Petition · Stop harassing war vets with service dogs. · Change.org

Please take go take a look at this petition:



Petition · Stop harassing war vets. · Change.org:

My PTSD service dog Gander and I have been shooed out of at least 5 different Starbucks in the past year. This is not only humiliating, its illegal. I want Starbucks to educate their staff about the American with Disabilities Act regulations and stop harassing war vets and others with disabilities who need service animals...

I'll never get it. Why don't businesses train their employees about service dogs? Besides the basic moral decency issue, it's a legal issue, not to mention huge PR problem to refuse to allow a service dog.



And why do the individuals who work in these places get all worked up and rush to kick them out? Maybe they think they are going to get in trouble for letting a dog in? Maybe they're not sure if they really qualify under ADA rule?



Personally, if I were trying to "err on the side of caution" I would rather take the chance of wrongly allowing a dog who wasn't legit than possibly kicking out a service dog.



But the blame here falls on the businesses that do not bother to learn the law or don't bother to train their employees.

For more on the service dogs and the law you can view my post Service Animals: Yes You Do Have to Let Them in Whether You Like it of Not. You can also see what the ADA says about service dogs.


You might also enjoy checking out Veteran Traveler and Gander the Service Dog's Facebook page.





'via Blog this'

Feral Cat Emergency, Helping Only Takes a Few Seconds of Your Time

I had planned to post something that would give you more of a taste for the general flavor of my blog as my first real post, but this is an urgent matter that cannot wait…

This is a feral cat emergency in Waco, TX. You cn do something to help with just a few seconds of your time.

From The Petition Site:

In the summer of 2007, Lions Club granted Heart of Texas Feral Friends access to Lions Park so our volunteers could spay/neuter and vaccinate the park’s cats through a process called Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR).

Our volunteers helped TNR more than 40 cats, at NO COST to Lions Club. Today, there are only 9 TNR cats living at the park, all are spayed or neutered, vaccinated against rabies, and cared for daily by volunteers.

Now, five years later, Waco Lions Club board members voted to evict these 9 cats from Lions Park…

You can go read more and sign the petition here.

You can get updates on the situation and find out what you can do at the Heart of Texas Feral Friends website. This is the latest update:

Sun., Jan. 15 at 7 p.m.

It's outrageous!
"NO TRESPASSING" SIGNS HAVE BEEN POSTED at our "COMMUNITY" LIONS PARK,
preventing HOTFF Volunteers from feeding the 9 Park Cats.

Who would have expected this from a respected long-standing "service group"
towards a fellow volunteer group providing them a free program
on land leased to them by the City of Waco for the "public good"?