Brea Jones/ Staff Writer
Service dogs and emotional support animals are an extremely important part of people’s lives when they need something to make them feel more stable and independent.
FIU does have students who need a service dog or ESA to help their everyday life.
However, students living in dormitories often try to claim their pets as service animals or ESA simply to have a pet.
This is a very common practice and no matter how harmless some may believe it is, it’s not appropriate.
It’s important for students who wish to have a pet to go about it the right way.
Not only do you receive repercussions for lying, but your animal suffers as well.
Students who are caught lying about the status of an animal may have it taken away or removed from the building and there would be nothing the student could do about it.
Students who don’t register their animal may also suffer the same fate. Now their animal is misplaced and confused about something that was completely out of their control.
It’s unfair for some students to get away with cheating the system.
There are plenty of students who would love to have a pet on campus but because of the rules, they refrain from getting one.
Students who wish to have a pet while living on a campus should speak with the building manager and see if they allow service animals or ESAs and figure out how to correctly apply to have an animal in the building.
Don’t just get a fake certificate online. Not only is this illegal, but it’s also morally wrong.
Students need to be sure to follow the rules. I’m sure you can hold off for four or so years on having a pet.
If you try to cheat the rules you may get a harsher punishment than what you intended and your pet may suffer as well and that’s simply not fair and it is selfish.
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The opinions presented within this page do not represent the views of PantherNOW Editorial Board. These views are separate from editorials and reflect individual perspectives of contributing writers and/or members of the University community.
Photo by Violet Giddings on Flickr
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