Skip to Main Content

How dogs, ducks and horses end up as emotional support animals — and allowed on planes

February 02, 2018

CBC radio talks to Kelly Doctor about emotional support & service animals

Following media stories about a woman who tried to take her support peacock on an airplane, CBC’s The Current took a look at the increasing number of people who travel with support animals.

Piya Chattopadhyay interviewed Kelly Doctor, who discussed the law governing support and service animals.  You can listen to the entire interview here.

Toronto lawyer Kelly Doctor specializes in human rights and labour law and has seen a spike of these cases at her practice.

She is worried that the law hasn’t kept pace with the growing need for emotional support.

Doctor points out how complex these situations can be,complicated by others who are afraid of animals, have allergies or religious objections.

“Emotional support animals can be difficult because if they don’t have specific and stringent training, it becomes a lot more difficult to know if they’re going to be safe in any kind of environment.”

Lawyers

Kelly Doctor

Practice Areas

Human Rights Law