(Image from the City of Appleton)
A proposal to expand the type of emotional support animals allowed in Appleton is raising some red flags.
Several members of the Board of Health are questioning the process for qualifying for one.
Dr. Doug Nelson says he took an online questionnaire, as an experiment. He says he was shocked a licensed health care provider would sign off on an animal, just because he has trouble sleeping sometimes.
Nelson calls it a “bogus system” that was set up to let people have any animal they want in their home. He says it would eliminate Appleton’s ability to limit species in the city.
Nelson says online lists of emotional support animals include kangaroos, peacocks, llamas, and bearded dragons.
He stresses that he has absolutely no problem with people who need emotional support from an animal. But he says he’s concerned about opening “the barn door.”
