BY: SAMANTHA BARTLETT, DVM
La Trobe University recently published a study in Animals proposing standardized titles for support animals worldwide. Dr. Tiffani Howell, the lead author of the study from the School of Psychology and Public Health, points out the lack of consistency in job titles for support animals can be confusion and can have legal implications. Because certain support animals have access to areas where most animals are not allowed, it is important to have clear definitions.
Dr. Howell goes on to point out that there are legal implications associated with different animal support roles. Since not all support animal roles are the same, Dr. Howell said, “it’s important to be able to quickly and easily distinguish which animals can, for example, enter a café with their owner, and which ones can’t.” By establishing clearly defined terms, much of this confusion can be eliminated. An animal’s title role can also affect financial support provided by government organizations.
The La Trobe research led by Dr. Howell represents a collaboration of over 100 researchers, practitioners and end-users of support animals from all over the world, making it the first of its kind. The collaborators met in workshops at the International Society for Anthrozoology conferences in 2018 and 2020 to create definitions for these roles. The paper defined nine terms for different support roles filled by animals. These include assistance animal, companion animal, educational/school support animal, emotional support animal, facility animal, service animal, skilled companion animal, therapy animal and visitation animal. The writers recommend removing or phasing out the terms skilled companion animal and service animal due to their similarities with other terms in the list.
The authors of the paper acknowledge that as the roles of support animals evolve, so will the definitions of their roles. They further acknowledge that the implications worldwide are preliminary and further research is needed to consider the impact of these definitions on individual countries and cultures.
The full report can be accessed at https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/12/15/1975/htm.
