’s for medical folks to figure out but qualifying a ferret as a medical/emotional necessity is pretty far out there.
But one thing is for damned certain: most college students are stressed to their limits at some time or other. Could be over grades, finances, bad instructors, horrible courses, broken romances, etc. but stress and anxiety are pretty standard for any group of students.
Where does a university draw the line on pets into classrooms as stress relievers? The issue isn’t just one ferret. It’s potentially dogs, cats, guinea pigs, rats, gerbils and (in my college days) a guy passionately attached to a huge iguana named John Wayne. Any university would have to consider an immediate onslaught of demands for similar rights and classrooms would quickly resemble petting zoos. Most classrooms are overloaded with anxieties, boredom and stray pheromones anyway and that’s just from the students. More restless and dubiously socialized critters would just compound the fracture.
Okay, maybe this girl’s ferret really does keep her calm and functioning. If so, great but she doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Everybody around her can legitimately expect equal consideration of their rights, whether those rights are freedom from distractions, allergy issues, phobias or demands for their own beloved pets allowed in.
Maybe rules can and should be loosened up but the implications go way beyond one girl’s ferret. I’m not unsympathetic to her but there’s no way in hell she will be able to to tote a comfort-critter along through work life. Universities aren’t cozy bell jars from reality. IMO her university would be negligent to allow her to do this, both for her sake and the sake of all the other students.
Larry Mudd, I’ve known you too long to ever think that you are callous. So I find it easier to address your points hoping that you won’t take it personally. I certainly won’t. Please keep in mind that as the situation stands now, I agree that the ferret should not be allowed in the classroom.
You are speaking the the legalities. I am speaking of the realities. A student can trip over a guide dog or be injured by one – even if the school cannot be sued.
Filing a complaint is a “big stink”? Getting relief for a debilitating disorder serves no purpose? Maybe the ADA rule should have some exceptions when the disability does not require a trained animal. Or maybe ferrets can be trained not do do all of the usual offensive things. Or maybe it can be trained to quietly snuggle into her neck and light her cigarettes. 
[quoteIf the Justice Department, against all odds, was moved by her plight and altered the ADA to redefine “service animal” to include animals like her ferret, the broader implications of allowing people to bring any pet anywhere would be unavoidable.
<snip>
Never mind the 1-in-10 people who have anxiety disorders, there are countless other psychological conditions that people might feel are mitigated by the presence of their pet. What about them? Tell them all to arse off, because the university only revolves around this one girl?[/quote]
I am unable to follow your logic here. Guide dogs assist the blind. There was no great rush to allow people to bring any pet anywhere then, was there? What makes you think that a ferret would do the trick?
Anxiety is more common, but I really don’t think that have an actual panic disorder is one in ten. Certainly, debilitating anxiety disorder – diagnosed by a psychiatrist and designated such by the government – is lower still. Just because people claim to have a disability does not mean that they fall under the ADA.
I have never seen any studies that cigarettes calm anything beyond a little nervousness or the jitters. I do know that many mental health units in hospitals still have smoking areas, but I just assumed that they don’t want to put patients through nicotine withdrawal on top of everything else. Do you have a cite for this? (Just interested in finding an excuse for my continued smoking.)
Pax
Actually, according to the law, they do have to allow service animals. I don’t believe the teacher or class has any say over the matter.
Of course, if you have someone with allergies, or anxiety with dogs, they’d probably be able to work out some kind of alternative (switching to another class, for example.)
The crux is, of course, that the ferret isn’t really a service animal, and as attached as she is to it, she’d best leave him at home, and try and see about a properly trained and licensed guide dog instead.
In all seriousness, I’d be more inclined to allow the woman to videotape the class or hook up some sort of a/v life feed (at her own expense) so she can watch from the security of her pet friendly apartment, than allow her to bring a ferret to class.
As others have said, it’s not just about HER needs, but an attempt to balance her needs with the needs of the other students in her class.
I keep flashing back to Twain’s hilarious guide to appropriate behavior at funerals: just fumble tactfully at your hanky if not an immediate relation, don’t quibble when oratory for the deceased departs from known facts…and don’t bring your dog.
It’s easier to fake having an anxiety disorder (or any invisible illness) than it is to fake being blind. There’s also a greater range of anxiety conditions than there is “blindness conditions;” i.e. if someone is blind, that’s it, but someone can have tremendous amounts of anxiety but good coping strategy (or maybe just a lot of shame) so they appear to be quite normal, while another person might have less anxiety but might have been raised to depend on others so they feel more entitled to special consideration.
Here’s a study (PDF) that shows mentally ill people smoke at a much higher rate than non-MI people. And another one, that says that mental illness usually predates smoking and that nicotine is often used to self medicate. Here’s another study, though, that seems to show just the opposite, that smoking causes mental illness, and in particular anxiety disorders. I think that’s kind of an out-there proposition, but I’ll link to it in fairness.
Thanks, Zoe. Hope you know I think you’re the cat’s pajamas.
Okay, now that that’s established, let’s argue. 
Okay. I was just pointing that out because your comment was in response to HPL, when he raised the possibility that the university could be “opening themselves up for another lawsuit if the ferret causes some kind of injury…”
If we’re just talking about the possibility that someone could get bitten or something, and not the university’s need to protect itself, there’s still a huge difference between an off-the-rack ferret and a trained service animal like a guide dog. A guide dog is trained to very high standards. They are trained to ignore all distractions from their specific task, and stay focused on the job that they’re doing. They are trained to ignore a broad range of strong visual, auditory, and olfactory stimuli that would drive an untrained pet into a frenzy of uncontrolled activity. They are trained to eliminate on command, remain continent for extended periods, and communicate specifically if they have an unavoidable and immediate need. They’re trained to work anywhere that people can work, take it in stride, and not create any disturbance. The risk of injury from a trained service animal is very, very low.
The chances that a pet-store ferret received as a gift might act unpredictably with negative consequences in a crowded, stimulating environment – not so low.
Yes, calling the DOJ down on someone when it is abundantly clear that the law your invoking doesn’t apply to the situation at all, in an attempt to get around rules that you don’t like, is in my opinion, a big stink.
The result of that would be that millions of people would be allowed to bring untrained animals anywhere they went. This is totally impractical.
Absolutely. If this animal was successfully trained to behave in public situations, and trained in a specific behaviour that objectively helped mitigate panic attacks, the whole thing would be a non-issue. It would be a service animal, and not just a pet. Nobody would say “boo.” I don’t know if a ferret can be trained to that standard, but if she went that route instead of simply declaring that her pet was a service animal, then everybody would be happy.
As it stands, she’s just asking for a pet to be allowed in class. Sorry, but whether it’s comforting or not for her, there are good reasons that pets aren’t allowed everywhere, and good reasons that service animals are exempt from prohibition. The action by which the animal helps her isn’t significantly different from the action by which spoons are a comfort to the woman who’s the subject of the documentary Autism is a World. She clutches a spoon to keep her calm and allow her to attend classes without getting overwhelmed. Fine, no rule against that, and it doesn’t have any potential for disturbing other students. If the object was a prohibited object, like a bowie knife or a pet ferret, there would be no compelling reason to set aside the rules for her, no matter how much comfort she derived from it. She’d have to find another way to cope. One that’s allowed.
The fundamental difference between an actual service animal and a pet. The ferret is a pet. A guide dog is a working animal. You don’t just throw a harness on Fido and poof he’s a guide dog. This is the crux of the whole thing. There’s nothing that distinguishes her ferret as a service animal, except for her existential assertion that it is one. This redefines “service animal” to such an inclusive term that it’s actually meaningless.
A generalized anxiety disorder can be debilitating, and I don’t see that you could argue that only people with panic disorders deserve to take “comfort” animals anywhere they wish to. Anyway, according to the NIMH, panic disorders affect 1 in 75 people.
I doubt that we will ever see any studies into the efficacy of smoking for handling panic attacks. Nicotine does have some anti-anxiety effect though. I have personally observed people scramble for their smokes at the onset of a panic attack, and I’m sure plenty of anecdotal reports of this sort of self-medication are available.
Please don’t take this as a reason to keep smoking, though. (I’m just quitting this month myself, after going from an occasional smoker to a pack-a-day guy in an alarmingly short time. Yuck.) I have read (can’t find where) that it has been hypothesized that the anti-anxiety effects of nicotine are peculiar to nicotine-dependent people. It’s also possible that, for some people who smoke when they start to experience a panic attack, the “comfort” that comes from smoking a cigarette is of the same variety that comes from cuddling a pet or contemplating a spoon. We’re not going to see anyone spend time and money researching this any time soon, though – because, whether it helps or not, it’s pretty clear that any benefit is going to be outweighed by the detriments of smoking.
The ferret isn’t a service animal.
No. You don’t tell people with allergies to just change classes. That’s refusing to make reasonable accomodations for a very common condition, and in violation of the ADA.
Then why do you bother with the first sentence?
You’ve got to be shitting me. Animal assistants aren’t trained to comfort people. They’re trained to assist them. You’re going to be on the waiting list a pretty fucking long time in front of people with physical disabilities if you just want a trained animal assistant because you feel calmed by its presence.
I don’t think anyone is denying that. You wrote:
and I and Guin were saying that, as the teacher, that wouldn’t be your prerogative. (I assume that “animal assistant” in the above is a synonym for “service animal”; please let me know if I’m mistaken).
I don’t believe it is in violation of the ADA, although I could be wrong. From Disability Rights.org’s Faq:
I don’t believe that an allergy is always covered, and a bit of Googling backs that up: the DOJ says that allergies are not automatically covered:
However, another site suggests that allergic employees are covered, and by extension I’d think students would be as well:
So it looks like if the allergy is really severe, then the school would have to accommodate you by providing better ventilation, face masks, etc. Again, the teacher would not have the option of polling the class to decide whether to let a service animal in.
Although, it just occurred to me: in that post, were your two paragraphs not connected, and the second one was talking not about real service animals but about snuggly ferrets? If so, ignore all this :).
Daniel
While our ferret can calmly stay in a shoulder bag for short periods of time, if sufficiently bribed with dried fruit plus a bit or two of sweetened breakfast cereal, he wouldn’t stay calm for hours on end in a school setting.
Ferrets tolerate cold better than heat. In nature, they live in the cool earth, which is why ferret breeders have great success transporting them in unheated commercial airliner luggage compartments. If this college is a campus of older buildings whose temperature controls in the winter consist of full-on or full-off steam to radiators, the poor thing will die. Indeed, the usual reason for our taking the ferret in a store or restaurant with us (BTW, he’s usually undetected as he tends to fall asleep promptly after treat time) is that we’re travelling with him on summer vacation and he’d die in the hot car.
I understand that the school in question is in Texas. Knowing that A/C units can and do fail at the most inopportune moments, the ferret may die in that bag during summer months as well if you don’t have a blue-ice pack wrapped in a towel and tucked into a corner of the bag as insurance. Can she get back to her dorm fridge frequently enough to recharge her ice supply?
And then there’s the question of toileting. While the breeds of dog commonly used as service animals can be trained to hold things in for long periods of time until you have the time to walk them, ferrets do what they want when they want.
Cleaning a small amount released during a short rest stop is no problem , but an all-day supply in a small bag? Yecch!
I’m sorry to come to this party late, but I really had to comment on this. I love pets. I have had some four footed mammel of the canine, feline, persuasion, my whole life. This included while I was in college. I have to say, pets in college are a bad idea.
I was brought up to be a conciencious pet owner, but there was seldom enough money to do basic vet service so most of the time we hit the vet was in an emergancy and with my parents footing the bill. I ran into many many bad pet owners at that time as well. People who thought fixing their dog was mean (hell I had one roomate who thought that training his 95 pound lab was mean) or people who would ditch that cat when they left for the summer were common. I know that the humane society in any college town is innundated with animals in late May.
My first cat dissapeared because one roomate kept letting her out while I was at school. My second one had to go live with my parents after I left school because I couldn’t bring my cat with me where I wound up. With all the best intent, I was a lousy pet owner at the time and I saw lots around me who were substantialy worse. I see no reason that any University should get in the possition to condone what is likely to be an increase for demand for the humane society and bad outcome for pets.
As or this girl, I think perhaps if she badly needs the comfort of a service animal, she needs to get a real one. One that can be trained to hold its bowels, has a lifespan of longer than 3 years, doesn’t need constant activity and doesn’t stink. It seems to me that what she wants this animal for, is not within what a ferret is, and strikes me as terribly unkind to the ferret.