Civil Rights and The Law
Customers at a restaurant say an unexpected guest in a nearby booth was unappetizing and downright scary... "We had just gotten our meal and in walks this lady and man, and the lady had [a] snake around her neck at first, and it started to slither off of her neck down into the booth behind her," said Lisa Loeffelholz...the woman holding the snake handed it across the table to the man.. It was allowed to stay through dinner because the man wearing the snake called it his service animal.
In an era where environmental pollution is being replaced with institutional pollution, I'm not surprised when someone insists that their pet snake is a "service animal." But we are still a nation of laws, and there is a law that applies to service animals. The law requires that a service animal be a DOG. The reason is that dog's are unique in their ability to provide the kind of assistance that people need to overcome the loss of one of their senses, or their mobility. Not only is a dog naturally suited for this, but they can be trained to do it unobtrusively.
But, the real irony in this 'snake case' lies within the following statement:
"Management didn't know what to do, because they didn't want to violate anybody's rights....
How many times have we seen various restaurant's around the country violate a citizen's civil right to bear arms by posting a "gun free zone" sign on their door.
If only all restaurants were as concerned with their customers' rights as the one in Nixa, Mo.
/fl