Weird News

[Lamplighter]

This makes me proud to be a resident of PDX.

No more 'service snakes' on TriMet. But what about guide horses? Saddle up, Portland
Published: Wednesday, January 19, 2011, 8:22 PM *** Updated: Thursday, January 20, 2011, 7:53 AM
By Joseph Rose, The Oregonian

The days when uncaged cats, monkeys, snakes and chickens can ride TriMet buses and trains
as "service animals" (it happens more than you might think) are numbered.
But guide horses? Well, those will be good to go under new conduct rules
Oregon's largest transit agency is expected to approve next week.

Yep. You read that right. Guide horses.

TriMet says it's just following the lead of the Americans with Disabilities Act,
which will narrow the definition of service animals in March to dogs
and miniature horses trained to be guides for people who are blind or deaf.

John Dineen, spokesman for the Northwest Americans with Disabilities Act Center in Seattle, said the list has strayed into the realm of the far-fetched, which isn't good for the law's image.

Dineen brought up the 2009 case of a southwest Washington resident
who walked into a restaurant with his pet boa constrictor.
The man claimed he needed the snake because it alerted him to pending seizures by giving him a hug.

Keep Portland weird