“As you will have observed, an increasing number of your neighbors have been keeping company with their pets in human-only establishments, cohabiting with them in animal-unfriendly apartment buildings and dormitories, and taking them (free!) onto airplanes—simply by claiming that the creatures are their licensed companion animals and are necessary to their mental well-being. No government agency keeps track of such figures…  Contrary to what many business managers think, having an emotional-support card merely means that one’s pet is registered in a database of animals whose owners have paid anywhere from seventy to two hundred dollars to one of several organizations, none of which are recognized by the government.” (Marx, 10/20/14)

“Pets Allowed” by Patricia Marx appears in the October 20 issue of The New Yorker.  It’s one insightful, disturbing and funny read which I highly recommend. You can draw your own conclusion on the need, within this matter, for some form of government regulation.  Either way, Marx clearly makes her point.  And naturally, I agree with her.