A Man in North Carolina Brings a Bag of Snakes to the Library
Pictured: A bag of snakes to represent the one brought into the Madison County Library
Service animals are pets that are allowed in public places like schools, restaurants, and grocery stores. They are usually used for emotional support for anxiety or PTSD or used for medical assistance for the blind or someone that suffers from frequent seizures. Service animals are typically dogs, sometimes cats, but any animal can be registered as a service animal. The problem with that is some animals might not be accepted in public. Someone might freak out if they saw a person with say, a snake wrapped around their arm.
This is, kind of, what happened at a public library in Madison County, North Carolina. A man walked in with a bag. A girl sitting close by became concerned when it started moving. She felt uncomfortable and left, but before doing so she told the librarian, Peggy Goforth, that this guy had a snake in the bag. The man not only had one snake but a dozen snakes that he poured onto the table. He introduced them as his pets, being proud of them and not seeing the problem of bringing a dozen snakes into a public library because to him they were just like having a dog there.
The bag of snakes was just the beginning. Within that same year Goforth had to send away a monkey, a chicken, a parrot, an iguana, and more. This led to a new policy that only service dogs are allowed in the library. The policy follows guidelines outlined in the Americans with Disabilities Act. The policy also narrowed the acceptance of service dogs to exclude emotional support dogs.
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Questions:
1. Why do you think this man decided to bring his pet snakes to the library in a bag?
2. Do you think bringing a pet to the library is beneficial? Why or why not?
3. Why do you think the policy excluded emotional support animals from the allowed service animals?
4. Would bringing a pet other than a service dog be allowed at your local library?
5. What is Nevada’s law on animals in public?
Be sure to provide full explanations for your answers. For more details, you can read the article this piece was sourced from here:
Contributed by Saralynn Lindsay
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